Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived in Malaysia Thursday for a visit aimed at improving relations between the neighbours which observers have said are at their lowest point in decades.
In talks Friday with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the leaders are expected to tackle irritants like the treatment of Indonesian migrant workers, as well as border issues and trade and investment.
Relations have been dogged by a series of spats including abuse of Indonesian labourers and maids, the assault of an Indonesian referee here, and charges that a traditional Indonesian dance and song was appropriated for a Malaysian tourism campaign.
Andreas Pareira, a member of the Indonesian parliament's foreign affairs commission, said bilateral ties were "at the worst point" in the past four decades, the Antara state-run news agency reported Wednesday.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said problems and misunderstandings, including on the labour issue, would take centre stage during the visit, the official Bernama news agency reported.
Indonesia has more than 1.1 million migrant workers in Malaysia — with the figure running to as high as two million when undocumented workers are included — and protests have been mounting over their treatment.
"There are clearly issues to be addressed in bilateral relations," Indonesian presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told AFP in Jakarta.
