Australia supports RI's territorial integrity: Howard

Annastashya Emmanuelle and Viva Goldner, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In a apparent bid to deflect strong criticism from both the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday that his country fully supported Indonesia's territorial integrity.

Emerging from an almost one-hour meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Howard said that his country respected autonomy packages offered to the country's two restive provinces -- Aceh and Papua.

"Australia strongly supports the territorial integrity and the unity of the Indonesian nation ... we respect very much the autonomy packages (for Aceh and Papua) that have been developed to deal with particular regional issues," Howard told reporters at the joint press conference in Merdeka Palace on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Howard arrived here on Wednesday for a two-day official visit, in which the two countries are to discuss political and security issues along with trade, agriculture, and technology and research cooperation.

Leaders of both the House and the Assembly expressed opposition on Tuesday to Howard's visit to Indonesia, arguing that Australia has been meddling too much in Indonesia's domestic affairs, such as supporting a referendum for Papua. Howard denied the allegation.

Meanwhile, Megawati emphasized on Wednesday that the future relationship between the two countries must be based on a "realistic and rational" approach.

Commenting on Megawati's statement about creating more realistic relations in the future, Howard expressed his agreement, especially considering that Indonesia and Australia are near neighbors.

"The President rightly said the relationship is to be based on realism ... and there will be areas that we will agree more than others," Howard said.

While illegal immigration was also addressed by the two leaders, Howard said more comprehensive talks would be held at the regional people-smuggling conference in Bali later this month.

The people smuggling issue has strained the relationship between the two countries recently as Howard rejected 433 mostly Afghan asylum seekers who tried to enter Australian territorial waters.

Howard said the matter must be tackled on a regional basis as many people from many countries were involved.

"We recognize that although there are bilateral issues between Australia and Indonesia, it is nonetheless an issue that must be tackled on a regional basis," said Howard, adding that the country was looking forward to the outcome of the people- smuggling forum in Bali on Feb. 25.

The Australian government has also pledged five patrol boats to complement Indonesia's equipment in tackling illegal migrants, as well as promising A$1 million in flood assistance.

In a gesture to appease lingering resentment over East Timor, Howard announced that a conference would be held between Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Feb. 25, but did not give further details of what would be discussed.

"This is another important example of the cooperation between our two countries, and importantly, between Australia, Indonesia and East Timor," Howard said.

Relations between Australia and Indonesia have been shaky since 1999, when Australia urged Indonesia to allow East Timor to decide its future through a United Nations-sponsored popular consultation, and later sent a peace-keeping force to East Timor after the former Portuguese colony's vote for independence from Indonesia.

During the meeting, Megawati also proposed building cooperation in fighting against international terrorism in the country. This was welcomed by Howard, who said that discussions between government officials were underway.

"If an agreement can be reached, there's a possibility this memorandum of understanding could be signed while I'm here on this visit," he added.

On the sidelines of the official visit, Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda said the MoU would cover intelligence information exchanges as well as capacity building.

Howard is scheduled to meet with a number of Indonesian ministers today including Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

He will depart for Yogyakarta on Feb. 7 to visit Borobudur temple and hold a dialogue at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta before going to Bali on Feb. 8 and returning to Australia on the same day.