Sydney – Australia's strained ties with Jakarta continued to be hampered by Indonesian politicians exploiting the troubled relationship for domestic political advantage, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sunday. He said some parlimentarians seemed determined to criticise Canberra no matter what efforts were made to improve the situation.

"There are one or two people in the Indonesian parliament who have their radar on to pick up any scrap of information they could use against Australia," he told the Ten television network. "It really wouldn't matter what we did. They would find a way of using that to criticise us. That is the mindset."

But Downer welcomed news that President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared likely to visit later this month. "His visit has been opposed by some members of the Indonesian parliament for one reason or another," he said. "To some extent they have used relations with Australia for domestic purposes, not necessarily because of the intrinsic value or otherwise of that bilateral relationship."

Wahid has already repeatedly postponed several planned trips this year following opposition from Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and legislators, still smarting over Australia's perceived support for East Timor's independence.

Ties between the two countries nosedived because of what Jakarta saw as Canberra's "unneighbourly" attitude over East Timor which Indonesia invaded in 1975. Australia was one of the few countries which had recognized Indonesia's sovereignty over the former Portuguese colony.

But it was at the forefront of efforts to get a UN peacekeeping force deployed in East Timor after violence erupted following the UN-held ballot on self-determination there in August 1999. Australia was later appointed to head the first UN-sanctioned multilateral force in East Timor, further antagonizing Jakarta.

Only last month parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee vetoed any visits to Australia by Wahid.

Downer said Jakarta needed Canberra as much as Canberra needed Jakarta and Australian officials had gone out of their way to explain Australia's defence issues to Indonesia – considered a vital component of a successful relationship.