AFP, JAKARTA, : Australia's decision to take part in the controversial US program to develop a missile defence shield could create uncertainty in the region, Indonesia's foreign ministry said on Friday.
Spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Jakarta's view at present was that “these things offer more uncertainties and potential complications rather than solutions”.
Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill has said that co-operation will mainly involve scientific research, most likely in the area of radar sensors and the Australian-designed over-the-horizon system known as the Jindalee Operational Radar Network.
Hill said there were no current plans to host part of a ground-based missile defence system on Australian territory.
“A decision by a government for a process of this magnitude will no doubt be responded to and scrutinised by other governments in the regions, not because of any ill-intentions, but simply because this is such an important decision and we want to look at what it means for our security as well,” Natalegawa said.
Natalegawa said Jakarta had been briefed by Canberra on the plan and respected Australia's right to develop its own defence program, but “sometimes issues can be avoided if there are (more) consultations”.
He said Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who is due in Jakarta on Sunday to attend a conference on regional security the following day, would brief the government on the plan.
Downer is due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on Sunday evening. Natalegawa said the focus would be on a planned regional conference on counter-terrorism in Bali in February. He said they would also discuss separatist conflicts in the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Papua and the travel advisory issued by Canberra following the Bali bombings in October last year, in which 202 people were killed.
Jakarta is pressing Australia and other countries to lift their warnings against travel to Indonesia.
Downer would also meet President Megawati Sukarnoputri, top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the police and intelligence chiefs, the spokesman said.
