Keating to visit Malaysia

Keating to visit Malaysia

CANBERRA (Reuter): Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating
yesterday said he would make his first visit to Malaysia in mid-
January -- a move widely seen as helping repair the often rocky
relationship between the two nations.

Keating, who created a 1993 diplomatic row by calling the
Malaysian prime minister recalcitrant, urged both Australia and
Malaysia to cast aside old prejudices.

"Paradoxically, there are dangers in our very closeness and
familiarity with each other," Keating said in a speech launching
the Australia-Malaysia Society.

"Precisely because this relationship is so old, it brings with
it a lot of preconceptions which can impede a clear view of each
other," Keating said when announcing the visit.

"I have no doubt that Australia needs to view Malaysia in a
new way and that the same is true in the other direction."

The Australia-Malaysia relationship has followed a rocky path
through the 1980s and 1990s.