RI condemns embassy security hoax

RI condemns embassy security hoax

Agencies, Jakarta, Canberra

Indonesia on Tuesday condemned as a "terror threat" the second
security hoax at its embassy in Canberra in a week, amid growing
resentment towards its neighbor's obsession with a young
Australian woman jailed in Bali on drugs charges.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the incident was "part
of a wave of threat of terror" against Indonesia.

Australian police sealed off Indonesia's Canberra mission
earlier on Tuesday following the discovery of a package that
Wirayuda said contained white powder similar to a substance that
caused an alert at the embassy last week.

Police said tests on both substances showed they were benign.

There has been widespread public outrage in Australia after an
Indonesian court jailed 27-year-old Schapelle Corby, who was
caught with 4.1 kilograms of marijuana stuffed in her luggage at
Bali's airport.

Many of Corby's supporters, who back her claim that she was
the victim of an international smuggling syndicate, have
threatened to boycott Bali as a holiday destination and have
demanded the return of aid for Indonesian tsunami victims.

Hassan said the latest incident would not harm often rocky
ties between Indonesia and Australia, which began improving when
Canberra offered help in the wake of the Oct. 2002, Bali bombings
in which 88 Australians died.

"Actions such as this one will not intimidate our bilateral
relations. We condemn this type of action," he said.

The Australian reaction to Corby's sentence has, however,
stirred resentment among ordinary Indonesians, who see it as an
attempt by their neighbor to interfere in Indonesia's justice
system.

Australian politician Bruce Billson, who was in Indonesia on
Tuesday for discussions on a possible prisoner exchange deal that
would allow Corby to serve her sentence in her homeland, also
condemned the embassy incidents.

"Firstly we conveyed how appalled we are and disgusted by the
parcels that have been sent to the Indonesian embassies. It is
very un-Australian," he said.

"We conveyed our deep regret and how appalled we are that such
an activity has happened in our land."

Negotiations began in Jakarta this week on Australia's push
for a prisoner exchange treaty that could enable Corby and 13
other Australians in Indonesian prisons to serve their time at
home.

Billson said after discussions with Indonesian officials that
such a treaty would take months.

"We discussed the Corby case briefly and recognized that calm
heads are what (are) needed now," he said.

A poll published on Tuesday revealed Australians are divided
on whether Corby is guilty or innocent.

The AC Nielsen poll of 1,401 people published in The Sydney
Morning Herald newspaper showed 17 percent of people are
convinced Corby is innocent and 17 percent believe she was
probably or definitely guilty.

A slight majority -- 51 percent -- thought the trial in Bali
was unfair. The poll had a margin of error of 2.6 percentage
points.

A previous poll linked to a television show aired before
Corby's May 27 verdict had suggested more than 90 percent of
Australians believed she was innocent.

In a possible blow to the tourism industry in Bali, which
draws thousands of Australians each year, 48 percent of the
people in the latest poll said the Corby case would make them
less likely to visit the tropical island.