[Kabar-indonesia] 7 Howard-SBY Reports: JP Editorial: Kiss and Make Up [+AFR; Herald-Sun]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

7 reports: 

- JP: Papua to be main focus of talks between 
  Yudhoyono, Howard 

- JP Editorial: Kiss and Make Up 

- AFR: Indonesia security treaty a step closer

- Indonesia Won't Ask Australia to Review 
  Papuan Visas

- Herald-Sun: Indonesia says it shares Australia's ... 
  Fear and loathing [by Tim Lindsey and Jeremy 
  Kingsley]

- Leaders of Indonesia, Australia meet to heal 
  diplomatic rift

- ST: Howard, Yudhoyono to meet in Batam

The Jakarta Post
Monday, June 26, 2006

Papua to be main focus of talks between Yudhoyono, Howard 

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Batam

Papua will top the agenda during talks here Monday between the leaders of 
Indonesia and Australia, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard arrived in Batam late Sunday ahead of 
talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. 

The meeting is seen as an opportunity to mend ties that soured after Canberra 
granted temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers in March. 

Hassan said Indonesia would insist that Australia formally state its 
recognition of Indonesia's territorial integrity, including its authority over Papua, 
and reaffirm that it would not support separatist elements in the territory. 

Yudhoyono and Howard will discuss the countries' strained relations as well 
as other regional issues, including the situation in Timor Leste, the foreign 
minister said. 

Indonesia cautioned Australia and expressed doubts over the country's support 
for Indonesia's sovereignty following the granting of the visas to the 42 
Papuans. 

Responding to Indonesia's anger, Australia issued the "Pacific Solution". 
Under this policy Australia will not process any Indonesian asylum seekers on its 
soil, but instead on some agreed-upon Pacific islands. 

"We appreciate this response because it will have a daunting effect on asylum 
seekers from Indonesia," Hassan said. 

He dismissed reports the June 14 release of terror convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir 
from prison would be included in the talks. Some reports have said that 
Australia would agree to formally support Indonesia's integrity on the condition 
that Ba'asyir would be closely monitored by authorities here and banned from 
traveling. 

Howard has sent Yudhoyono a letter to express Australia's disappointment and 
anger over the release of Ba'asyir, who served 26 months in jail for 
conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. 

"President Yudhoyono has responded to the letter and Australia seems content 
with it. We have reaffirmed our commitment to fight terrorism through law 
enforcement. 

"That's why we took Ba'asyir to court, and later he was sentenced and then 
freed after serving his time. We have carried out our obligations," Hassan said. 

He said Yudhoyono and Howard also would discuss bilateral cooperation in 
fighting terrorism and the political turbulence in Timor Leste. 

Unsurprisingly, analysts have predicted the meeting may be testy. 

There also have been reports that a security agreement would be discussed. 
But before leaving for Batam, Howard denied a security pact would be signed. 

"The suggestion that a security pact would come out of these discussions is 
not one that came from me or from the Australian side," he said in Sydney as 
quoted by AFP. 

Jakarta-based political analyst Umar Juoro said "there will be some tension" 
at the meeting. "There are some crucial issues, especially asylum for 
Papuans," he said. 

--------------------------------------------

The Jakarta Post
Monday, June 26, 2006

Editorial

Kiss and Make Up 

Time and again the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and its neighbor 
to the south has gone through vociferous cycles of undue tension.

While political prejudice and overzealous nationalistic pride have often been 
the 
spice peppering these episodes, pragmatism and common sense have -- usually 
-- eventually emerged as the soothing solution to wary circumstances. 

This morning's tete-a-tete between Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and 
Australia's John Howard in Batam is another triumph of diplomacy. 

It is the first meeting between the two leaders since relations were jarred 
following Australia's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 asylum seeking 
Papuans. 

It is also a made for the media kiss and make up event to ensure the mutual 
needs of both countries are no longer diverted by issues which have little 
geopolitical significance to either. 

We repeatedly hear the diplomatic rhetoric of how strong the network of 
relationships are between both countries. That people-to-people ties are sound 
despite events on the political front. 

However the latest outburst on the visa issue painfully revealed the reality 
-- that bilateral ties are dependent on personal moods and emotions at the 
highest decision making levels. 

