Downer on mending mission to Indonesia

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Alexander Downer leaves for Jakarta soon in a bid for new talks on the refugee crisis that played such a large role in the weekend's re-election of the Coalition Government.

But even with a congratulatory telegram from Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri to Prime Minister John Howard hoping for a thaw in the two nations' frosty relationship, Foreign Minister Downer faces severe difficulties.

Megawati refused a formal meeting with Howard at last month's Apec Summit in China - despite talks with other leaders, including New Zealand's Helen Clark - and Canberra's handling of the Tampa crisis has fanned lingering resentments going back to the East Timor intervention.

Howard has also come under bitter and extended fire at home and abroad for his use of asylum seekers during the election campaign, including an extraordinary attack yesterday by Senator Aden Ridgeway, the only Aboriginal in the federal Parliament.

Following earlier claims from a broad coalition of critics that Howard had used race to snatch victory from Labor, Ridgeway, deputy leader of the Democrats, condemned the Government's tactics of division.

"As a ... Senator I have witnessed manipulation and abuse of the legislative process that resulted in legislation being passed which breached Australia's international commitment to basic human rights.

"I have witnessed a Government that has been able to inflame antagonism towards all refugees by distorting the facts and painting them as potential terrorists and drug dealers.

"I have witnessed the talkback radio test being the only determinant of public policy, with both parties allowing themselves to be totally intimidated by perceived popular opinion."

Yesterday the flow of asylum seekers continued, with about 330 boatpeople taken on board the Navy supply ship HMAS Tobruk in the Indian Ocean and transferred to a makeshift detention centre on Christmas Island.

The island is no longer officially recognised as Australian territory as far as asylum seekers are concerned and the future of the new arrivals is uncertain, with Canberra still trying to find Pacific nations willing to take more.

Australia believes the only way to stem the flow is to reach a new agreement with Jakarta to clamp down on people smuggling and to set up new refugee detention and processing centres in Indonesia.

Downer hopes in his visit to accelerate negotiations and to set up a summit between Howard and Megawati.

"For us it obviously is a substantial issue and it is one that we hope we can work through with the Indonesian Government in the way we have been doing already."

But the mood towards Australia in Indonesia and other countries in the region remains grim, with Howard's re-election regarded as a sign of Australia's hardening xenophobia.

The Jakarta Post accused Howard of ruthlessly exploiting Australia's fear of a flood of Asia's poor and said the election campaign constituted a serious setback for a country that could otherwise play a serious role in the region.

Singapore's Straits Times said that although Howard had won on a wave of support for the interception and return of asylum-seeking boats, he was indifferent to claims the victory was the product of a racist and xenophobic campaign.

In Britain the Financial Times described the victory as squalid.