Stop white powder hoaxes: Indonesia
Stop white powder hoaxes: Indonesia
The Indonesian government is getting fed up with the seemingly
endless deliveries of white powder to its representative offices
in Australia, and has urged local police to be "more serious" in
probing the matters, a senior official has said.
Marty Natalegawa, a foreign ministry spokesman, said the
Indonesian embassy in Canberra received its latest package of
white powder on Thursday. The mail had disrupted the embassy's
activity for a time before police confirmed that the white powder
was a benign substance.
He said the embassy had previously received three mails
containing white powder, all of which were confirmed as harmless
by the local police. He, however, could not recall how many
envelopes of white powder Indonesian consulates in other parts of
Australia had received.
The embassy got its first powder delivery on June 1, which was
later deemed harmless by police. Australian officials speculated
that there was probably a link between the white powder hoaxes
and the controversial conviction of Australian woman Schappele
Corby for drug smuggling in Bali in late May.
On June 7 and June 22, the embassy received more white powder
envelopes. On the latter occasion, packets were also received by
Indonesian consulates all over Australia.
"Our embassy and consulates receive white powder packets
almost incessantly and we feel it has become a nuisance. We have
heard that Australia (police) has been trying to find the senders
and we would love to hear about progress (in the
investigations)," Marty told reporters on Friday.
"These events may create a bad impression for Australia. How
do you explain the fact that there is an investigation underway
but white powder mails are still coming? We will ask the
Australian government to be more serious in finding the
perpetrators and the motives to prevent such things from
recurring," he added.
He said the white powder hoaxes should not cause diplomats
serving in Australia to loosen their vigilance. "This is
something that we have to be aware of," he said.
The Indonesian foreign ministry in Central Jakarta was also
targeted by a prankster, who sent a packet of white powder to the
ministry on June 24 with an accompanying letter describing the
act as "just for fun". The police later confirmed that the
powder, which was sent using an Australian postal stamp, was
tapioca.
The Australian embassy in Indonesia apologized last month for
the continuous deliveries of white powder and gave assurances
about the safety of Indonesians living in Australia.
The Indonesian government has equipped its embassy and
consulates in Australia with a special device to scan incoming
letters for security. -- Ivy Susanti