Compere: Well, finally returning to East Timor. The crisis may have soured Australia's relationship with Indonesia, but the Federal Government is making it very clear it's not going to encourage independence elsewhere in our giant northern neighbour. Yesterday AM reported on smuggled footage from Ambon showing demonstrators being fired on by the military. But, Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, has told reporters in New York this morning that the issues at stake are very different from those in East Timor. Michael Carey prepared this report in New York.

Alexander Downer: We remain committed to constructive and cooperative relations with Indonesia. I believe that our ties can only grow stronger as the Indonesian people make their long walk to democracy and freedom.

Michael Carey: And one way of ensuring the relationship improves is ensuring that East Timor itself is treated as a one-off case. As far as the Australian Government is concerned, independence rumblings elsewhere in Indonesia are in a different category, as Mr Downer explained in his response to the Ambon violence.

Alexander Downer: Well, we've always said in relation to Ambon and Aceh and other incidents that we've seen in Indonesia, that it's very important that both sides, that is the demonstrators, community groups which are involved in these incidents as well as the security forces, respond with, behave with and respond with appropriate restraint.

Question: Why are independence movements elsewhere in the archipelago different from East Timor?

Alexander Downer: Well, look, I'm not going into all of this, but in the case of East Timor, to put it as simply as this I suppose.

Back in 1975 Indonesia invaded East Timor. The East Timorese people wanted their independence. The United Nations had never acknowledged East Timor's incorporation into Indonesia.

Circumstances in other parts of Indonesia are entirely different. They go back to the Dutch colonial rule and the creation of modern Indonesia out of that.

Question: Do you think Aceh and Ambon and other areas in Indonesia, do you think their claims for a self-determination ballot are any less valid than East Timor's?

Alexander Downer: Yes, I do think they're less valid than East Timor's.