Subject: Australia-Indonesia relations; Prime Minister Alkatiri; Abu Bakar Bashir; East Timor
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO:
His Excellency, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, Excellencies, members of the press. I am glad to welcome my good friend Prime Minister John Howard from Australia with whom I had very constructive and productive talks this afternoon here in Batam Island. I am pleased to tell you that I happily ran into the Prime Minister this morning at the park while doing my morning jog. As always, it is always good to see the Prime Minister.
We discussed a wide range of issues, bilateral issues and also regional and international issues and we discussed these issues with a spirit of good neighbourliness, cooperation and mutual respect. This meeting is rather unique in that it was preceded by a rather [inaudible] correspondence between the Prime Minister and I. Between us we exchanged three letters since June 15 and I think they reflect the intensity and closeness of our relations.
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I am particularly pleased to read you Prime Minister John Howard’s letter to me two days ago wherein he conveyed to me Australia’s position on issues that are important to Indonesia, particularly national unity issues. I received assurance from the Prime Minister that Australia does not support separatism and the secessionist movement in Indonesia and does not wish to see Australia becoming a staging point for any such activities against Indonesia. I also received assurance that the Australian Government will not allow its development assistance to be used to fund political activities or separatist agenda in Papua or elsewhere in Indonesia. We find it a very strong and very reassuring statement.
We also discussed counter-terrorism issues which is the key part of our bilateral relations given the tragic losses that we have both suffered to terrorist attack. I reiterated that recent developments do not detract us in any way from our commitment to intensify our efforts to fight terrorism and to bring anyone responsible for terrorist activities to justice.
I also stress the importance of continued cooperation between our law enforcement agencies and counter-terrorism activities. I also express my appreciation with the progress of the programmes funded by soft loans and grants amounting to $1 billion provided by Australia through the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development. I am glad to also note that in our meeting both Prime Minister and I are committed to further promoting trade investment and tourism between the countries.
Prime Minister Howard and I also discussed a number of issues of common interest at the regional and global levels, including the East Asia Summit as well as the latest development in Timor Leste.
Finally I also express my gratitude and my appreciation to the Government and people of Australia for their humanitarian [inaudible] assistance to the victims of the earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java province. In short, we have a friendly, neighbourly, productive and constructive talks and I look forward to continuing this discussion with the Prime Minister as a necessary feature of our close bilateral relations. Ladies and gentleman may I now I invite Prime Minister John Howard to brief the press.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
Well thank you very much Mr President, it’s a great pleasure to be back in Indonesia on this, my twelfth visit to this country since I became Prime Minister in 1996. Again may I pay tribute to the leadership that you have provided to Indonesia as President, the way in which the institutions of your country have been transformed and the leadership in democracy that you have given to Indonesia is an important model to many countries in the world and something that I do not believe receives the acclaim and the respect that it deserves.
Australia and Indonesia have strong bilateral ties, we have strong bilateral interests, we are very different countries but we share a common present and certainly a common future and it is in the interests of both countries that the fundamental strengths of the relationship be constantly cared for and when difficulties or misunderstandings arise we take the opportunity at an early time and at a leadership level of addressing them. We have discussed our common commitment to the fight against terrorism, we have dealt with issues relating to Papua.
The Australian position on Papua has been clear for years. We recognise and support Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, we do not wish to see separatist movements arise in any part of Indonesia, we believe that Papua’s future lies as part of the Indonesian Republic through the implementation of all aspects, development, educational, human rights and so forth of the special autonomy package and as I have indicated on a number of occasions both in Australia and here, my Government does not wish to see Australia used as a staging post to support or encourage separatist movements.
We’ve talked about a number of important international issues, the ones that you mentioned Mr President, we also touched on the difficult issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions which I know is the subject of discussion during a recent conference here convened by you of Islamic countries. We briefly discussed the desirability of making progress on the prisoner transfer agreement that effects people who are convicted of crimes in either country raising the possibility that their sentences might be served in the country of their respective nationality and we also talked about accelerating the implementation of the aid programme which was established by Australia under the joint control of yourself and me Mr President after the tsunami.
I would like to characterise the meeting as being certainly very direct, always very friendly and conducted with the warmth and the friendship which has characterised the relationship that we’ve had Mr President in the time that you have occupied the leadership of this country. It is an important relationship to Australia, a very important one. We will occasionally have different points of view, but none of them are beyond resolution and I think the focus of both of us is very much on the future strengthening and development of the relationship and I thank you and your wife very warmly for the courtesy and hospitality that you have extended to me and my with Janette on this visit, thank you.
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO:
Thank you Mr Prime Minister. We would like to now give the floor to the members of the press as you want to raise questions either to Prime Minister Howard or myself, if you have.
TRANSLATOR:
We will start with Indonesian journalist first, I think Nofi you have a question?
JOURNALIST:
Thank you my name is Nofi from Investor Daily, Mr Prime Minister I would like to ask you about, do you have any discussion with our President regarding to investment and trade as well as the release of non-tariff barrier applied by Indonesian agriculture brought by Australian?
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
Well we did have a general discussion about the need to increase Australian investment in Indonesia. There is a very senior business delegation coming to Indonesia from Australia in August, led by Charles Goode, the Chairman of Woodside and a well-known Melbourne businessman. It’s a very senior delegation and I know that they are very keen to expand links in investment.
