Australia flatly denies bugging Indonesian Embassy
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.