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.