Australia has no strategic designs on E. Timor: Envoy
Australia has no strategic designs on E. Timor: Envoy
JAKARTA (JP): Australia said Thursday that it did not have
strategic designs on the troubled East Timor, saying it already
had enough problems controlling and administering its own
country.
"We have neither the resources nor the ambition to expand our
strategic reach," Australian Ambassador to Indonesia John
McCarthy told a business luncheon organized by the Indonesian
Executive Circle.
McCarthy statement came as anti-Australia sentiment has been
on the rise here following that country's leading role in
restoring security and order in the former Portuguese colony.
He said that Australia did not have a "hidden agenda" inimical
to Indonesian interests.
"Those who argue that we seek a weak Indonesia are wrong. A
strong and cohesive Indonesia has been a lynchpin of our
strategic policy for three decades and that remains our
objective," McCarthy said.
He denied the argument that Australia seemed to have elected
to put interest of some 800,000 people in East Timor beyond the
210 million of Indonesia.
"You suggest to us that by taking the approach we have on East
Timor we have foregone the capacity to live comfortably with
Indonesia. I do not agree with that contention. Please also
accept that had we stood aside from East Timor, we could not have
lived with ourselves," added McCarthy.
He said that Australia and Indonesia are neighbors and "it is
our destiny to remain so".
"Our difference over East Timor is serious, but please
understand that we in Australia have no designs upon your
integrity and that we have respect for your dignity," McCarthy
said.
He also said that Australia's leadership of the International
Force for East Timor (Interfet) derived from its "geographic
placement".
"While many Indonesians to whom I have spoken dislike the
concept of foreign troops in East Timor and have argued against
Australia prominence, few have disagreed with the fact that
Interfet had to happen."
McCarthy appealed to protesters, both Indonesians and
Australians, to end attacking one another's missions and burning
each other's flags.
"Nothing is achieved by these open expressions of hostility.
It is in the interests of both our countries to cool things
down," he said.
Earlier in the day,, Jakarta said it had no plans to cut
diplomatic ties with Australia because of their falling out over
the East Timor crisis.
"We have not yet considered cutting off diplomatic relations
with Australia," Justice Minister/Secretary of State Muladi said.
President B.J. Habibie on Tuesday accused Australia of
overreacting to the East Timor issue and damaging bilateral ties.
Australia was among Western nations that pressured Jakarta to
accept a UN force into the Indonesian-ruled territory to restore
order there.
Indonesia only reluctantly invited the force in and this month
froze a four-year-old security pact with Australia which had
berated Jakarta for failing to stem the East Timor bloodshed.
Two Australian consulates have been forced to close and many
Australians have been evacuated from the archipelago as popular
rage against Canberra has surged in recent weeks.
Anti-Australian sentiment continued on Thursday.
In Ujungpandang, waves of anti-Australia protests hit the city
as five groups of protesters took turns in their public
condemnations at the gubernatorial office and the council
building.
The five groups -- the Makassar Muslim Students Association,
the Students Action Solidarity on Moral Enforcement, City
Students, National People's Front along with protesters grouped
in the Gamma student association.
Protesters demanded all Australian products be barred from
South Sulawesi until the country withdraws its troops from East
Timor. (30/edt/byg/prb)