Subjects: East Timor, Internet, Inflation rates, Alan Langer
E&OE....................................................................................................
Well ladies and gentlemen, I thought I would have this news conference
to elaborate a little on the outcome of yesterday's meeting in
Bali, and to answer your questions on that and any other matters.
Can I say that the meeting yesterday and the outcomes should be assessed
against the backdrop of two very important considerations.
The first of those was the enormous change in policy undertaken by
President Habibie in relation to East Timor. I said yesterday and
I repeat today that I don't believe in some quarters, indeed
in many quarters, that President Habibie has received as much credit
as he deserves in relation to that change of policy.
The other important element in the backdrop to yesterday's talks
and any assessment of them is the undeniable fact that our own Government's
view, and in particular my letter to Dr Habibie in December of last
year represented the catalyst for the change in the policy of the
Government of Indonesia towards East Timor. And it's very important
to keep both of those things in mind. Dr Habibie had the courage to
undertake a major change in policy, and that was in no small measure
the result of the direct urgings of the Coalition Government in December
of last year.
Yesterday's meeting was very important. I believe the outcome
was as much as could reasonably have been expected in all of the circumstances.
It is an issue that is very difficult. It is easy of simple flamboyant
rhetoric, but in the long run the greatest asset that Australia brings
to this issue is the influence that it can exert over the course of
Indonesian government policy. And having played a decisive role in
influencing the course of that policy a few months ago, it would have
been extraordinarily strange if Australia had abandoned the approach
yet once again trying to bring its influence to bear.
What everybody wants is a free and open choice so that the people
of East Timor can make a decision about their future. You can't
have that free and open choice if the circumstances of harassment
and intimidation and violence continue. That is why the commitments
made both before and at the meeting, and through the agreement at
the United Nations in relation to maintaining peace and relative stability
in East Timor are so important.
There has been a strong commitment made by the Indonesian government
to the holding of an open and clean ballot. Obviously the world will
suspend a judgement until those events take place. But I have no reason
to doubt the sincerity of the commitments that were made yesterday
by both President and also the other ministers who were present.
Australia was able to secure an acceleration of the opening of our
consulate in Dili. We were able to secure an acceptance by the Indonesian
government of an increased presence of agencies such as the International
Red Cross within Timor. And we were also able to secure other understandings
in relation to circumstances affecting the province.
So overall I think the outcome was very positive. It demonstrated
once again the capacity of this country to intelligently use its influence
in areas of the world where that influence really counts. And we do
have a particular, and a very close relationship with Indonesia and
I believe that the increased international focus on the issue that
derived from yesterday's meeting will itself make a contribution
towards ensuring that the free and open ballot that everybody wants
within East Timor does in fact take place.
It is also though important for people to remember that Indonesia
has a population of 211 million people. There are fewer than one million
people in East Timor. Indonesia's greatest problem is economic
stability. Indonesia's greatest challenge is to overcome the
economic difficulties into which it has been thrust by the Asian economic
downturn over the last couple of years. Australia has proved to be
a reliable, but not uncritical friend of Indonesia over a very considerable
period of time. And the value of being a close but not uncritical
friend was demonstrated very starkly, not only last week when I was
able to speak very directly and immediately to Dr Habibie, the speed
with which yesterday's meeting was arranged and the very positive
outcome, and the capacity that we have had to influence in a very
positive way, but also an understanding way, the course of events
so far as Indonesian policy is concerned. Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, we hear the word "advisers" in terms of
police, but we heard from the Foreign Minister today that there could
be perhaps a hundred or several hundreds of these "advisers",
is this just a euphemism for police actually doing police work?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, police normally do police and ancillary sort of work. There's
nothing clever intended here. That was the language of the document.
The actual number which President Habibie and I yesterday agreed should
be adequate will be determined by the Secretary General of the United
Nations. We, as a possible contributor, will obviously be putting
a view to the Secretary General about an adequate number. I don't
know what it is, I'm not an expert on these matters, but I'll
get some expert advice.
JOURNALIST:
How confident are you that this special commission that's been
created within Indonesia can actually oversight some disarming?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am more confident now than I was a week ago. I'm more confident
now than I was a few days ago. I mean, every time you get a renewed
public commitment, particularly in the presence of the leader of the
government of another country, every time there is a greater international
focus and spotlight on that public commitment the likelihood of that
public commitment being delivered on is increased. And I'm certainly
more confident now than what I was a few days ago and certainly more
confident than several weeks ago. Nobody pretends that this is an
easy situation and that total order and civility has returned overnight.
