RI, Australia pave way for better ties

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.