Soeharto still keen to visit Australia despite latest spat
Soeharto still keen to visit Australia despite latest spat
CANBERRA (Agencies): President Soeharto remains keen to visit Australia despite the "temporary messiness" over withdrawal of a controversial senior officer as ambassador designate, Indonesia's outgoing envoy said yesterday.
Sabam Siagian denied reports here that Soeharto had shelved plans to visit Australia following the withdrawal of the president's preferred candidate for ambassador, Herman Mantiri, because of an outcry over remarks the lieutenant general had made on a 1991 incident in East Timor.
"In our case, any time he decides to come, he is willing, I am sure, and I know he is keen to visit Australia. The question should be rephrased: how does Australia feel welcoming President Soeharto after this?" Siagian told the Nine TV Network.
Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating continues to have a "special relationship" with Soeharto, he said.
Indonesia has been a focus of Keating's efforts to strengthen Australia's links with the Asian region.
Siagian denied a suggestion that the Mantiri affair had scuttled four years of diplomacy, saying bilateral relations had "expanded and deepened in a very significant way."
"That expanded bilateral relationship can cope with the temporary messiness" of the Mantiri incident, he added. Mantiri's appointment caused a massive protest because of comments he made in a 1992 interview about the East Timor bloody incident, saying "we don't regret anything. What happened was quite proper." He was head of the military command which includes East Timor at the time.
On November 12, 1991 Indonesian troops clashed with thousands of East Timorese mourners at Santa Cruz cemetery in the East Timor's capital of Dili. The incident claimed the lives of 50 East Timorese people, according to official report.
Commentators here have criticized foreign minister Gareth Evans for his handling of Mantiri's appointment, saying Evans failed to put Australia's objections forcefully enough, leading Indonesia to make a humiliating retreat.
Siagian noted the role that Evans -- a member of the upper house senate -- had in domestic politics and said: "He copes with too many problems ... has too much on his plate."
Indonesia has said it will leave the ambassador slot here temporarily vacant.
That move is a protest against Canberra, according to the leader of an influential Indonesian Islamic organization, the Indonesian state news agency Antara reported Saturday.
"Indonesia wants to teach Australia that it cannot be ridiculed easily over the so-called Mantiri issue," said Amien Rais, chairman of Muhammadiyah.