Canberra vows constructive diplomacy on RI

JAKARTA (JP): Alexander Downer, on his first trip abroad since being installed as Australia's foreign minister, said here yesterday that Canberra advocates "constructive diplomacy" on human rights issues such as East Timor.

"We, for our part, as a government, want to take a constructive approach, not a destructive, totally negative approach on this issue in the months and the years ahead," Downer said after a preliminary two-hour meeting with his counterpart Ali Alatas.

Downer arrived in Jakarta yesterday for a three day-visit. He will also be visiting Singapore and Thailand.

He said that issues such as East Timor should not overwhelm the multifaceted bilateral relations between the two countries and maintained that while East Timor is an issue which many Australians feel strongly about, it would serve little to aggravate the situation with careless remarks.

"It's not an issue on which we're going to make a great deal of progress ourselves if we are simply going to hector and lecture," Downer said.

Downer was installed as foreign minister last month after the Liberal-National coalition lead by John Howard ended the reign of Labor leader Paul Keating.

Keating attached great importance to building harmonious ties with Jakarta and also had a very amiable personal relationship with President Soeharto.

With Keating's political demise there had been speculation the new government would take a harder line on human rights issues and in particular East Timor.

While Australia is one of the few countries that formally recognizes the 1976 integration of East Timor into Indonesia, it remains one of the strongest critics against alleged human rights abuses in the former Portuguese colony.

"It is an issue which I think requires constructive discussion and constructive engagement," Downer said adding that he had had "a very useful discussion" about East Timor with his Indonesian counterpart.

Downer also said that Australia would not be making headway if it employed "excessive denunciation" and "megaphone diplomacy".

Nevertheless when asked whether he foresaw any positive steps on this issue, the Australian foreign minister said developments in the past few months have shown "signs of progress" though they cannot be described as rapid.

Downer will meet President Soeharto this morning and then hold a second round of talks with Alatas, to discuss regional issues.

Other topics discussed yesterday included Australia's demand for an East-West sea-lane through Indonesia.

Based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, which recognizes the archipelagic principal, Indonesia must provide designated sea-lanes for international shipping.

In a recent experts meetings, Jakarta put forth three North- South sea-lanes. However countries like Australia and the United States are demanding more including an East-West lane.

Downer contends that such a route is commercially important to Australia. "Quite a large proportion of our trade does pass the East-West route," he claimed.

Alatas in response said Indonesia has not yet taken a decision to designate a new route in addition to the three already specified. He maintained that Jakarta will keep an open mind and would like to hear further arguments from Australia.

Indonesian officials have revealed demands by several countries for up to 17 designated sea-lanes to be provided for passage through Indonesian waters.

They pointed out that one of the difficulties of an East-West sealane is that it would pass through the Java sea which is considered very shallow and contains many underwater cables.(mds)