http://www.smh.com.au/national/time-for-new-spirit-of-trust-20100310-pzdy.html
Time for new spirit of trust PHILLIP COOREY AND HAMISH MCDONALD March 11, 2010 President in waiting ... Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was kept waiting for 10 minutes by the NSW Governor, Marie Bashir, who he met after addressing Federal Parliament. Photo: Wolter Peeters INDONESIANS and Australians need to drop their negative stereotypes of each other if the relationship between the two nations is to advance and become resilient, the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, says. In a historic and frank address to a joint sitting of Parliament yesterday, Dr Yudhoyono said the relationship had come long way since the ''all-time low'' of the late 1990s during the East Timor crisis. But a key challenge remained expunging ''these preposterous mental caricatures'' the populations had of each other. ''There are Australians who still see Indonesia as an authoritarian country or as military dictatorship, or as a hotbed of military extremism, or even as a military power,'' he said. ''I want all Australians to know that Indonesia is a beautiful archipelago, but we are infinitely more than a beach playground with coconut trees.'' He said in Indonesia ''there are people who remain afflicted with Australiaphobia, who believe that the notion of White Australia still persists, that Australia harbours ill intentions towards Indonesia, and is either sympathetic or supports separatist elements in our country.'' Dr Yudhoyono confronted sensitive topics such as people smuggling. He announced his government would introduce laws to make it a criminal offence punishable by a maximum five years in jail. Minutes before he spoke, the government announced another boat of asylum seekers - the 21st this year - had been intercepted near Ashmore reef. The visit saw the relationship elevated to new heights with Dr Yudhoyono and Kevin Rudd agreeing that the leaders of each country would meet each year, as would the defence and foreign affairs ministers. Behind the scenes, the Indonesians came out of the talks disappointed that Canberra maintains a strong security warning for travel to Indonesia. Mr Rudd said the warning would remain, insisting it was not a decision for political leaders to make. Mr Rudd got only lukewarm interest on what was described as regional ''architecture'' - his proposal for a new Asia-Pacific Community to tackle big strategic questions. The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, said Jakarta was ''trying to avoid another layer, an out-of-nowhere construction not in concert, not in synergy with what we have''. ''We want to listen more and see if we can build on what we have,'' he told the Herald. He suggested Mr Rudd's objectives could be met by expanding linkages to the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations, which already has an ASEAN-plus-three forum (with China, Japan and South Korea), and is the core of the newer East Asian Summit (which adds India, Australia and New Zealand). The United States and Russia could be added to this dialogue, he suggested. In his meeting with Dr Yudhoyono, Mr Rudd raised the case of Schapelle Corby in the context of a prisoner transfer agreement, as well as those Australians facing the death penalty on Bali. Mr Rudd told Dr Yudhoyono he would support any request for clemency the convicted drug traffickers made. During a lunch in his honour, Dr Yudhoyono sent a personal message of support to Shirley Shackleton, the widow of one of the Australian journalists murdered in Balibo in 1975. Mrs Shackleton, who was at the lunch, handed the President's emissaries a letter calling on him to ''put this atrocity to rest'' and face the truth. In a further gesture of goodwill, Dr Yudhoyono, in his speech, described as ''heroes'' and listed the names of the Australians killed in the 2005 helicopter crash on Nias, those killed in the 2007 Garuda plane crash in Yogyakarta, and the trade official killed in a terrorist bombing in a Jakarta hotel last year. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
