E&OE...............................................
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon. The Australian Government
very warmly welcomes the announcement that was made by President
Soeharto in Jakarta a short while ago. In our view, the President
has laid down a very clear, orderly and statesman-like path for
the transition of power in Indonesia in a way that is more guaranteed
than any alternative to avoid bloodshed, to preserve intact the
constitutional processes of the Indonesian State, and also to give
hope to those many people within Indonesia who are looking for a
more open society. Australia looks forward to the elections being
held as quickly as possible and, as a result, the installation of
a new President and Vice-President in Indonesia. We recognise that
the country has passed through some very difficult times. We have
been more conscious than most of the great economic strain that
has been put upon Indonesia by events over recent months. And as
you know, we have worked hard to ensure that the world community
has taken a realistic attitude towards the problems of Indonesia
in responding to her economic difficulties.
We welcome the announcement, the interim announcement, by the President
that he would establish a new reform Cabinet and that that Cabinet
would be directed towards a number of issues including corruption
and anti-trust activities. We, of course, see that as very much
in his words as an interim measure because his announcement today
was very much an announcement about providing and orderly transfer
of power and about laying down the procedure whereby there could
be a replacement for both himself and Dr Habibie.
We do look forward to a speedy implementation of the changes. We
know that Indonesia has gone through an enormous amount of pain
and difficulty and we also believe that the steps that have been
announced this afternoon, which if responded to with good will and
cooperation by all those who exercise influence and assert authority
within Indonesia, will provide a proper and orderly basis for the
transfer of power.
It is a moment in, not only the history of Indonesia, but also in
the history of our region. Indonesia is the fourth most populous
nation in the world. It is our nearest neighbour. We have very close
ties with Indonesia, we care about the future of the Indonesian
people. As I said a few days ago, our policy goal always has been
to preserve and develop good relations between the people of Indonesia
and the people of Australia irrespective of who might hold authority
within Indonesia.
Throughout these past difficult weeks we have said constantly that
it is for the Indonesian people and for President Soeharto working
through the institutions of the Indonesian state to resolve the
difficulties the country now faces and to lay a pathway for the
future. It would appear on the basis of this afternoon's statement
that that has, in fact, been done. And it is a matter that I personally
welcome very much. I congratulate the President on the wisdom that
he's shown. I welcome his announcement. I believe it is appropriate.
I believe it is timely. I think it is wise and it shows that, at
a moment of greatest difficulty and challenge, he has put the interests
of the Indonesian people first.
I think it's also appropriate to reflect upon the enormous
contribution that President Soeharto has made to the Indonesian
people over the past 32 years. He took over at a time of enormous
internal strain and difficulty. He has turned the Indonesian economy
around and, although in recent weeks the focus has been on economic
difficulty in Indonesia, if you look at the sweep of the past 32
years, it can hardly be denied that President Soeharto has brought,
relatively speaking, additional prosperity to the people of Indonesia.
He has certainly presided over a significant reduction in levels
of absolute poverty in that country. He has restored the economic
repute on a number of occasions of the country that he has led.
And he has certainly provided a great deal of cohesion and unity.
Of course his administration has not been without either its critics
or its flaws, and as I've said on a number of occasions, although
Indonesia and Australia are very close and although we totally respect
the right of peoples in our region to run their own countries, according
to their own ideologies and their own beliefs, nonetheless we respect
fully the fact that our society is different, that we have different
attitudes, we have different approaches.
But within that understanding, I don't think anybody can deny
that if you look at the entirety of his 32 years in office, he has
certainly been a very positive force for progress, for modernisation.
He's been a formidable figure in regional forums. He's
been a person of great influence amongst the ASEAN countries and
the countries of our region. I have found in my own dealings with
him over the past two and a little years that he is a person who
values very much the relationship between our two countries. And
I have tried very hard, particularly in recent months, to ensure
that that relationship, on a country-to-country, people-to-people
basis, has been preserved fully because we do look to the future.
