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