Australia supports RI's territorial integrity

Australia supports RI's territorial integrity

CANBERRA (JP): Just hours before President Abdurrahman Wahid
touched down here, Prime Minister John Howard told parliament
that Australia fully supports the territorial integrity of
Indonesia and that the presidential visit is an opportunity to
put past troubles between the two countries behind them.

The prime minister highlighted the symbolic significance of
the visit, despite the repeated postponements and Monday's
unforeseen delay.

"We respect and support, and will continue to advocate in the
international fora the territorial integrity of the Republic of
Indonesia," pledged Howard who is to hold talks with Abdurrahman
on Tuesday morning.

He insisted that Canberra would "continue to express our hope
that secessionist issues can be resolved, including through
autonomy provisions."

Relations between Jakarta and Canberra hit a new low following
the East Timor issue in 1999.

Domestic resentment in many corners of Indonesian society
remain high and it was this antipathy, particularly from leading
politicians, which had forced Abdurrahman to postpone five
previously scheduled trips to one of Indonesia's closest
neighbors.

Many in Indonesia continue to raise apprehensions about
Australia and its possible support for other secessionist
movements in Indonesia, particularly Irian Jaya, despite
Canberra's professed support for Indonesia's territorial
integrity.

It is difficult to forget that Australia, one of the few
countries who formally recognized the integration of East Timor,
suddenly seemed to change its stance by suggesting the
possibility of a ballot in the former Indonesian province.

But Howard made it clear on Monday that Australia strongly
backs Indonesian sovereignty and that it was time to put the
crisis over East Timor in the past.

"I would offer the view that events surrounding East Timor,
although they caused tension at a political level, did not
essentially undermine the strong people to people links that have
existed between Australia and Indonesia over a long period of
time," he said.

Opposition leader Kim Beazley after welcoming Abdurrahman upon
his arrival when asked by journalists on the question of
separatist movement in Irian Jaya also affirmed that he fully
supported Indonesian territorial integrity.

He stressed that Irian Jaya was very much a part of Indonesia.

Both Howard and Beazley stressed the importance of the visit
in mending and elevating ties between the two countries.

The usual critical Australian press in their editorials and
commentaries also lauded the trip as a significant symbolic step
forward, albeit expecting little substantial results during
meetings between the two leaders. (mds)