Deadly bombings could aid Australia-RI ties: Analysts

Deadly bombings could aid Australia-RI ties: Analysts

Associated Press, Sydney, Australia

The deadly bombings in Bali could help ease decades of tension
between Australia and Indonesia and force Jakarta to clamp down
on terrorism, academics and officials said on Monday.

"I think the inevitability will be that Australia will work
more closely with Indonesia," said Prof. James Fox of the
Australian National University.

"Indonesia can ill afford this kind of blow - investment will
go down, tourism will be dead," he said, adding that Indonesia
will cooperate with Western nations to fight terrorism, though
"not necessarily with fanfare."

Australia must concentrate on rebuilding relations with
Indonesia following bombings in Bali, Hugh White, director of the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said on Monday.

White said the weekend bombings in Bali will switch the
Australian government's focus from Iraq back on the Asian region
and its northern neighbor Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim
nation.

White said the scale and proximity of the Bali attack "will
bring home to people that terrorism is something we need to deal
with here."

"We do live in a part of the world, adjacent to Southeast
Asia, in which terrorism is a real phenomenon," White said on
Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Nearly 200 people were killed and hundreds injured on Saturday
when two bombs ripped through the popular Kuta Beach nightclub
district on Indonesia's Bali island. The Australian government
said on Monday that 14 Australians were confirmed dead, 110
injured and almost 220 missing.

While close geographically, Australia and Indonesia are worlds
apart in culture and religious makeup - the Southeast Asian
nation is the world's most populous Muslim country, while its
southern neighbor is predominantly Christian.

The two have clashed over Jakarta's record on human rights and
democracy.

Some have suggested Australia sent troops to fight alongside
the United States Vietnam in the hope that Washington would come
to Canberra's aid if Indonesia ever tried to invade Australia.

Canberra-Jakarta relations plumbed new depths in 1999, when
Australian troops led an international force into nearby East
Timor to quell violence blamed on pro-Jakarta militias when the
former Indonesian province voted for independence.

Jakarta has recently been accused of dragging its heels on
anti-terrorism efforts. Vice President Hamzah Haz has expressed
sympathy for Islamic militants. An anti-terror law has languished
in the Parliament for months.

Fox, who heads the University's research school of Pacific and
Asian Studies in Canberra, said the bombings have likely shocked
even hard-line Muslims in Indonesia.

Under pressure from Australia and the United States, they will
now have little choice but to support President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's efforts to fight terrorism, he added.

"I think they may have been deluding themselves to some
extent, saying it (terrorism) wasn't a problem, but now they can
see it's a huge problem," Fox said.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer echoed Fox's
views.

Indonesia's government and its security services "certainly
have a mixed record" in fighting terrorism - but the bombing had
sent shock waves through Jakarta, he said.

"I think this has eliminated any debate in Indonesia about the
dangers of terrorism, and I think it will probably lead to much
stronger and effective cooperation with other countries," Downer
said Monday.

But Aldo Borgu of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a
government-funded think tank, said it may not be easy convincing
Indonesia to join the war on terror.

"The first priority of the government is going to be to
convince the Indonesians to accept international help and
assistance in uncovering the perpetrators of this crime," Borgu
said. "That's going to put a lot of pressure on our
relationship."

The Australian government's national security committee is
meeting on Monday to review the country's security measures in
the wake of the attack.

"We've got to get back to the business of rebuilding the
relationship with Indonesia," White said.

"Not just in terms of trying to find out who is responsible
for this particular event, but it reinforces how important to us
good relations with Indonesia are and how important it is we get
back to a more cooperative, sustainable relationship with them."