Canberra, Jakarta to rebuild defense ties

Visiting Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said on Wednesday that Australia was sounding out possibilities to rebuild military ties with Indonesia, with possible near-term cooperation on efforts to combat international terrorism.

"We are looking for an opportunity to a possible training or intelligence information exchange related to international terrorism, and ... we plan to make such a memorandum of understanding that will be signed between two countries over the issue," Hill told a joint press conference with the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo AS at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.

Asked whether Australia was worried about the potential threat of hardline Indonesian groups, Hill said: "We are worried about the extent of potential terrorism within the region."

Hill also said that Canberra would cooperate with Indonesia on tackling people-smuggling and international crime.

"The view of both countries is that there's no need to move too fast. We've got to understand each other's perspective, build confidence in each other and develop defense relations," Hill said.

Hill spoke to reporters at the start of a two-day visit to Indonesia to meet his counterpart and other senior military officials.

Ties between the two countries hit rock bottom in 1999 when Australia headed the international peacekeeping force for East Timor, following the overwhelming result of a UN-sponsored independence referendum that led to East Timor's breakaway from Indonesia.

The relationship has improved since then but remains fragile. More recently, the issue of asylum seekers has sparked new tensions.

Australia is keen to stem the people-smuggling trade, which uses Indonesia as a transit base. Thousands of asylum seekers from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan transit through the country each year on their journey to Australia. -- JP