'Claims against Howard unproven'
'Claims against Howard unproven'
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
An expert on Indonesia dismissed on Thursday claims of
legislators here who have condemned Australian Prime Minister
John Howard for remaining supportive of separatist elements in
Papua.
Harold Crouch of Monash University said that, rather than
maintain their aversion to Howard's visit to Indonesia, members
of the House of Representatives's Commission I on international
relations who had made the claims against Howard, should instead
invite him to the House.
"Get him to come to Commission I, and then show evidence or
some kind of proof that Howard is indeed a supporter of Papua
Merdeka (Independent Papua)," Howard told reporters during a
seminar on the Maluku conflict here on Thursday.
"I am sure that the legislators have no such proof," he added.
It was impossible for Howard to be supportive of Papuan
separatist elements after he had already pledged his support for
Indonesia's integrity, Crouch said, as quoted by Antara.
Australian government officials, Crouch said, have repeatedly
denied these allegations, and added that the Australian prime
minister was only visiting Indonesia as a guest of the Indonesian
government.
Crouch noted that he did not understand why the Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) was critical of
Howard's visit to Indonesia, too, when its party chair, President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, was the very official who invited Howard
to visit Indonesia in the first place.
Despite being one of the first to recognize East Timor's
integration with Indonesia, Australian government officials, and
Howard in particular, made a sudden about-face after two decades,
and became the first to formally recommend and support a
referendum in the former province.
Earlier, the legislators had proclaimed anger at Howard's
visit to Indonesia, and refused meet Howard on Thursday.
Crouch admitted that the East Timor issue would remain a
problem for both countries and, in time, needed to be resolved.
Growing animosity toward Australia resurfaced in Indonesia
after charges that Howard and members of the Labour Party
exploited some of Indonesia's problems for the sake of its own
domestic agenda.
At issue was the thorny problem of illegal immigration, which
reportedly won Howard -- a champion of hard-line policies toward
asylum seekers attempting to enter the country via Indonesia --
widespread popularity that culminated in his success in the
November elections.
On Wednesday, Howard and Megawati avoided the sensitive issue,
and said that the subject would be discussed during a regional
meeting in Bali later this month.