Australia flatly denies bugging Indonesian Embassy

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua , Bali

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer flatly denied on Wednesday allegations that the Indonesian Embassy building and the Indonesian ambassador's residence in Canberra had been wired with an electronic bugging device.

"It's an alarm equipment of some sort and not bugging equipment," he stressed at the sidelines of Bali Regional Ministerial Meeting on Counterterrorism here.

The Indonesian government, according to Downer, had verified this.

No bugging devices had been found during the investigation and the Indonesian government was quite satisfied with the result, the minister said.

Separately, Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Imron Cothan confirmed that the embassy was not bugged.

"Instead, upon examining (the embassy) we detected an (electromagnetic wave) interference caused by an unidentified frequency, which probably belonged to a local television station," he stressed.

He suggested that the device, which Indonesian legislators claimed was a bugging device, could probably be a panic button, a switch used by the embassy staff to alert their local security counterparts in an emergency.

"Generally, all diplomatic or consular offices are equipped with this button. In the event of a terrorist attack we could alert the authorities by simply pushing the button," he said.

"We did not file a complaint (over the bugging) because, in fact, there was no problem," he added.

The House of Representatives Commission I for international and security affairs said after a closed-door meeting with chairman of the National Code Institute (LSN) Maj. Gen. Nachrowi Ramli on Tuesday that the Indonesian Embassy and the official residence of the Indonesian ambassador to Australia had been bugged. The legislators claimed to have found the bugging device during their recent visit to Canberra.

Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda asserted on Wednesday the issue would not affect bilateral relations.

"It is the correct thing to do for any country to take precautionary measures in their own territory. Moreover, up to now we haven't found any solid case (of bugging)," he said.