Howard and Indonesians share secrets in terror pact
Sydney Morniong Herald
By Michelle Grattan, in Jakarta
Extensive information sharing will be the centrepiece of the new anti-terror deal signed yesterday between Australia and Indonesia.
But the Prime Minister, John Howard, says the pact - the most important between the two countries since the ill-fated security agreement was cancelled during the East Timor crisis - will not lead to Australia intervening in Indonesia's domestic affairs.
The anti-terrorism memorandum of understanding, signed in the presence of Mr Howard, was proposed by the Indonesians only on Tuesday and provides for information sharing for "preventing, suppressing and combating international terrorism".
The memorandum covers swapping intelligence, enhancing co-operation between law agencies and strengthening capabilities to fight terrorism through training, exchange visits of officials and specialists, seminars and joint operations.
It covers police, military, intelligence and other law enforcement agencies such as customs, immigration, justice and attorney-general's departments.
The duration of the memorandum will be one year initially but can be extended by mutual consent. It will allow the two countries to jointly identify international terrorist threats and work together to handle them.
This co-operation might involve the defence forces, but Mr Howard went out of his way to say the agreement did not mean special links between Australia's SAS and Indonesia's Kopassus special force.
As politicians from Yogyakarta regional parliament threatened to boycott functions for Mr Howard, he was anxious to dispel claims that Australia was prone to meddle in Indonesia's internal affairs.
Australia immediately briefed the United States on the deal, and the Americans welcomed it. They have been anxious to get Indonesia more involved in anti-terrorist activities.
The agreement has been seen by Australia as one of the most significant areas of practical co-operation between the two countries in recent years.
When asked whether the deal could mean information sharing on the activities of rebels in Papua and Aceh, whom Indonesia would regard as terrorists, Mr Howard said: "I want to make it very clear that this agreement is not going to be any kind of device whereby Australia gets involved in the domestic affairs of Indonesia. It's about combating international terrorism."
At a breakfast meeting with the co-ordinating minister for political and security affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the Foreign Minister, Dr Hassan Wirajuda, Mr Howard was told forthrightly why parliamentary members had refused to meet him formally.
Mr Yudhoyono said later he had told Mr Howard many Indonesians believed Australia had improperly intervened in East Timor and that some Australians, albeit not the Government, had given support to the Papua independence movement.
He also said Indonesians believed Australia had pushed their country into a corner by always blaming it for not taking adequate steps against asylum-seekers.
"We deliberately raised these to Howard - that there are indeed such issues within Indonesia. Australia should certainly provide proper clarifications," he said.
He said Mr Howard had said these impressions were untrue.
A small group protested outside Mr Howard's Jakarta hotel yesterday, while students at the University of Gajahmada, which he will be visiting, said they were organising a demonstration.
Mr Howard suggested the political action he has faced was driven by Indonesian domestic politics. "Every country operates in a political environment - I understand that," he said.
He accused the media of placing too much importance on the snubs. It had been "a nice newspaper story but really, in the great sweep of the relationship between the two countries, I don't think it means anything".
He saw the visit as positive, although no one visit provided a "king-hit solution to the difficulties between two nations".
Mr Howard said the two governments would set up a Muslim forum to increase dialogue between Muslims in Indonesia and Australia.