Indonesia's president in Australia for talks

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono grinned as he stepped off the plane and spotted a cluster of well-wishers waving Indonesian flags, stopping to shake hands with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Governor-General Quentin Bryce. Bryce later bestowed upon the president Australia's highest civilian honor for his commitment to improving ties between the countries.

But talks between Yudhoyono and Australian officials are expected to turn more serious during his three-day visit, with the issue of asylum seekers high on the agenda. Yudhoyono is also expected to highlight the issue during his address to Parliament on Wednesday.

Australia's government has come under increasing pressure domestically to find a solution to the surge in asylum seekers finding their way by boat into Australian waters over the past year. Many of those vessels begin their journey in Indonesia, which has become a major launching point for Sri Lankans, Afghans and Iraqis seeking a better life in Australia.

Tension over the issue grew in October, when Indonesia and Australia struggled to figure out what to do about a group of Sri Lankan asylum seekers picked up by an Australian customs ship from a boat stranded by engine problems in Indonesian waters.

For a month, the asylum seekers refused to leave the ship, and Australia insisted they were Indonesia's responsibility. After discussions between Rudd and Yudhoyono, Indonesia eventually agreed to temporarily accept them, and some have since been sent to Australia.

The countries have also been at odds over the 1975 killing of five Australian-based journalists during a covert attack by Indonesian forces on East Timor in the weeks before the former Portuguese colony was officially invaded. In September, Australia launched a war crimes investigation into the deaths after an Australian coroner found the killings were deliberate and probably ordered by senior Indonesian officials.

Indonesia maintains the journalists were killed accidentally in a crossfire between Indonesian troops and East Timorese defenders. Yudhoyono has warned the investigation could severely strain his country's relations with Canberra.

Yudhoyono is scheduled to fly to Sydney on Wednesday night to meet with business leaders.

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