Hassan to visit Australia to mend bilateral ties

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.