Australia, Indonesia hope for security pact to strengthen ties

Australia, Indonesia hope for security pact to strengthen ties

Agencies, Canberra

Australia and Indonesia hope to strike a deal at the end of March
to begin negotiating a security pact to strengthen ties and
cooperate on counter-terrorism, their foreign ministers said on
Friday.

The Indian Ocean neighbors have already started discussing the
possibility of a security deal, could unveil plans to begin talks
on a pact when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
visits Australia in two weeks.

"I think the two leaders ... could endorse the idea and then
ask the two foreign ministers to work on the draft agreement,"
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said after meeting
his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer in Canberra.

"That would be a good achievement in the next two weeks,"
Hassan told a news conference.

Australia and Indonesia have often had a rocky relationship,
especially after Australia led a UN-mandated intervention force
into East Timor in 1999 to quell violence by pro-Indonesia
militias after Timorese voted for independence from Jakarta.

Australia and Indonesia signed a security deal in 1995 that
committed the countries to ministerial consultations about
security, increasing cooperation and consultations in the event
of a threat to either country or to regional security.

But the deal collapsed after Indonesia objected to Australia's
involvement in East Timor, where more than 1,000 people were
killed in fighting, with most deaths blamed on pro-Jakarta
militias.

"(That treaty) was very limited in its contents. What we are
contemplating with this new agreement are much broader areas of
cooperation," Hassan said.

Wary of opposition by Indonesians to a pact, Downer said it
would be made clear that both countries respected each others'
"territorial integrity".

"I think if we keep working at (a security pact) we could put
something together in months, not years," Downer said.

"We're looking to bring together areas of cooperation such as
counter-terrorism, dealing with people-smuggling, cooperation
between our respective police forces and cooperation between our
defense forces."

Downer said the new agreement would be nothing like
Australia's 54-year-old defense treaty with the United States.

"What we have both said to each other from the outset is we
don't want a kind of security or a defense pact," he said.

Ties have improved in recent years and efforts to strengthen
Australia's relationship with the world's most populous Muslim
country gained momentum after Susilo became Indonesia's first
directly elected president in October.

Australia and Indonesian police have worked closely after the
2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88
Australians, and again since a car bomb exploded outside
Australia's Jakarta embassy last September, killing 10 people.

Australian and Indonesian ministers met in Canberra for the
seventh annual ministerial meeting between the two countries.
Australia said it would provide Indonesia with A$5 million (US$4
million) to support local elections and A$2 million for anti-
money laundering programs.

Indonesia's delegation urged Australia to lift official
warnings that advise against travel to the archipelago because
they were damaging the economy.

Other prickly issues such as illegal fishing in Australian
waters and autonomy for the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and
Papua were also raised, while there was common ground on counter-
terrorism, democratic reform in Indonesia and tsunami relief.

The travel advisories were strengthened after the Bali bombing
to warn against non-essential travel to Indonesia and urge
Australians in the country to exercise extreme caution because of
an ongoing terrorist threat.

Canberra has refused to withdraw the advice in the face of
repeated requests from Jakarta, most recently reissuing it on
March 11.

The Australian ministers responded to the latest request by
noting that government travel advisories remained under constant
review.

"At the end of the day, we either have a travel advisory
system that is honest and upfront or we don't have one at all,"
Downer said.

Indonesian Economic Minister Aburizal Bakrie said his
ministers had also argued for freer access to visas for
Indonesians who want to travel to Australia.

Australian ministers noted that 95 percent of applicants were
granted visas and that issuing visas on arrival at Australian
airports would pose security risks.