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Indonesia ‘downgrades’ its ties with Australia over phone tapping
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Indonesia has “downgraded” its relations with Australia and suspended cooperation on people smuggling following outrage over reported eavesdropping on senior Indonesian leaders’ phones.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Parliament that he would do everything he “reasonably can” to repair relations with Indonesia.
Australian Broadcasting Corp and The Guardian reported on Monday that they had documents from US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showing that the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate targeted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cellphone and the phones of first lady Kristiani Herawati and eight other government ministers and officials.
Indonesia’s intelligence agency chief Norman Marciano told reporters yesterday that he had been assured by Australian intelligence officials that the wiretapping has stopped and will not resume.
A spokesman for Australia’s top spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, declined to comment on Marciano’s claim of such an assurance.
Marciano spoke before attending a meeting called by Yudhoyono to discuss the issue with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Indonesia’s recalled ambassador to Australia.
Natalegawa said that Indonesia was reviewing bilateral cooperation on issues with its neighbor.
“We have downgraded the level of relations between Indonesia and Australia,” he said. “Like a faucet, it is turned down one by one.”
Seeking formal explanation
Yudhoyono told a news conference after the meeting that he expected a formal explanation if Australia wants to maintain good bilateral relations.
“Clearly, I asked for temporary termination of cooperation on intelligence exchanges and information sharing,” he said. “I also asked for the termination of joint exercises between Indonesia and Australia, either for army, navy, air force or a combination.”
The termination affects cooperation on the thorny issue of people smuggling between the two countries. Indonesia is a transit country for thousands of asylum seekers hoping to reach Australia’s Christmas Island by boat. Many people have died while attempting the dangerous journey, and the immigration issue remains a political hot potato in Australia.
Abbott won elections in September on a promise to stop the asylum seeker boats and is relying on Indonesia’s cooperation to achieve this goal.
He has ruled out an apology or explanation on the spying allegations.
On Tuesday, Yudhoyono criticized Abbott for not expressing regret over the spying, which reportedly took place in 2009 under a previous Australian government.
Abbott told the Parliament yesterday that while he would try to repair relations with Indonesia, he did not “propose to overreact now” to anger over the issue.
“I deeply and sincerely regret the embarrassment that media reports have caused President Yudhoyonod,” Abbott said. “I do understand how personally hurtful these allegations have been, these reports have been, for him and his family.”
Abbott said he would respond quickly and fully to a letter Yudhoyono told reporters he was writing to the prime minister.
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