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JAKARTA : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd touched down on Thursday on his first state visit to the Indonesian capital in what is seen as an opportunity to strengthen often brittle ties, officials said.
Rudd, whose centre-left Labour party supports close engagement with Asia, flew into Jakarta on the second leg of an Asian trip which started in Japan on Sunday, according to airport officials.
Japan and Indonesia are two of Australia's most important regional partners, but the new prime minister raised eyebrows when he chose China for the first stop on his inaugural Asian tour in March.
Australia's conservative opposition criticised the Mandarin-speaking former ambassador to China over the Beijing visit, and Japanese officials were privately livid, but Rudd was expected to receive a warm welcome in Jakarta.
"Culturally we are still different, but we have a lot more in common than we often care to admit," The Jakarta Post said in an editorial on Thursday, referring to common values such as democracy and a mutual interest in regional stability.
"On that note, let's welcome the Australian prime minister in a way (President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) might want to try: G'day Kev."
Rudd's moves to withdraw troops from Iraq and sign the Kyoto treaty have won broad favour in Indonesia after the more openly pro-US policies of former prime minister John Howard, who was ousted in November after 11 years in office.
"The new Australian prime minister seems like a decent person we can work with," The Post said, conceding that Australia and Indonesia were vastly different neighbours prone to occasional misunderstandings.
It said Rudd had an opportunity to capitalise on the goodwill built up between Howard and Yudhoyono, Indonesia's first directly elected president.
Key issues likely to dominate the relationship during Rudd's time in office include Islamic militancy, negotiations over a free trade pact and the challenge of climate change.
In an Indonesian-language opinion piece in the Kompas daily on Wednesday, Rudd said the main priorities for a stronger bilateral relationship were regional security and the environment.
"In the eyes of Australia, Indonesia - the closest neighbour in Asia - is an important partner," Rudd said.
Rudd lauded Indonesia's "big success" in fighting Islamic terror groups and said "the Australian government wants to increase anti-terrorism cooperation."
Scores of Australians were killed in terror bombings on the holiday island of Bali in 2002 and 2005, and the Australian embassy in Jakarta was attacked in 2004 as Canberra backed the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rudd said joint anti-terrorism efforts were an example of how the two countries could "cooperate to face regional challenges such as disaster management, drug trafficking, people smuggling and illegal fishing," he said.
His talks with Yudhoyono at 9:30 am (0230 GMT) on Friday are expected to include his vision for a European Union-inspired Asia-Pacific Community including the economies of the United States, China, India and Japan by 2020.
Other issues that could crop up are Canberra's warning to citizens not to travel to certain parts of Indonesia and Australia's opposition to the death penalty, with three Australian drug smugglers on death row in Indonesia.
But old wounds are never far from the surface whenever Australian and Indonesia leaders sit down to chat.
An Australian state prosecutor last year found that Indonesian special forces executed five Australian-based journalists - the so-called "Balibo Five" - in East Timor in 1975.
The case has been referred to the attorney general for possible war crimes prosecution, but one of the suspects is a former minister and Yuhdoyono's administration has signalled it will refuse any extradition request. - AFP/de
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