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".