House to urge Gus Dur to delay Australian visit

JAKARTA (JP): Upset by the latest remarks of Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, the House of Representatives has vowed to continue urging President Abdurrahman Wahid to cancel his visit to Canberra, a senior legislator said.

Contacted on Sunday, Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, chairman of the House's Commission I for Political, Security and Foreign Affairs, said the President had to cancel the visit since Australia has failed to show friendship but displayed only arrogance toward Indonesia.

"Downer's statement today has shown their arrogance. He has no willingness to improve the relationship," Yasril said.

He was commenting on the statements made by Downer in an interview broadcasted on Sunday by Ten television network which was then quoted by several agencies, including AFP.

During the interview, Downer accused Indonesian politicians of exploiting the troubled relationship between the two countries for their own domestic advantage.

"There are one or two people in the Indonesian parliament who have their radar on to pick up any scrap of information they could use against Australia," he told the television network.

"It really wouldn't matter what we did. They would find a way of using that to criticize us. That is the mind-set," he said.

Downer also said the President's visit in November has been opposed by some House members in Indonesia for one reason or another, he said.

Yasril said the House -- particularly members of Commission I -- deeply regretted Downer's statement which accused Indonesian legislators of using the Jakarta-Canberra relations for domestic purposes.

"We don't want our President to be trapped by Australian long- term political interests. It's for our national interest," he reminded.

Yasril explained that Australia's long term political interests must still be related to its unfriendly conduct toward Indonesians over the recent East Timor case.

Contacted separately, legislator A. Effendy Choirie from PKB (National Awakening Party), founded by Gus Dur, said his party had no objection at all to the President's proposed visit to Australia even though the current government in Canberra might use the visit for their domestic political interests.

"It's okay if the Australian government wanted to use the visit for their own interests. But Australia should also give benefits to Indonesia," Effendy, also from Commission I, said.

According to him, PKB saw the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Australia as very important, and that Indonesia must show friendship and maintain a civilized relationship even though Australia has shown arrogance in the past.

President Abdurrahman, he said, should not be obliged to obey any demands raised by House members about his visit to Canberra. (jun)