Indonesian ambassador to Australia recalled over spying claims
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden say Australian spy agencies targeted Indonesian President and senior ministers
Indonesia recalled its ambassador to Australia on Monday in a furious response to reports that Australian spy agencies tried to listen to the phone calls of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as his wife and ministers.
Jakarta also said that all co-operation with Canberra would be reviewed after secret documents leaked by US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden named the president and nine of his inner circle as targets of the surveillance.
The escalating row came with ties between the strategic allies already strained over previous spying allegations and ways to deal with boatpeople heading for Australia via Indonesia.
“This is an unfriendly, unbecoming act between strategic partners,” Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters as he announced the ambassador would be recalled for consultations.
“This isn’t a smart thing to do,” he said, adding that it “hasn’t been a good day in the relationship between Indonesia and Australia”.
The documents, obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Guardian newspaper, showed that Australia’s electronic intelligence agency tracked Yudhoyono’s activity on his mobile phone for 15 days in August 2009, when Labor’s Kevin Rudd was prime minister.