We have been, in recent times, a very good friend of Indonesia's.
We are a good friend of Indonesia's and we will be a good friend
of Indonesia's into the future. And we have demonstrated that
friendship in a very practical way and I am very proud of what the
Government has been able to do in that connection. It is in every
sense, a momentous development in the history of Indonesia. It demonstrates
a care and a sensitivity towards the welfare of his people which
is to be commended. And I know that all people who think positively
about Indonesia's future and are concerned about the welfare
of that country and the avoidance of strife and bloodshed will want
to see the reform arrangements and the transition arrangements which
the President announced this afternoon given effect to as soon as
possible.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, obviously the time-frame is important. Do you have
any reservations about that time-frame if it turns out to be six
months, twelve months?
PRIME MINISTER:
I would not hope it took that long. I don't know what the precise
time-frame is. It's a little early to know. I have spoken a
few moments ago to our Ambassador in Jakarta, Mr McCarthy, who has
given me an on-the-spot assessment. The belief is that the matters
will be put in hand as soon as possible. I see the statement for
what it says, and that is, it makes it very clear that neither he
nor Dr Habibie will be candidates for re-election by the new Parliament.
It speaks of a transition. I saw his remarks about his own personal
future. I think the important thing is that he has laid down an
orderly way of transferring power in a very difficult situation
where rumours were flying around and different theories were being
put on different statements and different patterns of behaviour.
He has always been a man, as I have read him, who has placed a lot
of store on constitutional form and whatever observations people
might make about the institutions of government in Indonesia there
is a form, there is a procedure. He is having a new election. There
will be a new Parliament to choose a new President and a new Vice-President.
Now, based on what I have heard, I accept that but I naturally say
that the sooner that those processes are put in train the better.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, one of his Ministers has already indicated that
the process could take up to two years. Would that be too long?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Anything that long would immediately lack credibility.
JOURNALIST:
Should the IMF now reconsider the suspension of its loan programme?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's too early to make that judgement because it would
be wrong to see what has happened in the last few weeks in Indonesia
as being totally a product of what the IMF has done. Now I say that
as somebody who was rather critical of some of the earlier offerings
of the IMF and I remain of the view that the steps that Australia
took, my Government took, to soften the IMF package were justified
and, in fact, have been doubly justified by subsequent events. But
we shouldn't gainsay the fact that there has been a building
up of the pressure for change and the pressure for openness and
modernisation, so far as political institutions are concerned in
Indonesia, for some time and often, it's the conjunction of
a set of circumstances rather than one circumstance alone that brings
about change.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you feel now that the transition can occur peacefully
or are you still concerned about the prospect of violence tomorrow
when students demonstrate and there will be soldiers in the street?
PRIME MINISTER:
I would hope that violence is now avoided and a lot will depend
upon the role played by the army, and can I say for all the critics
it has, that the Indonesian armed forces have played a very positive
role, generally speaking, in this whole issue and I think have probably
been a force for stability and a force for calm. One must always
worry in a volatile situation where there has been a loss of life
over the past few days but the early indications that I had a few
moments ago are that on the streets, so to speak, of Jakarta, the
President's announcement was accepted in a very positive way
and was seen to be genuine.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, at two o'clock the Department of Foreign Affairs
upgraded its travel warning to effective leave if you can. Given
the President's announcement, should that be rescinded?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don't think I would be, sort of, rescinding anything at
the present time, but Mr Downer may wish to say something about
that, but I would have thought that was the proper, normal, logical
precaution for the department to take at a time when the immediate
future was not certain.
JOURNALIST:
Will ...... remain in Darwin on standby?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think they do, don't they? Yes.
