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)