Word: australians
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...March 9, three terrorist suspects were killed by Indonesian police during a raid in Jakarta. Forensic experts carefully examined their bodies but kept their conclusions from the public until the following day, when, in a landmark address to the Australian parliament, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced that one of the dead was Dulmatin, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings. It was a matter close to his host's heart: The top bomb-technician, who had a $10 million bounty on his head, set off bombs that killed 202 people on the Indoneisan holiday isle, 88 of them...
...Yudhoyono's speech was greeted with applause from the audience in the Canberra government, and the office of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called Yudhoyono's address - he is the first Indonesian leader to speak before the Australian parliament in its 109-year history - a "milestone" for bilateral ties. But it was not the only grand gesture exchanged between the neighboring nations during his three-day visit to Australia this week. The Indonesian president was also awarded the Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest civilian honor in Australia, for encouraging democracy and economic ties between the two countries...
...While the relationship between Indonesia and Australia has improved dramatically since Australia's intervention in East Timor in 1999, even Yudhoyono admitted this week that it's still one of "love-hate." Since the 2002 Bali bombings, Australian travelers to Indonesia now receive a travel warning which Indonesia says promotes an overly negative image of the country. In 2006 several Australian drug smugglers - dubbed the Bali Nine - were sentenced to life imprisonment after being caught planning to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia. Three are currently on death row in Indonesia. The next year, an Australian coroner ruled that...
...largely dominated by another issue high on Rudd's list of priorities: people smuggling. Indonesia has become a hub for asylum seekers from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan looking to make the perilous journey to Australia by boat. Twenty-three vessels, many piloted by Indonesian fishermen, have been intercepted in Australian waters this year, an increasing number of illegal arrivals that has become a fire-hot domestic issue that could hurt Rudd's popularity during an election year. Yudhoyono announced during his visit that people-smuggling would now be punishable with a five-year sentence in Indonesia, and a new agreement...
...Hugh White, a professor at the Australian National University and a?Visiting Fellow?at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, says SBY's warnings could further sow the seeds of distrust in Indonesia, and that Rudd lacks political courage when dealing with Indonesia. "Anyone that thinks the most important relationship between Indonesia and Australia is people smuggling has vastly overestimated how important people smuggling is, and vastly underestimated how important Indonesia is," says White. Instead, White believes that Australia should demonstrate more engagement with Indonesia's economy, the third fastest growing in Asia, as well as their strategic position...