RI embassy in Canberra bugged: House members

RI embassy in Canberra bugged: House members

Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Relations between Indonesia and Australia have been put to
another test after the House of Representatives accused Australia
of bugging the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra.

House legislators raised their concerns following a closed-
door meeting with State Code Institute (LSN) chairman Maj. Gen.
Nachrowi Ramli in Jakarta.

Legislator Djoko Susilo said a delegation of House members who
recently visited Canberra found microphones attached to alarm
systems at the embassy and at the Ambassador's official
residence.

The devices were installed by the Australian Federal Police as
part of Canberra's decision to increase security measures at the
Indonesian embassy following the Bali bombing in October 2002,
which killed 202 people, mostly Australians.

"There was a microphone inside the alarm in the meeting room
of the embassy. That is an act of bugging," Djoko of the National
Mandate Party said.

Fellow legislator Paulus Widiyanto, of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle, said a similar device was installed
at the official residence of the Indonesian ambassador.

"I checked it last month and asked the LSN to neutralize the
device," he added.

While the government has taken steps to mend ties with
Australia following its stance over East Timor's partition from
Indonesia in 1999, House legislators have yet to bury the
hatchet.

Nachrowi confirmed his officials had found bugging devices
installed by the Australian government at the Indonesian embassy.

"I have enough data to prove Australia has conducted an act of
bugging. Some diplomats have wondered why every time they held a
meeting, the Australian foreign ministry knew it immediately. The
devices are there," Nachrowi said after the meeting.

He had called on state officials to raise security awareness
in their respective offices to avoid being tapped, he said.

But a spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry, Marty
Natalegawa, dismissed the possibility of bugging.

The government understood the concerns of the House
legislators and had sent a team to investigate the accusations.

"Security in our communications system is a paramount issue
but in both cases there has been a thorough probe and the results
were acceptable," Marty told the Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The Australian authorities had introduced a new security
system for the Indonesian embassy in Canberra following the Bali
blasts, he said.

"Due to the heightened security concerns, the Australia
introduced a new alarm system that connects the embassy with the
local police. But (the alarms) are for security matters only," he
said.

The alarms were installed with the consent of the Indonesian
embassy and went into embassies of several other countries.

Indonesian embassy communications had been intercepted, Marty
said, but this was because of a technical problem, not buggings.

The communication frequency used by the Indonesian embassy had
overlapped with a signal from a local private television station,
which had created interference.

"We have dealt with the problem and fixed it," he said.