|
 Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported Monday
that they had documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward
Snowden showing that the Australian agency also targeted the phones
of Indonesian first lady Kristiani Herawati and another eight
government ministers and officials.
The documents reportedly showed that the Australian Defence Signals
Directorate, now the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate,
attempted to listen to the president's phone conversations on at
least one occasion and tracked activity on the phone for 15 days in
August 2009.
The diplomatic spat is the second in less than a month between
Indonesia and Australia stemming from Snowden's revelations linking
Australia with U.S. espionage.
It's an early test for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's new
government, which was elected in September and is anxious to cement
ties with it populous near-neighbor before the uncertainty of
Indonesian presidential elections next year.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters in
Jakarta on Monday afternoon that Yudhoyono had "directly ordered"
the ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, to be recalled.
Natalegawa said Indonesia "is very disturbed by this matter."
"This is not a clever thing to do, it's not a smart thing to do,"
Natalegawa said of the reported spying. "It violates every single
decent and legal instrument that I can think of."
He said the onus was now on Australia to explain what happened and
to make a commitment that it would never happen again.
"In short, it has not been a good day in the Indonesia-Australia
relationship," Natalegawa said.
He said Kesoema would soon leave the Australian capital of Canberra
and fly home. No time frame was given for his return to Australia.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs
Joko Suyanto said in a statement that all cooperative relationships
between the two countries were also under review, as were the
postings of Australian officials in Jakarta.
Abbott, who was not in government in 2009, declined to comment on
the reports in Parliament.
"All governments gather information, and all governments know that
every other government gathers information," Abbott said.
[to top of second column] |
"The Australian government uses all the resources at its disposal —
including information — to help our friends and our allies, not to
harm them," he added.
But Bob Carr, Australia's foreign minister until Abbott's coalition
won September elections, advised Abbott to assure Yudhoyono that if
his phone had been tapped, it wouldn't happen again.
"If the American president can give a guarantee to Angela Merkel of
Germany that America won't be overhearing what she says on the
phone, then we ought to be able to do it without any trouble to the
president of Indonesia," Carr told Nine Network television news.
Second on the target list after the president was his wife, also
known as Ani Yudhoyono.
Vice President Boediono, who visited Australia last week, was third,
and his predecessor, Jusuf Kalla, was fourth. Like many Indonesians,
Boediono uses one name.
Also listed was the government's then-foreign spokesman, Dino Patti
Djalal, who later became Indonesia's ambassador to Washington.
Former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, now a managing director at the
World Bank, was also on the list.
Earlier this month, the Indonesian government called in the
Australian ambassador for an explanation following reports that the
Australian Embassy in Jakarta was a hub for Washington's secret
electronic data collection program.
A document from Snowden published last month by the German magazine
Der Spiegel describes a signals intelligence program called
"Stateroom" in which U.S., British, Australian and Canadian
embassies house surveillance equipment to collect electronic
communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an
intelligence-sharing agreement known as "Five Eyes."
The Australian Embassy in Jakarta was listed as one of the embassies
involved in a report from Australia's Fairfax media, along with
Australian embassies in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East
Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port
Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
[Associated
Press; NINIEK KARMINI and
ROD McGUIRK]
McGuirk reported from
Canberra, Australia. Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos in
Jakarta contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
