Australian PM to visit Bali

Australian PM John Howard will visit Bali later this week to meet Indonesian President SBY. Mr Howard will open a special eye hospital dedicated to the victims of Bali terrorism. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.

Australian prime minister says he will meet Indonesian president in Bali

CANBERRA, Australia (AP): Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday he will travel to Indonesia this week to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and open a hospital dedicated to victims of terrorism.

Howard praised the Indonesian leader whom he plans to have a luncheon meeting with on the tourist island of Bali on Thursday.

“It will be an opportunity of catching up with a man whom I admire a lot,” Howard told Radio 6PR in the west coast city of Perth.

“His success as a moderate Islamic leader in the largest Islamic country in the world is very important to the ongoing relations between the great religions in the world and the different societiesof the world,” Howard added.

Howard will also use the visit on his 68th birthday to open an eye hospital built at the Australian government’s expense in memory of the Balinese victims among the 202 killed by terrorists bombs on Bali on Oct. 12, 2002.

Mr Howard’s last trip to Bali was back in 2003 when he attended services for the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings. Since his last trip some things have changed. The Discovery Shopping Mall is open, Spy Bar is closed and tourism is again on the increase. It would be nice if someone would whisper in his ear that his travel warnings aren’t popular here. Too many people have invested too much to be bankrupted by scare tactics.