Julie Bishop: 'nothing normal' about recalling ambassador from Indonesia
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Version 0 of 1. Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, says there is “nothing normal” about withdrawing an ambassador, after Indonesian leaders played down the significance of the diplomatic protest at the execution of two citizens. On Thursday Bishop sought to strike a balance between signalling anger at Indonesia’s execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and her desire not to jeopardise long-term relations. Bishop did not repeat assertions by her cabinet colleague, the defence minister, Kevin Andrews, that Indonesia’s actions were “a deliberate, calculated snub of Australia”, but she said the entire episode was a matter of “deep regret”. The prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced that Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Grigson, would return from Jakarta by the end of the week in response to Indonesia’s decision to perform the firing-squad killing of Chan, Sukumaran and six other drug convicts early on Wednesday morning. The temporary recall, combined with a suspension of ministerial contact between the two countries, was designed to signal Australia’s anger that its pleas for clemency were ignored despite strong evidence Chan and Sukumaran had turned their lives around in prison after their arrest in 2005 for drug smuggling. Indonesian leaders reacted cautiously to Australia’s protest. The attorney general, HM Prasetyo, said the withdrawal of the ambassador was “just a momentary reaction”, and the foreign affairs minister, Retno Marsudi, said it was Australia’s right. The vice president, Jusuf Kalla, also described the recall as “normal” in diplomatic relations. But Bishop said it was a significant step. “There is nothing normal about Australia recalling an ambassador from Indonesia. It has never happened before,” she said. Andrews was particularly forthright in expressing his outrage. He pointedly criticised the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, for refusing to exercise his discretion to grant clemency. “I think we face a situation in Indonesia where we have a president who is in a weak situation and sometimes people in weak situations take actions which they think may be an exhibit of strength,” Andrews said. “If that’s been the case here ... this is a serious miscalculation on the part of the president of Indonesia. Australians are friendly towards the Indonesian people, but in this case we believe their leadership has let them down.” Bishop stopped short of endorsing her ministerial colleague’s comments about a snub. “Let me use my words,” she said. “I said that I deeply regret what has occurred. I made numerous representations personally at every level that I could and so it is a deeply regrettable situation. However, Indonesia is an important partner of Australia and the relationship must continue for the benefit of both countries.” Bishop said she was “deeply concerned by the way the families were treated in this matter” and regretted that Chan and Sukumaran’s “remarkable rehabilitation” did not seem to have been taken into account. “Sadly, the executions proceeded so I’m now focusing my efforts on supporting the families, thinking of them and ensuring that the bodies are treated with respect and can be brought home to Australia,” she said. In a sign of sensitivities in Australia after the executions, the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra confirmed it had removed a portrait of the Indonesian president “as a preventative measure” amid fears the photo might be vandalised. It remains unclear whether the government will find other ways to protest against Indonesia’s handling of the matter, including cuts to Australia’s foreign aid to its northern neighbour. On Wednesday Bishop did not rule out re-examining the aid budget. “The aid budget is subject to different considerations and any announcement in relation to the aid budget will be made at budget time in early May,” she said. The leader of the Greens, Christine Milne, said Nepal needed extra money to deal with the earthquake tragedy, but any corresponding cuts to Indonesian foreign aid “would be very cynical indeed”. “Australians have a really good relationship with the people of Indonesia and Australians understand that poor people, wherever they are in the world, need our assistance,” Milne said. “Indonesia is our nearest neighbour. The people of Indonesia who are being helped with projects for housing, for food security, for education, for public health, continue to need that help.” Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos backed the recall of the ambassador, but told Sky News he would be concerned about aid cuts “because that would potentially impact on the most vulnerable in the community in Indonesia”. The treasurer, Joe Hockey, has previously indicated that the government had “made all of our savings in foreign aid” and would go “no further”. But his comments about the overall aid budget did not exclude the possibility of changes to allocations for individual countries. The execution of Chan and Sukumaran sparked renewed scrutiny of the Australian federal police’s decision in 2005 to pass information to the Indonesian authorities which led to the arrests of the so-called Bali Nine. The AFP is expected to conduct a media conference in coming days to defend its actions, amid calls from independent and minor-party MPs for fresh parliamentary scrutiny. Ministers, meanwhile, reacted angrily to questions about the removal of a passage opposing the death penalty from high-level strategic directions issued to the AFP in May 2014. The ministerial direction issued by the justice minister, Michael Keenan, omitted a line that appeared in the previous version of the document approved by Labor’s Brendan O’Connor in 2010, which said the AFP must “take account of the government’s longstanding opposition to the application of the death penalty, in performing its international liaison functions”. Keenan and Bishop accused Labor of engaging in “cheap” politicking by raising questions about the issue within 24 hours of Chan’s and Sukumaran’s executions. The ministers said the change to the ministerial direction did not affect an AFP operational guideline that required managers to take into account the risk of a death penalty before sharing information with foreign police counterparts. This guideline, specifically focusing on international cooperation, was introduced in 2009 and remains in force. |