Downer hopes to patch things up with Indonesia

Downer hopes to patch things up with Indonesia

SYDNEY (Agencies): Australia is hoping that Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's meeting on Monday with Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will ease tension created following Canberra's strident criticism of Jakarta over its policies in East Timor.

Abdurrahman, who has traveled extensively since becoming Indonesia's first democratically elected leader three months ago, has ruled out visiting Australia until the Canberra government takes a more conciliatory line with its giant neighbor.

Downer will reassure Wahid that Australia will not support secessionist movements.

"We want to see the level of violence, as obviously President Wahid does, diminish in Indonesia and we support territorial integrity of Indonesia. We don't want to see Indonesia as a country break up," Downer said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Alwi Shihab again and to continue the constructive dialogue we began in Macau in December," he added.

Downer's office said Monday's meeting with the president would also be the first by an Australian minister since Wahid replaced B.J. Habibie in October.

Downer told Sydney radio station 2BL Australia's role in leading the multinational force in East Timor last year had undoubtedly soured the previously close bilateral ties.

"Naturally enough...there's a certain amount of ill feeling still in Australia and also in Indonesia, at least among some people after the events of last year in East Timor and the healing process will take a bit of time," he said.

Downer described tensions on the riot-torn tourist island of Lombok and in the disparate regions of Aceh, Ambon and Irian Jaya as "very worrying" and said it was vital the democratically elected Indonesian president be given international support.

"It is very important that the democratic government is given support by the international community, and we are part of providing this new administration with that support," he said.

For strategic and commercial reasons, successive Australian governments had previously made close relations with Jakarta a top foreign policy imperative.

Downer said Australia did not want the current violence in Indonesia to lead to the country's disintegration.

The two-day visit will also include talks with his Indonesian counterpart Alwi Shihab, as well as with House of Representative speaker Akbar Tandjung and other cabinet ministers.

A spokesman for the foreign minister told Reuters he expected the tone of the meetings to be "businesslike".