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Asia Pacific News - 02 November 2010
JAKARTA: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard meets Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday during her first official visit to Australia's nearest neighbour since taking office.
The talks are likely to touch on economic and security issues, as well as Gillard's ambitious plans to establish a regional asylum-seeker processing centre in Timor Leste.
Indonesia is a major transit hub for people trying to reach Australia by boat and Gillard has said an offshore centre with regional cooperation is the best way to stop the people smugglers behind the undocumented migration.
"Certainly I will raise the issues of people-smuggling and people movement," Gillard told ABC Television ahead of her trip, which started last week in Vietnam and continued with meetings in Malaysia on Monday.
Details of the plans have been scant and Indonesia and Malaysia have said they are waiting to see a more thorough blueprint before committing to anything.
Thousands of asylum-seekers, many fleeing the conflict zones of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, have been intercepted en route to Australia from Southeast Asian transit points this year.
Gillard has also been urged to take a stance on human rights after the release of a shocking video online showing two Papuan men being kicked and abused by Indonesian soldiers.
The video, first reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, follows similar allegations against Australian-funded Indonesian anti-terror police said to have abused peaceful political activists in the Maluku islands.
Yudhoyono promised on Monday there would be "no immunity" for the soldiers involved in the torture, as the military announced that five suspects had been identified.
But he also rejected calls from rights groups for Gillard to raise the matter during Tuesday's talks, saying: "There should be no pressure from any country or any non-government organisation."
Australia has worked closely with the Indonesian security forces since 88 Australian tourists were killed in the 2002 Bali bombings by Islamist extremists.
Few Indonesian military officers have ever faced justice for gross human rights abuses dating back decades, including alleged crimes against humanity in Timor Leste.
- AFP/de
.
Asia Pacific News - 02 November 2010
JAKARTA: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard meets Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday during her first official visit to Australia's nearest neighbour since taking office.
The talks are likely to touch on economic and security issues, as well as Gillard's ambitious plans to establish a regional asylum-seeker processing centre in Timor Leste.
Indonesia is a major transit hub for people trying to reach Australia by boat and Gillard has said an offshore centre with regional cooperation is the best way to stop the people smugglers behind the undocumented migration.
"Certainly I will raise the issues of people-smuggling and people movement," Gillard told ABC Television ahead of her trip, which started last week in Vietnam and continued with meetings in Malaysia on Monday.
Details of the plans have been scant and Indonesia and Malaysia have said they are waiting to see a more thorough blueprint before committing to anything.
Thousands of asylum-seekers, many fleeing the conflict zones of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, have been intercepted en route to Australia from Southeast Asian transit points this year.
Gillard has also been urged to take a stance on human rights after the release of a shocking video online showing two Papuan men being kicked and abused by Indonesian soldiers.
The video, first reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, follows similar allegations against Australian-funded Indonesian anti-terror police said to have abused peaceful political activists in the Maluku islands.
Yudhoyono promised on Monday there would be "no immunity" for the soldiers involved in the torture, as the military announced that five suspects had been identified.
But he also rejected calls from rights groups for Gillard to raise the matter during Tuesday's talks, saying: "There should be no pressure from any country or any non-government organisation."
Australia has worked closely with the Indonesian security forces since 88 Australian tourists were killed in the 2002 Bali bombings by Islamist extremists.
Few Indonesian military officers have ever faced justice for gross human rights abuses dating back decades, including alleged crimes against humanity in Timor Leste.
- AFP/de
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