Megawati congratulates Lee, hopes for better relations

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri congratulated on Thursday new Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and expressed hope his government would work to improve bilateral relations between the two countries.

"President Megawati sent the letter yesterday (Thursday) and expressed the hope that the two countries could strengthen their ties," Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Friday.

Hassan said he had also congratulated new Singaporean Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo on his appointment to Lee's cabinet.

"Hopefully many pending issues between the neighboring countries will be addressed soon," Hassan said.

Lee was installed as the new leader of the city state, replacing Goh Chok Thong on Thursday. Known as BG Lee, he is the son of former first prime minister and national icon Lee Kuan Yew.

"We have several pending issues with Singapore, including a extradition treaty process and the planned establishment of joint bilateral commission, which we must discuss," Hassan said.

The government has been pushing Singapore to move forward on the signing of an extradition treaty with Indonesia. Many Indonesians accused of committing fraud amounting to billions of rupiah here have sought refuge in the state.

However, the process had yet to move forward as Singapore has shown reluctance to sign the treaty.

The two countries also have to resolve their common sea boundaries and a sand exporting dispute, thorny issues that have strained bilateral relations.

While both Indonesia and Singapore are founding members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), relations between the two neighbors have been especially rocky recently.

In the global campaign against terrorism, the two countries were often at odds -- with Singapore accusing Indonesia of being too weak on cracking down on suspected terrorists, while Indonesia called Singapore's approach unnecessarily authoritarian.

Hassan said Indonesia was optimistic that Singapore's new government would take a different approach in addressing issues of conflict with Indonesia.

"We are always optimistic that Singapore will pay more attention to these issues and hope to see a new approach to settle them," Hassan said.

He stressed Indonesia considered Singapore an important neighbor and said he wished to see better bilateral relations in the future.