Perhaps one illustration was Yudhoyono's reported exasperation during the 
crisis with his counterpart, despite all that had been done. 

How long can a relationship last if it defines itself by impulse and 
sentiment? 

Given the contrasting nature of the two countries -- no two neighbors could 
be so different historically, geographically, in population size and in 
economic development -- there ought to be a sounder and more tangible theoretical 
framework aligning the bilateral relationship. 

In May the research division of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry organized a 
brainstorming session on this very subject. The gathering brought about an 
array of Indonesian foreign policy scholars and observers. 

Among the conclusions of the one-day meeting was the recognition that, 
despite the recurring spats, both countries have a symmetry in geopolitical 
interests. 

Indonesia, for example, as the world's third greatest democracy, is a 
developing non-Western country that -- despite all its potential -- is in need of the 
basic ingredients of a "modern" nation to solidify its democratic evolution 
and make the next leap. 

It so happens that Australia, as a modern Western country, has developed many 
of these sought after ingredients: in science and technology, management 
systems, and so on. 

Cooperation with Australia should have the strategic purpose of acquiring 
those basic ingredients so Indonesia can hasten towards (democratic) modernity. 

It will also be beneficial to Australia's strategic interests. in that 
Indonesia will then develop a vibrant economy with a cohesive political system which 
will ensure stability and keep the sprawling archipelago a united entity. 

A politically sound and economically dynamic Indonesia that conducts a 
responsible foreign policy is of pivotal interest to Australia's regional outlook. 

In many respects this is the very reason why Canberra is already actively 
engaged in various development projects here. 

If Susilo and Howard can agree this morning in Batam on such symmetry, then 
the two countries' periodic "hiccups" will not have the same boisterous effect 
they have had over the past few months. 

While summits and joint cooperation meetings between ministers of the two 
countries are useful, we should also ensure that they do not descend into 
periodic ceremonial affairs. 

There must be a sense of urgency and political will, on both sides, to ensure 
agreed upon programs are truly realized. 

Another Bali meeting between a platoon of Indonesian and Australian ministers 
will do little if its simply leads to newspaper headlines and hot line calls 
between heads of state. 

On that note, we wish our president and the visiting prime minister a meeting 
of substance. 

-----------------------------------------

Australian Financial Review
Monday, June 26, 2006

Indonesia security treaty a step closer

John Kerin and Susannah Moran

Australia and Indonesia are expected to sign a statement of intent to
commit the two countries to completing a wide-ranging security treaty
when Prime Minister John Howard meets Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono today.

With relations between the two countries still strained over
Australia's handling of Papuan asylum seekers and Indonesia's release
from jail of the Bali bombing-linked cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, Mr
Howard said the treaty would not be signed today and other government
sources said it might not be finished before the end of this year.

"I don't expect that (it will be finalised on Monday), I never have,"
Mr Howard told journalists in Sydney yesterday.

But signing a "statement of intent" would allow both leaders to
salvage something from the talks at a time when their respective
domestic audiences are unimpressed with the other's behaviour.

Expectations for a ministerial forum led by Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer later this week are also decidedly modest, although Health
Minister Tony Abbott, who is already in Jakarta, yesterday announced
an additional $10 million to help Indonesia tackle bird flu.

The treaty was expected to bring together Australian and Indonesian
co-operation in the areas of counter terrorism, illegal fishing,
people smuggling and defence in one document - first flagged by Mr
Downer late last year. One of the sticking points is understood to be
deciding in what circumstances Australia and Indonesia should come to
each other's aid in the event of an attack on the other.

It is believed this clause would not go beyond requiring either
country to "consult". Indonesia has already cautioned that it does not
want to align itself militarily with Australia.

A previous agreement between Australia and Indonesia was torn up in
1999 after Australia went to East Timor's aid in its struggle for
independence from Indonesia.

Mr Howard has also faced a backbench revolt over changes to
Australia's asylum seeker laws that would have refugees arriving by
boat processed offshore.

Changes that were introduced to discourage Papuan asylum seekers are
now seen as part of the solution by Indonesia.

While yesterday describing the relationship as "good", Mr Howard
conceded there were always challenges, given the countries were so
different.

Mr Howard reassured Indonesia that Australia supported its sovereignty
over its eastern-most province of Papua. "We don't support separatists
of secessionist movements in Indonesia. We have no wish to see
Australia used in any way as a staging post in those movements or
activities," he said.

