RI to sign treaty with Australia

RI to sign treaty with Australia

BANGKOK (JP): Indonesia and Australia next week will sign a
historic agreement which, for the first time provides a formal
framework in which they can address common security problems,
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono announced here yesterday.

Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating made a simultaneous
announcement in Canberra on the Agreement on Maintaining
Security, which will be signed in Jakarta on Monday by the two
countries' foreign ministers.

Keating and President Soeharto will witness the signing as
will their defense ministers and military chiefs.

Moerdiono, who is accompanying President Soeharto attending
the ASEAN summit, told reporters that the two neighboring
countries fully realized that the stability of the region and of
the world was of common interest to Indonesia and Australia.

"Without national, regional and international stability,
development cannot possibly proceed," he said.

He underlined that the agreement, the result of negotiations
lasting a year and half, is not a defense or a military pact.

It will only formalize existing security cooperation programs
between the two countries, including joint exercises and exchange
visits of military officers from the two countries, he said.

"The agreement will contribute to the stability of the region
and the world. It will strengthen the friendly ties that have
been forged between us," he said, adding also that the two
countries have agreed not to interfere in one another's affairs.

Indonesian officials in Bangkok said the agreement provides a
forum for consultation and possible joint responses when the
security of either state is threatened from external, but not
from internal powers.

Consultations

The one-and-a-half page document provides for consultations
between ministers on mutual security interests and the promotion
of security cooperation through joint exercises, the officials
said.

Keating told a news conference in Canberra that he proposed
the agreement to President Soeharto, and that they have been
consulting on this for the last 18 months, including when they
met in Bali in September and in Osaka, Japan, in November.

Speaking after the draft agreement was approved by his
cabinet, Keating described the accord as having "treaty status".

Keating plans to fly to Indonesia on Sunday. His entourage
will include Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, Defense Minister
Robert Ray and Australian Defense Force Chief Gen. John Baker AC.

The prime minister also attributed the agreement to Gen. Peter
Gration, the former defense force chief who acted as a personal
emissary in negotiating the agreement with Indonesia.

"The agreement asserts in formal terms for the first time that
Australia and Indonesia have common interests in the peace and
security of the region and that we intend to co-operate in
support of those interests," Keating said, according to a
transcript of his media conference, made available by the
Australian embassy in Jakarta.

"The agreement is intended to make an enduring and powerful
assertion within the region and outside that the long-term
strategic interests of Australia and Indonesia coincide."

"It's not a defense pact or alliance with automatic support in
the event of an attack," he added.

Australia was no threat to Indonesia nor is Indonesia a threat
to Australia, he said. "This has been the basis of our defense
planning for many years. But it is important that it is
understood by the people of each country."

"You also remember me saying that the emergence of President
Soeharto's New Order government in the 1960s was the event of
most positive strategic significance to Australia in the post-war
years," he said.

"The consequences for Australia of having a hostile or even
unfriendly government in Indonesia over that period would have
been incalculable including for the percentage of our national
resources we would have spent, or would be spending, on defense.

Australia's small military is one of the most technically
advanced in the region. Indonesia's armed forces, relatively
small considering its large population, are under-equipped and
geared largely to civic works and protecting internal security.

"I am convinced that Australia and Indonesia have much to
contribute in partnership. I think we have a great opportunity
here to shape the security environment of the region," Keating
said. (mds/emb)

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