Indonesian president to make quake-delayed Australian visit
Indonesian president to make quake-delayed Australian visit
Neil Sands
Agence France-Presse/Sydney, Australia
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's determination to
visit Australia just days after his country was rocked by a
massive earthquake underscores improvements in the once shaky
relationship between Canberra and Jakarta, analysts said on
Thursday.
Susilo is scheduled to arrive in Canberra on Sunday after
delaying the trip by four days so he could tour Nias, the island
near Sumatra worst hit by Monday's magnitude-8.7 quake which
killed hundreds.
Malcolm Cook, an Asia specialist at Sydney's Lowy Institute
for International Policy, said foreign visits were normally
delayed for months or quietly forgotten in the wake of such
disasters.
"The fact that he's still coming is a strong gesture, a signal
of how important he sees the relationship with Australia," Cook
told AFP.
Security issues arising from the war on terrorism and closer
economic ties will be the main themes of Susilo's three-day
visit, only the third by an Indonesian leader in the past three
decades.
He and Prime Minister John Howard are expected to examine the
possibility of a free trade agreement and announce the beginning
of negotiations for a comprehensive security pact covering
counter-terrorism, people smuggling, money laundering and
defense.
The pact would replace an agreement scrapped when relations
hit their lowest point in the wake of the 1999 East Timor crisis.
Australia led an international peacekeeping force into East
Timor after a landslide vote to end Indonesia's 24-year
occupation sparked a violent backlash from militia groups backed
by the Indonesian army.
"The relationship just turned to dust," said Australian
National University analyst Ron Huisken. "There was deep
suspicion on both sides, which has had a lingering impact on how
both countries relate to each other.
Huisken said the ill feeling was compounded by grievances from
both sides, with Canberra frustrated at what it saw as former
president Megawati Soekarnoputri's failure to act against
terrorism and Jakarta resenting Australia's perceived role as a
U.S. "deputy sheriff" in the region.
A thaw began in late 2002 as Australian and Indonesian police
successfully combined to hunt down the extremists responsible for
the Bali bombings, where 88 Australians were among the 202 dead.
Analysts said two factors had recently combined to speed up
the rapprochement -- the election of Canberra-friendly Susilo
last year and Australia's swift response to the Dec. 26 tsunami
disaster.
Cook said Susilo saw Australia as a major security and trading
partner and was determined to overcome differences.
"He's built a strong personal relationship with Howard, which
is going to be very important going forward," he said.
"This is the man who will lead Indonesia until 2009, possibly
2014, consolidating the transition to democracy -- Australia
needs to have a good relationship with him and this visit is an
important part of securing that."
The friendship was consolidated by Australia's A$1billion
pledge (US$770 million) in aid and interest-free loans following
the Dec. 26 tsunamis that killed more than 220,000 Indonesians.
Australia has also sent troops and supplies, and pledged A$1
million in aid, following the latest quake.
"You were the first to phone, you were the first to have
aircraft on the ground, that is a gesture I will never forget,"
an emotional Susilo told Howard when the pair met in Jakarta in
January.