RI, Australia pave way for better ties

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

CANBERRA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid and Prime Minister John Howard emerged from their historic summit meeting here on Tuesday officially putting behind them the diplomatic discord that has been disrupting ties between Indonesia and Australia over the past few years.

Both leaders were full of mutual praise and heralded a renewed commitment to further bolster bilateral relations.

Albeit achieving little of actual substance, both leaders stressed that it was the symbolic significance and a sense of renewed camaraderie which were the primary achievements of the meeting.

Both leaders, facing domestic challenges to their leadership, were evidently satisfied that they had achieved what no other Indonesian and Australian leader had managed to do in over two- and-a-half decades.

No Indonesian president has visited Australia in 26-years.

Howard remarked that despite having met with Abdurrahman several times before, he was "delighted" to meet Abdurrahman in his home country.

He described the 15 minute tete-a-tete with his counterpart and the subsequent meeting joined by senior government officials as "positive."

"The visit by the President symbolizes and also gives a great deal of practical substance to the importance of the relationship," Howard said.

Abdurrahman during a joint press conference also remarked that "I come here in a symbolic way."

"But symbolic or not, this visit is very important ... With this kind of visit the cooperation between Indonesia and Australia will be closer," the President said.

After several canceled visits, Abdurrahman arrived in the Australian capital Monday evening in rather inauspicious circumstances.

On their way to Canberra the Indonesian Air Force Boeing-707 transporting the presidential entourage was forced to touch down in Darwin on Monday due to engine trouble.

Abdurrahman arrived in Canberra eight hours late after a Royal Australian Air Force jet was dispatched to "rescue" the stranded President.

Ties between Jakarta and Canberra reached their lowest ebb in 1999 following Australia's role in the East Timor debacle.

Since then many Indonesian politicians have continued to harbor strong resentment against Australia which they feel betrayed Indonesia by so quickly changing its stance from previously being one of the few countries that recognized the status of East Timor as an Indonesian province.

There remains lingering suspicion that Australia could again backtrack on its public stance, particularly in the case of rising separatist activity in Irian Jaya.

But Howard on Monday contended that there should be no looking back and that there would be no change in Australia's recognition of Indonesia's territorial integrity.

"Both of us are strongly of the view that the strains over East Timor, understandable though they were in the context of those events, should in the interest of a deeper and broader relationship be put behind us as we move on," he said.

"I repeated Australia's support for and recognition of Indonesia's territorial integrity. I welcomed the proposals for special autonomy, especially in relation to Aceh and Irian Jaya," Howard remarked.

He added that Australia saw the special autonomy package for Irian Jaya "as a unique opportunity to deal with those particular difficulties."

"I want to put on record my very great respect for the great undertaking in Indonesia's embrace of a different form of government. The transition to democracy is difficult, it's been carried out with great courage by the Indonesian people and by the President himself.

Recognizing that much of the past tension arose from the East Timor issue and the apparent significance the former Indonesian province held for Australia, Abdurrahman also said he hoped "we both can help the East Timorese to regain their place in the world community."

"It lies in the vicinity of Australia, and also we have committed many things there which were inhumane just as they have also inflicted many victims among us."

"We have to repair all those things and its not easy."

Pleasantries

While the occasion was filled with pleasantries, it was still obvious, however, that it would take time before relations could be restored to their pre-1999 level.

Key issues such as the possible resumption of a 1995 security agreement which was annulled amid the East Timor crisis were left pending.

When asked about the possible revival of the security agreement, Abdurrahman was aloof saying only that the "geopolitical and geomilitary situation has changed" and thus a further reformulation was needed.

Separately however, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab was more forthcoming, saying that the issue was "not pressing".

He suggested that it may by itself be revived but right now what both sides were trying to do was to "pave the way" for such a possibility.

Alwi added that it was also best "to wait for the right time."

Singling out one of the most overlooked foundations of the relationship, Howard noted the continued strength of the educational investment in the bilateral relationship.

"There are, of course, more Indonesians studying in Australia than any other country. That's been the case for a long time and we want that to continue and we want that to grow," he said referring to the some 18,000 Indonesians studying in Australia.

Later in the afternoon, Abdurrahman met with opposition leader Kim Beazley before attending a luncheon at Parliament House

In the afternoon, he left for Sydney using a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-500 which had specifically flown in from Jakarta to replace his initial aircraft.

In Sydney he met with, among others personages, New South Wales Governor Marie Bashir and Premier B. Carr.

Amid the busy schedule there was also a brief ceremony to honor the President's daughter Zannuba Arifah Chafsoh Rahman who received the Walkley media award for her previous work as a stringer for two Australian newspapers in Jakarta.

The ceremony was apparently touching for First Lady Shinta Nuriyah who was moved to tears.

The presidential entourage on Wednesday flies to New Zealand for the next leg of its trip before returning to Darwin the next day and then making a brief stop in Manila.