Malaysia, Australia mend relations

Malaysia, Australia mend relations

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia and Australia buried the hatchet yesterday, their leaders agreeing Australia had a role to play in Asia and calling for fresh points of view to renew an old relationship.

"Obviously Australia has a role to play in Asia," Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said after a 90-minute meeting with visiting Australian counterpart Paul Keating.

"But to what extent and how is something that will have to be determined both by Australia and the Asian countries."

Keating's visit, the first by an Australian prime minister in 12 years, was delayed for two years after he and Mahathir engaged in verbal fisticuffs in late 1993.

Mahathir reviled Australians as ill-bred descendants of "ex- convicts and social discards", after Keating called him a "recalcitrant" for not attending the inaugural summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the United States in late 1993.

Billions of dollars of trade and investment were threatened by the feud and Keating canceled a planned visit.

Kuala Lumpur has blocked Canberra from attending an Asia- Europe summit in Bangkok in March this year, saying it is not geographically part of Asia, but Keating said he did not raise the subject of Australia's participation during his talks with Mahathir.

In 1991, relations chilled and trade was endangered over criticism by Australian groups of Malaysia's internal security and environmental policies, and over an Australian television series which Mahathir said was critical of Malaysia.

Mahathir said he thought Keating now understood Malaysian sensitivities, "but off and on we all as politicians, I suppose, burst out and say things we sometimes regret".

The visit began inauspiciously on Monday when Keating's aging official Boeing 707 jet was forced to land in Darwin because of a crack in the pilot's window. To some it suggested a metaphor for the distorted views the countries have had of each other.

But pearl trader Nick Paspaley, one of the 40 businessmen accompanying Keating on the visit, lent his private Falcon 50 jet, rescuing the prime minister from an embarrassing delay to his visit.

Both prime ministers made the point in their talks that "we all need a contemporary snapshot of societies", Keating told reporters yesterday.

"And, I think, that old, deep relationships are often not only taken for granted but the stereotype remains in one's mind about them," he said.

Asked if ties with Australia were back on track, Mahathir said: "I think so. I think it is as harmonious as it can be." Surging trade, not rising rhetoric, is underpinning the relationship these days, with two-way trade growing 20 percent annually in recent years.

Australia is Malaysia's 11th largest trading partner and this year Malaysia should overtake Britain to rank as the 10th largest export market for Australian goods, Keating said.

The two nations have been close since Malaysian independence in 1957 through defense, trade and educational contacts.

Both are members of the Five Party Defense Arrangements, which also include Britain, New Zealand and Singapore.