RI ties altered forever: Howard

RI ties altered forever: Howard

SYDNEY, Australia (AP): Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday tensions between the two neighbors due to the East Timor issue may never be fully repaired.

He said top-level efforts to repair diplomatic relations between Australia and Indonesia have been set back by the delay of a visit by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Howard said he was not surprised that Abdurrahman had called off the visit that had been penciled-in for next month.

"We always knew it would take a while to rebuild the relationship, and it is," Howard told reporters during a visit to France.

"It (the relationship) will never be the same. That's not necessarily a bad thing, that's not to say it won't grow closer than it is now."

Analysts in Australia said the postponement of Abdurrahman's visit was clearly a snub to Australia.

Abdurrahman has visited more than 30 countries since coming to power, and will make a trip to Egypt and possibly Europe next month.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab said recently there were other countries Abdurrahman could visit "which will bring greater benefit than spending time visiting Australia."

In an editorial Thursday, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said the spying case against the Australian soldier was among reasons Abdurrahman had changed his mind about the May visit.

"The domestic reaction may well have helped to persuade him that, for the moment, the time is not ripe to be seen in Canberra," the Herald said.

Greg Sheridan, The Australian newspaper's foreign editor, wrote that the postponement was "a clear and deliberate snub" to Howard's government.

Indonesia and Australia, who had worked hard to build ties for a decade, fell out in the second half of 1999 after Australia's role following the ballot in East Timor on Aug. 30.

Soon after he assumed office in October, Abdurrahman accused Australia of being "childish" in its attitudes toward Indonesia.

Rhetoric improved early this year and after meeting Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in Jakarta, Abdurrahman said he wanted to visit Australia.

In the most recent incident, it was discovered that an Australian soldier in East Timor had paid a former militia member to spy in Indonesian West Timor.