Wahid trip to mend fences over Timor

Indonesian President Wahid

In this story: Stormy relationship Defense briefing RELATED STORIES

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will use his six-day trip to Australia and New Zealand to mend fences over East Timor.

Speaking to Australian journalists in Jakarta on Monday, Wahid said the trip, scheduled to begin April 5, would help restore good neighborly relations.

The trip, which has been postponed four times since it was first mooted by Wahid, will be the first visit by an Indonesian head of state to Australia in 25 years.

Wahid has been criticized in Indonesia over the amount of time he is spending overseas at a time of considerable internal tensions in the diverse republic, and in particular for visiting Australia given the East Timor situation.

Stormy relationship

The relationship between Australia and Indonesia has often been stormy.

Most recently, Australia's role in leading a United Nations peacekeeping force to the Indonesian province of East Timor, following an overwhelming vote for independence in the region, has renewed tensions.

A series of attacks on East Timor citizens from pro-Indonesians militias following the vote prompted the UN intervention. Australia played a key role in coordinating the intervention which many Indonesians regarded as interfering in their internal affairs.

Defense briefing

However, things began to thaw late last year when a delegation of Indonesian ministers and officials met Australian defense and trade ministers and staff in Canberra for talks.

Included in those discussions was a briefing for Indonesia on Australia's new, wide-ranging defense policy document.

Describing the current relationship, Wahid told journalists: "The relationship is a little bit stormy in the past, but I think that by this visit things should calm and we will develop a good natural path."

The Indonesian leader also said that there was an impression in Asia that Australia was caught between its Western heritage and contemporary Asia.

He said he hoped that links between the two nations and Asia could be developed for "mutual advantage".

Instability in Indonesia

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