Official at RI embassy in Canberra `move'

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said the government has reassigned a staff member of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra before he was asked to leave by the Australian government for threatening East Timor protesters with a knife.

Alatas declined to disclose the identity of the official or where he has been posted. He stressed, however, that the official is not a diplomat.

The decision to post him out of Canberra was made following a discussion between the governments of Indonesia and Australia, Alatas was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

Earlier reports from Canberra suggested that Australia had requested the expulsion of an embassy staff member following a complaint by an East Timorese protester. The complainant claimed that he and another protester were threatened with a knife after a demonstration in front of the embassy on June 12.

On Monday evening, Alatas expressed his concern over frequent "brutal" demonstrations by East Timorese in exile and their supporters held near the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra as well as other consulate general offices, including the one in Darwin in the Northern Territory.

"The demonstrations were violent and the protesters dared to enter Indonesian Embassy territory," he said.

Indonesia has repeatedly lodged complaints with the Australian government, he said, adding that Canberra should have been aware of such incidents and taken preventative actions.

Alatas criticized Australia for its failure to prevent violent demonstrations, saying that "based on the Vienna Convention, things like that should have been prevented." (sim)