Nobody's arguing that. But what I think can be said, with growing
confidence, and that is that the Indonesian Government has made a
strong and repeated commitment at the highest level to allowing a
free and open vote and has signed itself up to a mechanism that is
far more likely to achieve that than any other mechanism that's
been around for a long time, and certainly far more likely to achieve
that than just noisy, rhetorical abuse with no particular purpose.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think they can have a free and open vote without total disarmament?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that is a hypothetical question in the sense that the Government
and the agreement and the agreement that the Government of Indonesia
signed involves a commitment to a free and open vote. It speaks of
a process of the laying down of arms. One of the difficulties in comprehensively
answering that question is that the document that the Indonesian Government's
committed itself to is not yet public. And I believe that when that
document does become public many of the concerns about the fullness
of the Government of Indonesia's commitment to a peaceful process,
a lot of those concerns will disappear.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the vote, is it not, is for autonomy but not for independence?
Did the President re-state to you yesterday his view that if the autonomy
vote fails then the province will be given its independence?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, he did. He stated that publicly. He uses the word separation,
which I understand. It means the same thing. There was no doubt at
all, either in our private discussions or in his public utterances,
that if the consultation, the vote however you describe it
goes against autonomy within Indonesia then the Government
of Indonesia will accept separation. That's been made very clear.
That is part of the agreement initialled in New York.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Downer said this morning that the police, the Australian police,
who go would be armed only with their side arms. Is anyone in the
Government working on a set of rules of engagement or such should
Australian police see an atrocity occurring?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we will get a whole lot of advice on that. I'm not in a
position to lay down the detail of it. Clearly work is already underway
in relation to that.
JOURNALIST:
Given the high degree of conflict in the province historically, how
confident are you that the Australians who end up there won't
get caught up in any future hostility?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there is always an element of risk when anybody goes into an
unsettled area, an area where hostilities have recently occurred and
are likely to occur in the future. There is always an element of risk
and it would be foolhardy of me and wrong of me to pretend that there's
never any element of risk. There is risk in, as we've sadly seen,
in recent times of aid workers who aren't involved in any kind
of police activity being put at risk and put in danger. There are
risks involved in people who are members of international organisations
working in any of the world's trouble spots. It is not uncommon
for Australia to contribute police in different areas of the world.
Quickly calling to mind, I think we've had police in Cambodia,
we've had them in Bougainville, we've had them in Somalia,
we've had them in Cyprus. I think we had them in Latin America
on one occasion. It's a very long list. And I would be foolhardy
to sort of say, no, there's absolutely no risk at all. Can I
say to you that in the discussions with the United Nations and in
the views we put about the size of the police presence, the civilian
police presence, and the circumstances surrounding them, we will naturally
be seeking to secure the maximum guarantees of safety and security
that can be secured in such a situation.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the ACTU affiliates are meeting in Melbourne on Friday...
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sorry, who?
JOURNALIST:
ACTU affiliates are meeting in Melbourne on Friday.
PRIME MINISTER:
ACTU affiliates, yes.
JOURNALIST:
Unions affiliated with the ACTU...
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sorry, yes.
JOURNALIST:
...are meeting in Melbourne on Friday to discuss industrial action
which would disrupt both Indonesian airlines and shipping. Could that
damage the process at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'll make a couple of observations about that. I don't
remember any of those stoppages in earlier years but we'll put
that aside for one moment. Well, I don't know what they're
going to do. I'll wait and see and then perhaps I'll make
a more detailed comment on it. But I'm not sure that inflicting
further economic pain on Indonesia necessarily helps the ordinary
people of that country or the people who live in East Timor. Remember
that East Timor has one of the lowest living standards of any part
of this world. And Indonesia itself has a very low living standard.
I'm not sure doing anything that increases economic pain and
inflicts more economic difficulty and adversity on the people of Indonesia
is particularly compassionate or helpful or intelligent. I don't
know that it really adds to an appropriate resolution of this issue.
JOURNALIST:
The medical team that you are proposing to send to East Timor, would
that be likely to come from the defence forces as other medical teams
have to....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, not necessarily, once again I am not in possession of all of
the options that are available on that. It could be from the defence
forces, it may be arranged and recruited in a purely private way.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] international ...continuance that Indonesia may well
just decide to walk away from East Timor, simply give up on it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that really is a question that would be exercising the minds,
I guess, of a lot of people in Indonesia. Not surprisingly at various
stages Indonesian figures and leaders have said, as I said a moment
ago, there are 211 million people in the entire republic, there's
fewer than one million in East Timor. Now, plainly things have happened
there that are not to the credit of the Indonesian Government or the
Indonesian armed forces. And that is the cause of international concern
and that is understood and I certainly understand that, and I understand
that concern and I am part of that concern. On the other hand, the
Government of the Republic has huge problems that affect the whole
of Indonesia and I think people have got to bear that in mind in balancing
the approach and measuring the approach that they take.
