Australia-RI ties 'remain strong'

Australia-RI ties 'remain strong'

Michelle Nichols, Reuters/Canberra

Australia's push for Indonesia to ban militant network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and prevent further cuts to the jail term of the group's spiritual leader will not affect warming ties between the two neighbors, analysts said.

Extremists in the world's most populous Muslim nation have targeted the Australian embassy in Jakarta and killed 94 Australians in three separate bomb attacks since 2002, yet relations between Canberra and Jakarta have never been stronger.

Analysts do not expect a visit by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer this week will harm those close ties despite his plans to urge Jakarta to ban JI and stop any further cuts to the jail term of its spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

"I think they are irritants in the relationship," Australian National University political analyst Greg Fealy said on Monday. "I don't think this is the kind of thing that will derail the relationship. In some ways continuing counter-terrorism cooperation has brought the two countries closer together -- it's a sort of paradox."

Ba'asyir was jailed for 30 months for his role in the nightclub bombings on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, but his sentence was cut by 135 days on Indonesia's Independence Day in August under a remission program.

Australia is concerned his sentence could be reduced further when prisoner remissions are granted to mark a religious holiday in November, despite a pledge by Jakarta to review the scheme.

"The Indonesians have given a commitment to dealing with that problem but that hasn't been implemented yet, so we will talk about how they are getting on with that," Downer told reporters on Monday.

Downer will visit Bali to commemorate the third anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings on Wednesday and then travel to Jakarta to meet with Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda, and possibly President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Jamaah Islamiyah, seen as the southeast Asian arm of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, has been blamed for several bombings in Indonesia, including an attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004 that killed 10 Indonesians.

Earlier this month coordinated suicide bombings in Bali restaurants killed 23 people, including three suicide bombers, and the police investigation is focusing on Jamaah Islamiyah. Four Australian tourists were among those killed.

Deakin University political analyst Damien Kingsbury said Downer was unlikely to push Indonesia too hard to ban Jamaah Islamiyah "because he already knows the answer" will be no.

"He might say that he's obliged to put Australia's position, but I don't think he will go at it hammer and tongs. Very often these sorts of statements are not for international consumption, they're for domestic consumption," Kingsbury said.

Australia has struggled to balance its close alliance with the United States with its geographical location.

Australia's ties with Indonesia waned when it led a UN- mandated intervention force into East Timor in 1999 to quell violence after Timorese voted for independence from Jakarta.

But ties have improved since then as the two countries joined forces to fight the war on terrorism, with Canberra's efforts gaining momentum after Susilo became Indonesia's first directly elected president in October 2004.

Canberra then rushed to the aid of its northern neighbor following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami and has also stepped in to help Indonesia deal with a deadly outbreak of bird flu.

"Indonesia's certainly the most important member of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), so having a constructive relationship with Indonesia certainly does assist Australia in its regional relations," Kingsbury said.

"There is a view in Indonesia that Australia just needs to pull its head in ... but there's no question Australia has lifted its stocks in the eyes of a lot of ordinary Indonesians and indeed amongst the government."