I’ve noted the significant increase in foreign investment in Indonesia over the time that Dr Yudhoyono has been President. In relation to non-tariff barriers and the like, we are both very committed to the successful outcome of the Doha trade round and that is of enormous importance to less developed countries and the greatest gift that the wealthy countries of the world whether they are in Europe or in North America or in Asia can give to the less wealthy countries in the world is to reduce or break down trade barriers.
TRANSLATOR:
The gentleman with the white hair, white teeth and white shirt.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
Very distinguished.
JOURNALIST:
Dennis Shanahan from the Australian, Mr President, my question is addressed to you in relation to Papua and the question of immigration, given your personal assurances for the safety of Papuans who have sought asylum in Australia, is it your preference to simply have asylum seekers returned to Papua rather than sent offshore and what guarantees have there been given about immigration law changes in Australia to you?
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO:
Firstly, we discuss constructively on how we deal in the future if we encountered similar case and I am glad to note that the current case that Australia refused to give visa to three Indonesian citizens who was trying to go to Australia, is a clear signal for Indonesia that we will have better co-operation in dealing with that type of case. Next week, on the 28th and 29th there will be ministerial meeting held in Denpasar, Bali and we will discuss many things including detail and substantial topics relative to this issue and other issues in the sphere of the issues as well as the problems of immigration or illegal immigration.
So actually we want to have a better framework of cooperation, we want to have a better communications and consultations when the case happens even though we do hope that we could do many things in Papua as well to avoid those kind of things to happen again in the future.
JOURNALIST:
Thank you, one question for the President and one question for the Prime Minister. [Indonesian language] And a question for the Prime Minister. So it seems that you are still not satisfied with the way Indonesia upholds the law regarding Bashir, the case of Bashir, given that you, you don’t trust Indonesia in handling this case and do you consider Bashir still dangerous.
TRANSLATOR:
The first part was addressed to President Yudhoyono, how far he thinks that the incident relating to the 42 Indonesian Papuans will not be repeated, the incident, and is there any guarantee from the Australian side that it will not be repeated? And the question of Alkatiri, the views of the resignation of Prime Minister Alkatiri?
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO:
She asked me to answer in Bahasa Indonesia. [Answer in Indonesian language]
TRANSLATOR:
A brief translation of what President said. I have stated there is a spirit of cooperation between Indonesia and Australia that is based on the format of effective and better cooperation which also accounts for the respect for territorial integrity, national unity and mutual respect.
The Government of Indonesia has welcomed the decision of the Government of Australia regarding the three people that tried to enter the territory of Australia and there is also welcomed the fact that these are being processed offshore. The Government of Indonesia recognises that there is an internal process to the recent policy of immigration in Australia and the so-called ‘Pacific solution’ and we hope, we understand that this is an internal matter for Australia and we hope that whatever transpires it will lead to better cooperation between Indonesia and Australia.
On Timor Leste, I have met with President Xanana Gusmao and explained, and he explained to me the developments in the Timor Leste and I hope that whatever happens in Timor Leste will not disrupt relations between Indonesia and Timor Leste. About the news that Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has resigned or intends to resign, Indonesia’s position is that that is an internal affairs of Timor Leste and that we do not wish to intervene but what we do hope is that the security situation will be returned to normalcy and law and order will be upheld and that there will be a solution that will be able to resolve the crisis, that is now experienced by the people and State of Timor Leste.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
Would you mind, forgive me, would you mind repeating your question, I just lost… Would you mind repeating your question to me, I’ve just forgotten the exact thread of it?
JOURNALIST:
I said that since you are not satisfied, you are not satisfied with the way Indonesia handles or upholds the law regarding Bashir case and that you don’t trust Indonesia in handling this case and do you consider Bashir still dangerous?
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
We fully understand the legal processes of Indonesia, we fully understand that Bashir was charged with certain offences, he was not convicted of them, but was convicted of other offences and just as we ask of the Indonesians that they respect our internal processes and our judicial system, we must respect the legal system of Indonesia and we do.
In relation to Bashir, the President has made it very clear to me that he fully understands the feelings of Australia in relation to that man and also the feelings of Australia in relation to the United Nations resolution which has been mentioned in my correspondence, he has made it clear to me that the Indonesian Government will always act if necessary in a pre-emptive fashion in relation to terrorism and potential acts of terrorism.
JOURNALIST:
Greg Turnbull from the Ten Network in Australia. Mr President, my question is to you and it’s also in relation to Abu Bakar Bashir. We understand that within the rather intense correspondence that you have shared with Mr Howard you have said that all legal avenues to pursue Abu Bakar Bashir have been exhausted, can you tell me however, why is it not possible to answer the cries of some in Australia for this man to be under 24 hour surveillance, for schools which teach terror and hate to be banned or closed and for Jemaah Islamiah to be banned as a terror organisation?
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO:
In conducting a counter-terrorism effort, Indonesia has to respect the existing method of law, the values of democracy and also respect for human right. We have done in prosecuting Abu Bakar Bashir, he was prosecuted, he was charged, he was serving his term in jail and after the completion of the punishment based on [inaudible] law, he has to be released and as I did say, actually that we develop our policy, our action in conducting a counter-terrorism effort.
Of course we have to ensure ourself ensure our press abroad as a global commitment in combating terrorism that our effort in countering terrorism is to be continued. We still have strong commitment to do that kind of [inaudible] obligations and as I did say that the case of the release of Bakar Bashir, that’s not detract or weaken the Indonesian Government and effort in combating terrorism today and tomorrow, that’s my answer.
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