Mr Howard said the issue of Mr Bashir, who was implicated in the Bali
bombings but released before serving his full sentence, would be
raised, adding that he would convey sentiments similar to those
contained in a letter he sent to the Indonesian President detailing
the depth of Australia's disappointment and calling on the Indonesians
to keep the cleric under surveillance.

But Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, urged Mr Howard to
adopt a hard line with the Indonesians on Mr Bashir and urge Jakarta
to ban the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

"The purpose of having a strong robust bilateral relationship, as the
Prime Minister claims he has with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
is to use it when the rubber hits the road," Mr Rudd said yesterday.
"The rubber hits the road with the release of Abu Bakar Bashir . . .
let's make no bones about it, this guy is a mass murderer," he said.

After his trip to Indonesia, Mr Howard will travel to China, in a trip
that coincides with the arrival of a liquefied natural gas shipment
under the North-West shelf contract.

KEY POINTS

· Strained relations mean a treaty may be still some months away.

· However, a statement of intent will allow the leaders to move forward.

· Mr Howard described Australia's relationship with Indonesia as good
but added there were challenges.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia Won't Ask Australia to Review Papuan Visas

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia won't ask Australia to review its
decision to grant asylum to 42 Papuans in March, a move that soured
relations between the nations, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan
Wirajuda said.

Australia in January granted asylum to the Papuans, who alleged the
authorities are committing genocide in Indonesia's easternmost
province. Indonesia denied the allegations, saying the asylum seekers
are ``economic immigrants.''

`If the Australian government cancels their temporary visas, they
could proceed through legal process,'' which could take years,
Wirajuda said yesterday on the Indonesian tourist island of Batam.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono will hold talks today in Batam on issues including
repairing relations as well as border security, terrorism and economic
cooperation.

The two leaders met by coincidence on a beachside jetty on their
morning walks today. Yudhoyono said Indonesia ``welcomed'' Australian
investment in the region.

Indonesia is Australia's 11th-largest trading partner, with their
trade valued at A$7.25 billion ($5.3 billion) in calendar 2005.

Howard is negotiating with Australian lawmakers to process asylum
seekers off Australia's shores. The laws are expected to be debated in
the Australian parliament next month.

``We will continue to cooperate in a constructive manner in the
future, and that's why we very much welcome their policy of tighter
border monitoring and to do the process in the Pacific,'' Wirajuda
said.

Howard and Yudhoyono are scheduled to meet later today. Howard will
travel to China tomorrow for talks on liquefied natural gas in
Shenzhen, in China's Guangdong province.

----------------------------------------

Herald-Sun (Melbourne)
Monday, June 26, 2006

Op-Ed

Indonesia says it shares Australia's ... Fear and loathing

Tim Lindsey and Jeremy Kingsley

TODAY, John Howard is in Batam, an Indonesian island off the coast of
Singapore, to meet Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and
Abu Bakar Bashir's release will top their list of talking points.

Bashir's release from jail has caused outrage in Australia, where he
is held responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 88
Australian holidaymakers.

He is also held responsible for attacks that followed, first at
Jakarta's Marriott Hotel in 2003, then at the Australian Embassy in
2004, and again last year in Bali.

These attacks were perpetrated by Jemaah Islamiah and Bashir is JI's
leader. Australians, therefore, cannot understand why he is free to
spread his militant jihad ideology.

Many Australians assume that his ideas have support in Indonesia, the
world's third-largest democracy, the world's largest Muslim nation and
Australia's close northern neighbour.

They are wrong. The Indonesian Government sees Bashir as a deadly
enemy. After all, his chief objective is to overthrow them and set up
a hardline Islamic state.

And, on the way, eliminate Indonesians who don't agree with him.

Before it began bombing Westerners, JI was involved in the Christmas
bombings of Indonesian churches in 2002 and has killed many more
Indonesians, mostly Muslims, than it has foreigners.

Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of Muslim Indonesians fear
and loathe extremists such as these, whom they see as seduced by
hardline ideas from the Middle East.

So, whatever the noisy enthusiasm of his followers, Bashir is a public
enemy in Indonesia and that is why successive governments have put him
on trial three times and may well do so again. The problem is that
they have never been able to produce evidence that directly
incriminates him.