JOURNALIST:
Are you concerned about the lack of an obvious sense of a line of
succession to President Soeharto? Are you confident that if does
happen speedily, as you have expressed a wish, there is time to
put in place a successor with the experience and the capacity?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am sure there is. Just as I have not got into the business of
telling people publicly whether to stay or to go, as others have
felt free to do, I certainly haven't and I wouldn't have
thought it would have helped the relationship or would have been
appropriate. Just as I don't think I should have done that
equally I don't think I should be speculating about who should
be the new candidate, except to say that I think there will be people
there and I have no doubt that people will rise to the occasion
and that there are people of great ability, and the fact that you
have now got a process and you have a bit of time, I actually think
that's more likely to produce the best outcome than if things
had happened more precipitously.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you think that the events in Jakarta have lessened
the pressures on the Australian dollar?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't know that I want to talk about the level of the Australian
dollar. As you know, Mr Grant, it is not my wont either as Treasurer,
it wasn't my wont as Treasurer or as Prime Minister to talk
about the level of the dollar. I merely leave it at that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you see any plans in the future for more aid
for Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it's something that we would keep under review. We have
for good reason, my Government and governments before it have invested
a lot politically, diplomatically, economically and I guess on a
people-to-people basis, emotionally in the relationship and in her
time of great need, we stuck by Indonesia and that need is still
there. Now, the question of whether there is any requirement for
further financial assistance is something that we will take as the
circumstances and the arguments come. I don't rule it out,
I don't rule it in. We have been very generous already. We
provided the aid package, and we of course also participated in
the IMF bail-out, and I don't think there's any doubt
that the Indonesians, whatever their views are about the regime
or the future, see Australia as a very reliable friend, and as being
a country that has a particular understanding of Indonesia and has
a sensitivity towards the views of the Indonesian people that I
hope is a little more finely tuned than that of some other countries.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard are you confident that the election process will be seen
as sufficiently democratic, that it is regarded as legitimate by
the broad cross-section of Indonesians?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's almost impossible for me to answer. I hope it is. There
will be enormous pressure on the Indonesians to conduct it in a
bona fide fashion. Once you've gone through something like
this, your society is permanently prised open, in a way, to world
inspection, that it hasn't been in the past. And I don't
think Indonesia, even if it wanted to, could go back to where it
was before these events occurred. It's like imagining that
the waterfront can go back to where it was before particular events
occurred.
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask a question on the timetable. Are you saying that six months
is about the maximum time that ....?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Tom, I didn't say that. I said that two years would be,
would outrageously lack credibility. I don't want to start
saying precisely what it is. I mean, I'm not getting into that.
But let me say this. I think it should be as soon as possible. The
sooner the better, the sooner the greater credibility. But if you
started getting into periods like one or two years, that would clearly
lack credibility.
JOURNALIST:
This calender year?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to answer that. I'm simply going to say
I want it as quickly as possible. And I think the sooner the better
and the quicker the more credibility, and the 12 months to two years
would plainly lack any credibility at all.
JOURNALIST:
Will you communicating with the President?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I will. I'll be sending him a personal message as soon
as this conference is over.
JOURNALIST:
What will you say?
PRIME MINISTER:
It will be a personal message, but it will certainly, amongst other
things, reflect the views that I expressed about his stewardship
of Indonesia over the past 32 years, the manner of his parting and
the way in which he has risen to the demands of statesmanship to
lay down a very orderly, I hope, peaceful path for the transition
of power in a country of 200 million people. It is no mean feat.
And what every other cynicism, or the cynicism of some may be, whatever
the criticisms are, whatever the flaws of the political process
in Indonesia are compared with those in other countries, or whatever
the democratic shortcomings may be, and all the other things that
we might say - given the enormity of the task, the diversity of
that country, the tremendous pressures, the economic strains, the
social dislocation, the social differences - given all of those
things, the President, the Army, and many others, have acquitted
themselves in my view very well, and if what he's laid down
is played out in accordance with a reasonable timetable, I think
history will recall that the manner of Soeharto's parting was
that of a Statesman who cared about the future of his people. Thank
you.
ends