Indonesia Woos Australia Over ASEAN?

By Mark Forbes
Foreign affairs correspondent
March 21, 2005

Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirjuda: "Being a close neighbour Indonesia can play a good bridge for Australia's relations with others, with the region."



Indonesia's Foreign Minister pledges to help Australia become a member of a powerful new regional grouping.

Australia should become part of Asia and a proposed security treaty with Indonesia could be a symbol for integration with the region, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

In an exclusive interview with The Age, Dr Wirajuda said deepening and expanding ties with Indonesia could see his nation become a "bridge" into the region for Australia. He vowed to try to overturn resistance to Australia joining a new East Asian Summit.

Last week Malaysia said Australia should not be invited to the summit - an expanded ASEAN that could form the region's major international forum - which will hold an inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur in December.

Dr Wirajuda said he would argue against the exclusion at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers next month.

To forge a groundbreaking security treaty, Dr Wirajuda indicated Indonesia would not insist on Australia abandoning controversial restrictions on training with some of Indonesia's feared Kopassus troops, stating a gradual approach to closer military ties would be acceptable.

AdvertisementAfter talks on Friday with his Australian counterpart, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, both said a new security treaty could be endorsed in principle by Prime Minister John Howard and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to Canberra in a fortnight, and could be finalised by the end of the year.

Excited and fearful of the domestic reaction to a security treaty only six years after the spectre of open conflict between Australia and Indonesia during the East Timor crisis, Dr Wirajuda said Australian military assistance in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province had provided a psychological breakthrough in its once-fraught relationship with the Indonesian army.

Forging a new security pact would provide a symbolic gesture for "others to see that Australia is part of the region", Dr Wirajuda said.

The agreement could provide a "comprehensive framework" for expanded and deeper co-operation.

A new agreement would be broader than the security pact secretly negotiated by then prime minister Paul Keating in 1995 and abandoned during the East Timor crisis, Dr Wirajuda said.

"We are talking about broader security co-operation, not just in the pure military sense but including traditional and non-traditional security issues, such as transnational crime and people smuggling," he said.

Any agreement would need to reject the use of force and resolve disputes peacefully, he said. Detailed talks were yet to begin, but an agreement this year was "within reach".

Dr Wirajuda said the proposed East Asian Summit should be inclusive, "not limited to those 13 in ASEAN plus three (China, Japan and Korea) but also include Australia, India and New Zealand".

The summit could become the key regional body, including the emerging superpower, China.

Australia is eager to be involved in the summit after failing to gain an invitation to be an ASEAN partner.

Dr Wirajuda said it was important Australia saw itself as part of Asia, and was seen as a genuine member of the region.

Mr Downer last night welcomed Dr Wirajuda's comments. "We work very closely together on issues like the East Asian Summit and Australia greatly appreciates Indonesia's support," he said.

from: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/03/20/1111253887354.html?from=top5&oneclick=true