Hassan to visit Australia to mend bilateral ties
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda will visit Australia next week to mend ties that have gone sour because of remarks that Prime Minister John Howard made in his reelection campaign earlier this month.
The plan now is for Hassan to go to Canberra rather than for his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer to come to Jakarta, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wahid Supriyadi said on Friday.
"There has been some miscommunication between the two countries, specifically with regards to the election campaign. We have to admit that," Wahid told The Jakarta Post.
"We have to fix this problem with the new administration even though it is still under the same prime minister. With a new atmosphere, hopefully we can sit down and talk together."
Wahid did not give an exact date for the visit, saying that it was still being discussed with Canberra. Hassan would also include New Zealand as part of his overseas trip, he said.
Howard's conservative coalition won the general election in Australia this month on a campaign that included promises of tougher measures against illegal immigrants.
Many in Asia, including Indonesia, saw his campaign as smacking of racism, and feared that his reelection would distance Australia further from Asia.
Howard used Indonesia as part of his campaign, blaming Jakarta for the large influx of "boat people" from Central Asia and Middle East into Australia. Most of these asylum-seekers used Indonesia as their jumping point into Australia.
Howard also promised that one of the first things he would do if reelected was to go to Jakarta to discuss the problem of asylum seekers.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri turned down a request for a meeting to address the issue when the two leaders were in Shanghai for the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum last month, at the height of the Australian election campaign. This was widely perceived in Australia as a diplomatic snub.
Asked about the reason for Hassan making the trip down under rather than Downer coming here, Wahid said, "It has been a while since an Indonesian foreign minister went to Australia. In contrast, an Australian foreign minister has visited Indonesia seven times.
"But the main thing is that the visit is intended to strengthen Indonesia's relations with countries in the Pacific region."
Wahid said the two governments were also still working on an appropriate schedule for Howard to come to Jakarta.
He ruled out the likelihood of this happening any time soon.
"I think this month and next would be difficult because of Ramadhan and Christmas."
Meanwhile, Australia's policy of diverting boat people to Pacific islands for processing hit another obstacle on Friday after negotiations with Fiji and Kiribati fell through, stranding over 500 migrants who are claiming refugee status.
Australia had hoped to convince Fiji to take several hundred unwanted asylum-seekers in return for financial aid, but domestic troubles and post-coup pressures in Fiji have made that impossible, Reuters reported.
The decision has left some 540 people waiting on Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island while the government searches for somewhere other than Australia to send them.
Fiji's foreign minister Kaliopate Tavola said the government had looked at the boat-people proposal favorably, but decided against it because of public opposition.
Negotiations with Kiribati have also ended without success due to "logistical reasons", but talks with Palau were underway and Papua New Guinea may increase its intake.
Howard said on Friday that reaching an agreement with Indonesia, to control people-smugglers based in Indonesia has become vital.
"Clearly in the medium to longer term an agreement with countries like Indonesia is the ultimate outcome, and we've always said that, but until we achieve that agreement... we need to do everything we can to deter people from coming," he said, in an interview with Melbourne radio station 3AW.