JOURNALIST:
Are you confident that the Indonesian Government can bring back under
control the elements of ABRI that you have....
PRIME MINISTER:
You're unfamiliar to me, will you give me your name?
JOURNALIST:
John Mair from Reuters.
PRIME MINISTER:
Where are you from?
JOURNALIST:
Reuters.
PRIME MINISTER:
And what's your name?
JOURNALIST:
John Mair.
PRIME MINISTER:
How are you?
JOURNALIST:
Good. I was wondering, are you confident that the Indonesian Government
has control of the elements of the military that you have previously
expressed concern about their actions in East Timor?
PRIME MINISTER:
There is no doubt that there has been a quantum shift so far as the
assertion of control both in relation to the military by the Government
and also the central control of the military in relation to its activities
in East Timor. Ask me to micro-define that, I can't, I don't
have enough knowledge. But I am certainly satisfied from what's
happened publicly from the presence yesterday of General Wiranto,
his participation in the discussions and the general attitude taken
by Dr Habibie but there is a realisation that things had to change,
that things have begun to change. How far they've changed, how
effective that change has been is obviously something that we have
to see unfold.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, how can you maintain the confidence given that even
with General Wiranto's presence at a peace ceremony in the territory
itself still the atrocities continue and there hasn't been a
disarming of the militia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the confidence that I expressed was a confidence that things
were infinitely better than they were a week or two weeks ago. People
have been running around asking me for guarantees. I can't give
absolute guarantees, nobody can and it's a really ridiculous
question for anybody to ask an Australian Prime Minister. Because
in the end we are dealing with a sovereign nation and you have two
alternatives when you are dealing with a sovereign nation, you either
seek to use your influence over them or you attack them or perhaps
the third alternative you just completely ignore the problem. Now,
we have no intention of adopting either the second or third alternatives
so we are left with the first alternative. And that is what I have
been endeavouring to do and that is what I believe with a reasonable
level of success I have been able to do particularly over the last
week.
But if you are saying to me, can I give you a rolled gold absolute
guarantee? Of course I can't and it's a ridiculous question
to ask of me or to even infer that I can give. What I can say to you,
that is judged on my discussions yesterday with Dr Habibie, the views
of my two Ministers who accompanied me, the views of our officials
who went there, the discussions I had with him over the phone, all
the other assessments and advice I have got I believe the situation
now is a lot better and it has a lot greater chance of being successful
and it is far more likely now that we are going to have a free and
open act of choice. Now, that is a very significant development. Now,
I....if you regard that as my being confident well they are your
words. I can only tell you as I assess it and as I feel it and I just
go back to my opening remark that a year ago nobody was talking about
a vote, a year ago nobody was talking about a UN supervised ballot,
certainly nobody in the Indonesian Government was. And our predecessors
who are fairly free with their advice at the moment, they had 13 years
to persuade the Indonesian Government to bring about a change of policy
in relation to East Timor and my recollection and observation is that
they didn't even seriously try let alone succeed.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Labor, the Greens and the Democrats have today jointly
released their own draft Constitutional preamble....
PRIME MINISTER:
Have they, I haven't seen it. What does it contain?
JOURNALIST:
Well, it's markedly, significantly different from yours, it contains....
PRIME MINISTER:
That surprises me immensely. What is it, a joint one is it?
JOURNALIST:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. It's good to see the Greens and the Democrats acting independently
of the Labor Party.
JOURNALIST:
Well, are you prepared to take up on any of the themes that they....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I haven't even seen it.
JOURNALIST:
Are you amenable to sitting down with them and talking about....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'll have a look at what they have had to say and I'll
have a look at what they have had to say.
JOURNALIST:
I think you've said Friday is the deadline of submissions to
you, will you be releasing them?
PRIME MINISTER:
Do you want to see them all?
JOURNALIST:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
Ask a journalist a question and you'll always get an answer,
yes.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, I'll take that question on notice and think about it.
And, I mean, some of them are...might be worth releasing, yes.
JOURNALIST:
Can I just return to Indonesia for a minute?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, certainly.