Stop megaphone diplomacy, Indonesia tells PM Howard
Stop megaphone diplomacy, Indonesia tells PM Howard
Muhammad Nafik and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government congratulated Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday for his re-election, but also urged him to stop his "megaphone diplomacy".
"We congratulate Prime Minister Howard for his reelection and we look forward to working closely with the new administration in Australia," Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda told a press conference.
"The important thing to do, which Indonesia has always continued to do, is to avoid megaphone diplomacy... such as trading accusations and blame" through publications, he said.
Hassan had previously criticized Australia for its tendency to "communicate through public diplomacy rather than quiet diplomacy".
However, Hassan said that as Howard was reelected as the Australian prime minister, the two countries would seek to rebuild bilateral ties.
"It is very important for the two countries to sit together and discuss many issues. I expect that after the election process is completed, Australian domestic affairs will no longer affect bilateral relations," he said.
Australia and Indonesia have had rocky relations over the past three years with top officials from the two countries continuing to exchange harsh criticisms of each other on several issues.
The ties suffered further when Australia led a United Nations peacekeeping force to the former Indonesian province of East Timor after it broke away from Jakarta in August 1999.
Canberra has signaled its increasing frustration in recent months over the rising tide of Middle Eastern asylum seekers using Indonesia as a stepping stone to Australia.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri subsequently refused to accept Howard's telephone calls and politely turned down his request for a private meeting on the sidelines of the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shanghai last month.
Howard said on Monday he and his Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer would soon visit Indonesia to try to stem the rising influx of asylum seekers sailing south in leaky boats.
"It's not easy because Indonesia's priorities in this area are different from Australia's but we continue to be committed to doing what we can to get that agreement," Howard was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying.
Political analysts here have given a cool response to Howard's reelection and urged him to change his government's diplomatic approach toward Indonesia in order to repair the strained ties between the two countries.
They said Howard's reelection should be accepted as a political reality even though Indonesia had wanted the Labor Party's Kim Beazley to win the election.
"It's his (Howard's) ability to draw on the sentiments felt keenly by his people," former Indonesian ambassador to Australia Wiryono Sastrohandoyo told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
"It's normal in electoral politics to use a sensitive issue to get votes," he said, responding to criticisms of Howard for exploiting racial issues to win the election.
Reni Winata, director of the Australian Studies Center at Jakarta's University of Indonesia, said Howard's campaign against the issue of Middle Eastern immigrants was an "effective way" for him to sweep back to power.
"He's smart to read the public sentiment. He has managed to manipulate public opinion," she told the Post.
Reni and Wiryono said that, historically, Jakarta had been able to cooperate more easily with previous governments from the Labor Party.
In an effort to mend ties between the two neighboring countries, Wiryono said Howard should comprehensively clarify his blatant criticisms of Indonesia.
"Howard should explain his strong words against Indonesia. He must be able to explain that it was purely politics ahead of the election," Wiryono said. "He should say something that pleases Indonesia."
Reni concurred, saying Howard should convince Indonesia that the issue of people-smuggling was only a "political commodity" used to secure his electoral victory.
According to Reni, a third party is needed to bridge communications between Howard and Megawati ahead of his planned meeting with her, otherwise it will be difficult for the talks to go ahead.
"I don't know how Howard would face Megawati after he has strongly criticized her if there is no third party to mediate," she said.
Wiryono called on both countries to put aside any differences and avoid emotional reactions in order to "get mutual benefits" from their future bilateral relations.