Howard begins fence-mending visit to Jakarta

Howard went straight into talks with Megawati

JAKARTA. Indonesia -- Australia's Prime Minster John Howard has arrived in Jakarta at the start of a three-day visit to Indonesia designed to improve strained relations between the two countries.

Howard is in the Indonesian capital, on his second visit in sixth months, for consultations with President Megawati Sukarnoputri and other senior government officials.

However, two leading politicians are refusing to meet him.

Amien Rais, the chairman of Indonesia's top legislative body, says he is boycotting the meeting because of Australia's policy on asylum-seekers, and what he says is Canberra's backing of independence for the Indonesian province of West Papua -- also known as Irian Jaya.

The speaker of the Indonesian Lower House, Akbar Tanjung, has also said he will not attend a meeting with Howard for similar reasons.

In a curt response to Rais's statement, Howard denied that he had blamed the Indonesian government for the problem of people smugglers and reaffirmed Australia's support for Indonesia's territorial integrity.

"Those allegations about Australia attributed to him are completely untrue," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio before leaving for Jakarta.

"I recognize some of the past difficulties but you don't dwell on the past. You move on," he said.

Relations between Indonesia and Australia have often fluctuated between hot and cold, but they reached a particular low-point during the 1999 crisis over East Timor.

The intervention of an Australian-led peacekeeping force into what Jakarta still regarded as sovereign Indonesian territory caused widespread anti-Australian sentiment.

Asylum row

The issue of asylum seekers and Indonesia's position on the people-smuggling route has become a focus of tensions

More recently relations have again hit the rocks over the rising number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia on boats operated from Indonesia by organized people-smuggling rings.

The issue was brought to a head last August by the row over some 433 asylum seekers rescued by a Norwegian freighter from a sinking Indonesian boat.

Indonesia and Australia both refused to accept responsibility for the refugees, most of whom originated from Afghanistan and the Middle East.

As the row heated up Megawati refused to return Howard's calls on the subject.

In the months since then Australian officials have been urging the Indonesian government to take a tougher line on the issue of people smuggling.

However, Howard has acknowledged that Jakarta faces several other separatist and economic issues pressing on its limited resources.

Both sides have said they are looking to a regional meeting on the subject, chaired jointly by Australia and Indonesia to be held in Bali later this month to make further progress on the problem.