Indonesia, Australia look ahead for close ties

Indonesia, Australia look ahead for close ties

TOKYO (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid and Australian Prime
Minister John Howard agreed on Thursday to shun past acrimony
between the two countries and focus on efforts to bolster
relations between the neighbors.

Speaking to journalists after their 45 minute meeting at the
Imperial Guest House, Keizin Kan, the prime minister, described
the meeting as extremely positive and said that both of them
agreed strong relations were very important for both countries.

"The meeting was extremely positive, and both of us agreed
that we should focus on the future and put the past behind us,"
Howard said.

This was the first summit meeting since the East Timor crisis
erupted in September last year.

Howard pointed out that the two countries are forever linked
with each other in the region, and that he and Abdurrahman would
work together as leaders of two communities to ensure and broaden
the relationship.

Howard praised Abdurrahman as an engaging man of great charm.
According to Howard, Abdurrahman repeated his desire to come to
Australia.

"The exact timing and arrangement for that is still the
subject for further discussion. He would be very welcome whenever
he chooses to visit our country," Howard remarked.

When asked whether the prime minister also plans to go to
Indonesia, he replied: "I do not rule out visiting Indonesia
during the current parliamentary term, but I don't have such a
plan at the moment".

During the meeting, Howard also reiterated that Australia
strongly supports Indonesia's territorial integrity, including on
Irian Jaya.

"We understand the strains of such a large and diverse
country, and any suggestion that Australia was supporting the
movement is wrong," he hinted.

Departing from custom, where he usually holds joint press
conferences with his guest foreign leaders, the President did not
talk to the press on Thursday.

He only asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab to brief
journalists about the meeting.

"The result of the meeting is very good and the meeting
succeeded in breaking the ice. The atmosphere is very friendly,"
said Alwi.

The two leaders met after attending the memorial service for
the former prime minister of Japan Keizo Obuchi, who died on May
14.

A few hours before his meeting with Howard, Abdurrahman also
addressed an annual symposium organized by the economic daily
Nihon Keizai.

"We have to make peace with East Timor and Australia, because
the three countries will become the anchor of stability in the
area," Abdurrahman told the symposium.

"Because of (the need to maintain stability in the area), we
have the duty to be good to each other, to be friends," he added.

The volatile ties between Jakarta and Canberra nose dived last
year after Australia led an international force into East Timor
in September to halt the violence there after the territory's
people voted for independence.

Alwi said last month Jakarta would propose an itinerary of a
planned visit by Abdurrahman to Australia while suggesting that
Howard should meet Gus Dur in Indonesia beforehand.

The original plan had called for Howard and Abdurrahman to
meet in Melbourne before going on to Darwin and then Kupang, in
West Timor, for a tripartite meeting with East Timor independence
leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao.

Abdurrahman initially planned to visit Australia in May, but
canceled the trip because of resentment in Indonesia over
Australia's key role in the breakaway of East Timor from
Indonesia.

When asked on Thursday by seminar participants to comment on
concerns about the President's state of health, Abdurrahman said:
"Yesterday, I departed (from Jakarta) around 10 p.m. and reached
here at around 8 a.m., and within one hour I have already started
my activities and I think I won't stop until midnight.

"That is my usual staple in Indonesia, so I don't know why
people are still questioning my health ... I can say to you that
I am healthy like anybody else, every morning I have a two and
half or three kilometer walk and I also do high power treadmill
exercise," Gus Dur, as the President is popularly called, said.

The President, who is on a 14-day eight-nation tour, had a
busy schedule on Thursday including meetings with Obuchi's
predecessors Yoshiro Mori and Foreign Minister Yohei Kono.

A number of world leaders, including U.S. President Bill
Clinton, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Philippines
President Joseph Estrada were also present at the memorial
service.

For Indonesia, this was the second time its president had used
a funeral diplomacy in Japan for improving ties with other
countries.

During a visit to Tokyo, to attend the funeral of Japanese
emperor Hirohito, in February 1989, then president Soeharto met
with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and agreed to normalize
the two countries' diplomatic ties.

The relations were broken in 1968 following allegations that
China supported the abortive coup in September 1965 by the
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which China denied.

The President is scheduled to leave for Salt Lake City, Utah,
United States on Friday morning to undergo eye treatment at the
Moran Eye Institute. (byg/prb)