New govt to improve Australia ties
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is looking to mend ties between Jakarta and Canberra, which have been strained since Australia led a multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor in 1999.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Thursday that his office was looking into the possibility of Susilo making his first foreign bilateral visit to Australia.
"We have to pay attention to our neighbor to the southeast ... we have to give Australia priority," Hassan said after accompanying the President in a meeting with East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
He did not say when the visit would take place, but hinted that it could take place soon after Susilo's first 100 days in office.
"The President has said that he will not take any bilateral visits outside Indonesia (so he could focus on domestic issues) during his first 100 days," Hassan said.
Bilateral relations between Jakarta and Canberra were put to the test during and after Australia led a multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor to end widespread violence in the immediate aftermath of that country's independence referendum in 1999 after the Indonesian military was not able to curb the bloodshed.
While Australian Prime Minister John Howard has made at least five visits to Jakarta since 2000, only once has an Indonesian leader, former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, made an official visit to Australia.
Gus Dur visited Australia just one month before he was impeached by the People's Consultative Assembly in July 2001.
Hassan said Indonesia appreciated Howard's attendance at the inauguration of Susilo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Howard was one of five heads of government of neighboring countries that attended Susilo's inauguration on Wednesday. The other four were Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
Howard was the first head of state to hold bilateral talks with Susilo, earlier on Tuesday.
Australia remains one of the country's main trading partners, with Indonesia enjoying a surplus of US$375 million in the first half of 2004 alone.
Hassan said his office had recommended that his former boss Megawati Soekarnoputri pay a state visit to Australia, but it never occurred for various reasons.
"We had set definite dates for the visits twice, but they failed to materialize due to a hectic campaign schedule for former president Megawati," he said.
Hassan was reappointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs by Susilo, who was also Megawati's former coordinating minister for political and security affairs.
Aside from the bilateral visit after the first 100 days, Susilo is slated to attend the multilateral conferences, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Chile and the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos next month.
"He has confirmed his attendance to the two Summits," Hassan said.