Bashir was in jail during the Marriott Hotel, Australian Embassy and
second Bali bombings, and the best evidence produced about the first
Bali attack was a police report that Bashir told Amrozi that carrying
out "an event" in Bali was "up to him".

Like most other bombers, Amrozi refused to testify against Bashir.

The West has not done much to help either. When the Indonesian courts
asked the US to produce key witnesses, presumably held in Guantanamo,
they refused point-blank, while video evidence from Singapore did not
comply with court rules.

The resulting cases would have been thrown out in Australia, so the
fact that Bashir was jailed for 2 1/2 years for a vague "conspiracy"
based on this weak evidence shows just how determined the courts were
to keep him inside.

And when he had done his time -- with remissions that are the right of
all prisoners -- there was nothing the authorities could legally do to
keep him inside.

That's the law.

The truth is, however, that while Bashir has deep malice towards the
West and real symbolic importance for his supporters, he is no longer
a player in terrorist attacks in Indonesia.

He may never have had a direct operational role. This is important,
because it means his release is unlikely to directly increase
terrorist attacks.

These have long been in the hands of others who are members of
splinter groups now only loosely associated with Bashir, if at all,
such as the fanatical Noordin Muhammad Top. Stopping them is more
important than whether Bashir is in or out of jail.

The problem is that the uproar over Bashir masks the fact that
Indonesia has been remarkably successful in nailing terrorists.

Take for example Imam Samudra, Muhklas and Amrozi, the gang that
actually carried out the first Bali blasts. They are on death row and
more than 200 JI members have been detained or tried.

The fanatical Dr Azhari, JI's chief bomb technician, has been shot
dead and Noordin Muhammad Top is on the run, with close companions
being picked off one by one.

So, President Yudhonyono will be right today when he tells Prime
Minister Howard that we should not judge Indonesia's record on
terrorism by Bashir's release and that JI does not represent the
mainstream of Islam in his country.

Islamist terrorism will continue, as it has done for decades, but
Indonesian security forces, supported by our federal police, are
chipping away at the cells responsible for the horrors of recent
years.

There is now a growing sense among mainstream Muslims that they have
to recapture the public debate from the loud voices on the fringe.

John Howard is probably well aware that it is terrorism, not Islam,
that is the enemy. The moderate Muslims of the southeast Asian
mainstream have much in common with us and the secular and democratic
government of Indonesia is our natural ally against JI.

It is time to take the spotlight off Bashir and look at how we can
strengthen co-operation against the terrorists who actually do the
bombing.

Tim Lindsey is Professor of Asian Law and director of the Asian Law
Centre at Melbourne University and Jeremy Kingsley is a principal
researcher.

-------------------------------------------

AFP, June 26, 2006

Leaders of Indonesia, Australia meet to heal diplomatic rift

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister 
John Howard were to meet in a bid to heal a recent rift in relations.

The talks would be the first between the two leaders since Australia 
infuriated Jakarta by granting temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum-seekers 
in March.

Some of the group, who arrived in a dugout canoe, were pro-independence 
campaigners and Jakarta saw Australia's move as support for the province's 
independence, temporarily withdrawing its ambassador to Canberra in fury.

The issue was expected to dominate the meeting between the two leaders at the 
luxurious Nongsa Marina resort on this island near Singapore.

Just before leaving for Batam, Howard denied reports that a security 
agreement would be signed at the talks.

"There won't be any security pact signed," the Australian leader said.

"The suggestion that a security pact would come out of these discussions is 
not one that came from me or from the Australian side."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had said last month that Australia would 
formally recognise Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua in a new security 
agreement which would probably be discussed at the talks.

All Howard said Sunday, however, was that Australia supported Indonesia's 
sovereignty over its easternmost province.

"This issue is one that has to be resolved with Papua as part of Indonesia," 
he said. "We are ready to help in any way we can in that process."

Separatists in Papua have campaigned for more than 30 years to split from 
Indonesia, accusing Jakarta of widespread human rights abuses.

Howard had pledged to pass new immigration legislation which would make it 
difficult for any more Papuans to seek asylum in Australia but a backbench 
revolt last week forced the prime minister to make concessions and delay the 
legislation.

