Jakarta Globe – AFP, Martin Parry,November 18, 2013
Sydney.
Australian spy agencies attempted to listen to the phone calls of Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and targeted his wife and senior ministers,
reports said Monday, drawing a demand for answers from Jakarta.
Secret
documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, obtained by the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation and The Guardian newspaper, name the president and
nine of his inner circle as targets of the surveillance.
The
embarrassing details emerged with bilateral ties between the strategic allies
already strained over previous spying allegations and how to deal with asylum
seekers heading for Australia via Indonesia.
The
documents show that Australia’s electronic intelligence agency, the Defense
Signals Directorate, tracked Yudhoyono’s activity on his mobile phone for 15
days in August 2009, when Labor’s Kevin Rudd was prime minister. It reportedly
intercepted at least one call.
A list of
targets also included his wife Ani, Vice President Boediono who was in
Australia last week, former vice president Jusuf Kalla, the foreign affairs spokesman,
the security minister and the information minister, the reports said.
Yudhoyono’s
office demanded an explanation from Canberra.
“The
Australian government urgently needs to clarify on this news to avoid further
damage,” spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told AFP in a text message.
“The damage
has been done,” he added.
The ABC
said one of the documents was titled “3G impact and update” and appeared to
chart attempts by Australian intelligence to keep pace with the rollout of 3G
technology in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia.
A number of
intercept options were listed and a recommendation was made to choose one of
them and to apply it to a target — in this case the Indonesian leadership, the
broadcaster said.
The latest
release of Snowden documents comes just weeks after reports claimed Canberra’s
overseas diplomatic posts, including in Jakarta, were involved in a vast US-led
surveillance network, which sparked an angry reaction from Indonesian Foreign
Minister Marty Natalegawa.
This was
followed by The Guardian reporting earlier this month that Australia and the
United States mounted a joint surveillance operation on close neighbor
Indonesia during 2007 UN climate talks in Bali.
In an
interview with the ABC on Sunday, before the latest revelations, Vice President
Boediono played down suggestions of a rift with Australia, shrugging off the
disputes as normal neighborly problems.
“It’s
normal for next-door neighbors to have problems,” he said. “I think Australians
and Indonesians are quite committed to the long-term interests of both
countries.”
But he
admitted to public concern in Indonesia over the espionage allegations.
“And
therefore we should find some joint ways to allay public concern,” he said.
Alexander
Downer, the foreign minister under John Howard’s conservative government, said
the revelations were damaging to Australia.
”It’s a
shocking situation in which Australia will pay a big price,” he told Sky News,
while Greens leader Christine Milne said it showed the “extent to which this
country has slipped down the US path of universal surveillance.”
“The question
here is what is the justification for trying to spy on the phone calls of the
president or his wife? Is it national security, in which case are we saying we
think our closest neighbor’s president is a security risk to Australia?” she
asked.
Former US
National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden was given asylum in Russia in
August, to the fury of the United States where he is wanted on espionage
charges following disclosures that have provoked international uproar and
strained ties with allies.
He is also
behind revelations of American spying in Germany, including the tapping of
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.
Agence France-Presse
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