Australia out to mend fences with Indonesia

Australia out to mend fences with Indonesia

SYDNEY (Agencies): Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Saturday he wanted to mend the country's relations with Indonesia and expressed interest in President Abdurrahman Wahid's proposal to hold a summit with East Timor leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao.

"I am interested to read President Abdurrahman's suggestion," Howard told ABC radio from France.

"I will explore it. I don't reject it. I want to know more about it, I want to know whether it is something that has been thought through."

Abdurrahman said on Friday he wanted to join Howard and Xanana in talks to strengthen ties among the three countries.

No date or venue has been suggested for the proposed meeting.

"My message to President Abdurrahman is that I want to look to the future, not to the past," Howard said.

"If there are ways which the leaders of Australia and Indonesia and Xanana Gusmao can come together, then I am happy to explore them."

Howard said it was inevitable that relations between Australia and Indonesia were strained following the events in East Timor.

Abdurrahman postponed a visit to Australia that was planned for next month.

Howard said he would visit Indonesia in the future, but had no immediate plans to do so.

"My view is that the relationship was put under strain. That was inevitable," Howard said.

"I respect what President Abdurrahman has done, I think he has done very good things for Indonesia and I have been keen to see the relationship rebuilt, but it can't rebuild overnight.

"You can't have what happened in East Timor only a few months ago occur and expect it to have no impact on our relationship with Indonesia. That is unreal."

Separately, Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer also welcomed Abdurrahman's proposal.

"We are very happy, from our perspective, to meet with President Wahid and we look forward to doing so," Downer, who was in Washington on Friday, said following a speech at the Australian Embassy.

"It seems to me to make a good deal of sense for Australia, Indonesia and East Timor to work together."

He said he knew of no specific plans to arrange such a gathering.

Downer had warm words for the Indonesian leader, describing his attitude toward Australia this year as having been "very positive and engaging".

"We wish him well. He has a very big task and we think that not only Australia but the international community needs to get behind President Wahid and help him deal with the enormous problems Indonesia faces," said Downer, who has been on a visit to the United States since April 24.

Meanwhile, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta refuted on Saturday news reports that an Australian aircraft conducted "black flights". The incident reportedly occurred on Wednesday when four unarmed F-18s and a B-707 were intercepted by two armed Indonesian F5s south of West Timor.

The embassy claimed the aircraft had full diplomatic clearances issued by the Indonesian authorities.