E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………….
LIEBMANN:
Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, Steve.
LIEBMANN:
Has Foreign Affairs been able to confirm this report that President Habibie has pulled out of the race?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I’ve not had any official confirmation of that but the news reports seem very strong and pretty authentic. Obviously the fact that his accountability speech was rejected last night was a very severe blow to this presidential prospects. So it seems to tally with the consequences and the implications of that decision.
LIEBMANN:
So you’re not surprised.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I’m not surprised. If it is fully confirmed then I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
LIEBMANN:
Okay, so let’s assume it is correct, what does this then do to relations between or the future relations between Australia and Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, immediately really nothing very much. That relationship is going through a period of strain at the moment because of our stance on East Timor. More importantly, the decision of the Indonesian Assembly to grant independence to East Timor will impact favourably on our relationship. I think once the separation has taken place and Indonesia can put the East Timor issue behind it, so to speak, then that means that our relationship can begin to gather momentum again. It will be hard and I don’t pretend that there won’t be some rough patches along the way because we’ll be dealing with each other on a different basis. But we will at least have got rid of East Timor as much as we probably can as an irritant in the relationship. The other important thing is that the new President of Indonesia will have come out of what is a democratic process and I always believe that if countries share such fundamental institutions and attitudes as a democratic process in choosing their governments they have a lot more in common than, say, two countries where one is authoritarian and one is democratic.
LIEBMANN:
Well, now, if Habibie has pulled out of the presidential race that leaves two candidates. You’ve got Megawati Sukarnoputri as one of them. Do we have a preference?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it’s not for me to say, except to observe that her party received the largest number of votes. Clearly there is very strong popular support for her but it would be impertinent of me, on the eve of a ballot by the Indonesian Assembly, to say, well, Australia would prefer this or that candidate. That’s not for me. I respect Indonesia’s institutions, I respect the processes of that country and if we are to have a relationship, a good relationship, I’ve often said in the past that it’s got to be built on mutual respect. They don’t give us advice as to who our leader should be. I’m not going to give them advice as to whose theirs should be.
LIEBMANN:
And yet she was not in favour of independence for East Timor.
PRIME MINISTER:
She wasn’t originally. She was, in fact, on the record as having opposed the holding of the independence ballot yet she did later say that she would abide by the wishes of the East Timorese people. So that was an acceptance of the democratic process. And when you remember that 80 percent almost of them voted for independence I don’t think the fact that she was originally against holding the ballot or originally against separation, I don’t think that will be a problem in our relationship if she ends up being the President.
LIEBMANN:
Okay, thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate you rushing around to our studios.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[Ends]