The Hindu : International : Australia firms up ties with Indonesia, Malaysia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 08, 2005

International

International

Australia firms up ties with Indonesia, Malaysia

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, APRIL 7. Australia and Malaysia today announced they would commence negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement and reaffirmed their "strong commitment to the fight against terrorism."

This aspect of Australia's heightened neighbourhood diplomacy came as a sequel to the "joint declaration" it signed with Indonesia in Canberra on April 4.

Meeting in Canberra today, the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, and his Malaysian counterpart, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, emphasised the "longstanding, close nature of defence ties" that already existed.

Besides adhering to a "joint defence programme" the two countries are also members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).

The two leaders looked forward to "building on [the bilateral] cooperation" in respect of border security, law-enforcement, anti-money-laundering drive, intelligence-sharing and also defence matters.

An anathema

Commenting on the "joint declaration" that Mr. Howard signed with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a top Foreign Ministry official in Jakarta, Marty Natalegawa, told The Hindu over the telephone that it was "not a security pact".

Being "non-aligned", Indonesia continued to regard defence pacts as "anathema", Mr. Natalegawa noted.

Within this overarching framework, Indonesia and Australia had now agreed to provide "a new direction" to their defence-related cooperation. This would apply to the "exchange of visits" involving military officials and "maritime security" in the present context of the multilateral fight against "transnational crime, especially the challenge of terrorism."

With the focus being kept on "non-traditional security issues," Indonesia and Australia had now agreed to undertake "defence cooperation at a pace comfortable to both sides," Mr. Natalegawa said, pointing out that the specifics were yet to be spelt out.

Joint declaration

The new "joint declaration", considered "important" by both sides, "codifies, reaffirms" their recent understandings and agreements, he said.

The most important of these recent agreements is the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development.

The partnership, announced on January 5 in the specific context of the earthquake-tsunami tragedy of last December, provided for contribution by Canberra of the order of one billion Australian Dollars over a five-year period towards reconstruction in the tsunami-hit areas as also other parts of Indonesia.

Together with other earmarked funds, Australia's commitment to Indonesia over the next five years would be $1.8 billion.

Another aspect of bilateral cooperation in recent months relates to the defence-driven humanitarian help to Indonesia from Australia.

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