He is now empty-handed for his meeting with Yudhoyono, but had said he would 
tell the Indonesian leader of Australian anger on another topic -- the release 
from prison of radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Bashir was released from an Indonesian prison earlier this month after 
serving less than 26 months for his role in a "sinister conspiracy" over the 2002 
Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

"I will certainly be raising that and my position is set out in the letter 
that I wrote," Howard said. "I will continue to maintain that position in my 
discussions with him."

The Australian leader had written to Yudhoyono to note that the UN Security 
Council had listed Bashir as a "terrorist" and that he was subject to an assets 
freeze, restricted travel and a ban on accessing arms.

Analysts in Indonesia have said they did not believe Bashir holds the 
influence he once did over militants in the Muslim country.

Despite the controversies, Howard was upbeat that ties with Australia's giant 
neighbour remained sound. He noted the two countries shared the common goal 
of defeating "terrorism".

"I think the relationship is good. It's always a challenging relationship 
because we are very different countries and very different people," Howard said.

Howard has painstakingly rebuilt ties with Jakarta after relations plummeted 
following a vote for East Timorese independence in 1999. 

Australian troops led a multinational force sent to East Timor after 
Indonesia's military and its militias embarked on a scorched-earth policy following 
the former province's vote for separation.

------------------------------------------

The Straits Times (Singapore)
Monday, June 26, 2006

Howard, Yudhoyono to meet in Batam

Azhar Ghani, Indonesia Bureau Chief

Talks seen as vital for improving ties after tension over Papuan
asylum seekers and cleric Bashir's release

JAKARTA - INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will meet
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Batam Island today for talks
seen as crucial for easing strained bilateral ties.

Discussions are expected to be tough, analysts said, with both men
going into the meeting aware of how positions on the issues causing
the tension are hardening in their home countries.

Issues to be taken up include Australia's handling of the Papuan
asylum seekers and security concerns in Canberra following the release
of cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in Indonesia earlier this month.

Bashir was freed after serving 26 months in prison for his role in the
2002 Bali attacks that left 202 dead, including 88 Australians.

Mr Bantarto Bandoro, a researcher with the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies in Jakarta, told The Straits Times: 'Domestic
pressures could make both men reluctant to cede much ground as far as
the issues are concerned, especially since this will be their first
meeting after ties worsened.

'The best we can hope for is an understanding that these issues should
not impede the future improvement of relations. After all, we cannot
choose our neighbours.'

Relations took a dive after Australia granted temporary protection
visas to 42 asylum seekers from Indonesia's Papua province in March.

Indonesia saw the move as showing Australian support for an
independent Papua and withdrew its ambassador from Canberra in
protest.

Things appeared to be on the mend when Canberra proposed to toughen
its immigration laws so that asylum seekers arriving in Australia by
boat would be sent to remote Pacific island camps while their claims
are processed. Jakarta responded by asking its envoy to return.

Still, Dr Yudhoyono remains under pressure from nationalist
legislators who say the amendments are not enough to prevent future
Papuan refugees being granted asylum in Australia.

Meanwhile, in Australia, critics saw the move as a diplomatic sop for
Indonesia.

Last week, Australian legislators - including some from Mr Howard's
own party - blocked the changes, effectively denying the Prime
Minister a chance to show goodwill towards Indonesia ahead of today's
talks.

Adding to the tension was the release of Mr Bashir. Mr Howard had
written a harsh note of complaint to Dr Yudhoyono in protest, and said
he would bring up the matter personally with the Indonesian President
during their meeting.

Before his departure for Indonesia, Mr Howard also refuted reports
that he would sign a security pact with Dr Yudhoyono.

The signing of such a pact would be a clear sign of the end of the two
countries' diplomatic rift, analysts said.

Earlier reports had said the treaty could cover police operations,
border security, immigration and military ties, as well as an
assurance that Australia respects Indonesia's ownership of Papua.

But Mr Howard did say that despite all the controversies, relations
between the two neighbours remain sound and they shared a common goal
of defeating terrorism.

He told reporters: 'I think the relationship is good. It has always
been a challenging relationship because we are very different
countries and very different people.'

Also signalling that the talks could turn out better than expected,
the two countries yesterday signed an agreement that would see
Australia providing A$10 million (S$11.6 million) worth of aid for
Indonesia's fight against bird flu.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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