Transcript E&OE
18 May 2009
Interview: Australia Network with Jim Middleton
Subjects: Sri Lanka, Burma, Indian Election.
JIM MIDDLETON: Stephen Smith, thank you for joining us
The long running civil war in Sri Lanka is drawing to a predictably bloody close. The leader of the Tamil Tigers is reported to have been killed, but the Sri Lankan military are determined to fight on they say. Surely enough is enough.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well I can't confirm whether the Tamil Tigers leader Prabhakaran is dead or not. We've seen those reports.
I think there are two key points. Firstly, protection of civilians and their treatment consistent with humanitarian law remains paramount. But secondly, the challenge now is whether - in what is an imminent military victory - whether the Sri Lankan Government can now win the peace.
Australia's been saying for some considerable time that there are two key aspects, firstly protection of civilians in the conflict zone and also those who have moved to displaced people's camps. But secondly this is not a two to three decade old dispute that was ever going to be won by military means alone. There has to be political reform, political reconciliation, political rapprochement. The challenge now is can we have a long-term, enduring peace?
JIM MIDDLETON: On that score, the ambition of the Sri Lankan Government in terms of displaced people which is that they will be retained for up to two years before they're resettled. That's simply too long isn't it?
STEPHEN SMITH: I think that's right, which is one of the reasons Australia has firstly been very generous in its humanitarian assistance in recent weeks aimed at the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees and also the International Committee of the Red Cross to assist them in their work and we continue to look at opportunities to render humanitarian and other assistance.
But while we've also been joining like-minded countries internationally saying that the administration of the camps needs to be effective in a way in which international agencies have access and that people are processed and treated in accordance with international, humanitarian standards.
JIM MIDDLETON: If there is to be a long standing peace in Sri Lanka it would seem that now is the time for a bit of generosity of spirit, whatever may have happened before. As you say the leader of the Tamil Tigers Prabhakaran appears to be dead. Surely now is a moment at which a change [Indistinct] could occur because otherwise it may be that this civil war is continued by other means in any event which would be just as evil and just as terrible for the people who have suffered for so long anyway.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well it's been a long running, bitter conflict and there's no point winning a military victory and not also securing a long term, enduring peace.
And so issues now are the way in which displaced civilians are treated, issues of overtures for political reconciliation and political reform. These now come right to the fore. It has to be a priority not just for the Sri Lankan Government but also for the international community.
JIM MIDDLETON: Who, it has to be said, whose appeals have largely been ignored including those I think that you have made personally on behalf of this Government to Sri Lanka. This is not a good look on the part of the Sri Lankan Government is it really?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well the Sri Lankan Government now has to judge what its international reputation will be. It has to respond on these two fronts, the treatment of civilians in a humanitarian fashion with international access by the relevant agencies, but also now has to try and win the peace.
Its long-standing international reputation is now very clearly at stake. These points I've made to Foreign Minister Bogollogama by telephone call last month. He came to Australia last year, where we had these discussions and Australia, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada all countries have been making comparable or similar calls.
But we're now in a sense at the crossroads. The Sri Lankan Government with the assistance of the international community can seek to win a long-term, enduing peace or over a period of time we will see similar things emerge that we've seen over the last two to three decades.
JIM MIDDLETON: Looking a little bit further north, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has won an emphatic victory. This has to be good news as far as the Australian Government is concerned.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well of course who wins an election is a matter for the Indian people and I won't reflect on that. But there are a number of points I think well worth making. Firstly it's a very successful election in the globe's largest democracy. That of itself is worth celebrating, and we do. Secondly for Prime Minister Singh, he's the first Indian Prime Minister to serve a full term and then be re-elected since Nehru in 1961. So that adds to his standing historically as well as at the current time.
And thirdly it's quite clear that the President will call upon Prime Minister Singh to form a Government, a Coalition Government in the forthcoming period. His party, the Congress Party, is obviously, as a result of the election, stronger and more powerful in that context. We will very happily deal with whatever coalition Government emerges but we do very much want to continue our work in bringing India to the front rank of our bilateral relationships.
In the past Australia, in my view, has neglected India. We've sought to rectify that in recent times, we've made very good progress but re-engaging with India post the election is now a very high priority for the Australian Government.
JIM MIDDLETON: When you say putting India into the first rank in diplomatic relations, does that mean that as far as Australia is now concerned that within the Asia Pacific region in general India is now equally important with China?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well I don't seek to graduate or give a hierarchy for our bilateral relationships, but if you look at the Asia Pacific and significant relationships that Australia has in the Asia Pacific - in this the century of the Asia Pacific - the United States, Japan, China, Indonesia, but we want Indonesia to be in the front rank of those…
JIM MIDDLETON: India.
STEPHEN SMITH: …sorry, we want India, sorry to be in the front rank of those relationships. We made a very good start in the first 18 months of our term in office. It was very regrettable that Prime Minister Rudd's visit to India had to be postponed as a result of Prime Minister Singh's illness. We're looking to that trip taking place as soon as practicable and I'm also hoping to return myself to India in the second half of this year. It's a very important relationship and one that we want to do everything we can to continue to enhance.
JIM MIDDLETON: From that bit of good news, back to the bad. Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma has been slung back in jail by the Burmese authorities and in the dock as well. Is there anything realistically though that Australia can do apart from protest at her treatment?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well we hope that our call, which is consistent with the call of many in the international community, has some success. We certainly know that silence won't work. But Aung San Suu Kyi should be released unconditionally and immediately. We're very concerned about this latest charge. One of Australia's diplomats was one of many who was refused access to the court today. We're not in a position to give a full assessment of what occurred.
We expect that it may continue tomorrow, but we remain gravely concerned about the conduct of the regime. Aung San Suu Kyi's detention, the detention of other political prisoners, all of whom should be released.
We want Burma to return to respect for human and civil rights and to return to democracy. And we continue to make those calls directly upon the regime itself as we have in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi's removal from her house to another form of detention.
JIM MIDDLETON: Stephen Smith, thanks very much for your time.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks, Jim.
[Ends]
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