We call on our citizens to be careful in Australia."
Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - The Indonesia Foreign Affairs Ministry has called on Indonesian citizens in Australia to be careful after an incident in which red liquid was splattered around the Indonesian Consulate premises in Sydney.

"We call on our citizens to be careful in Australia," Director of Information and Media of the Indonesia Foreign Ministry Siti Sofia noted here on Thursday.

Sofia said the incident that took place at the consulate is not a threat to Indonesian citizens residing in Australia.

"I think it is not a threat but rather a form of protest," she claimed.

The Indonesian embassy has formed a partnership with the local security officers to ensure security of Indonesian citizens.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thirty thousand Indonesian citizens resided in Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, and Canberra.

Meanwhile, she asserted that the execution of the two Australian citizens will not affect the relations between Indonesia and Australia.

"In principle, Indonesia has good relations with other countries in the world. But, we have to uphold the integrity of the law, politics, and region," she noted.

Earlier, Head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lieutenant General (Retired) Marciano Norman had urged the Australian government to ensure the security of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Sydney.

"We ask the Australian intelligence and police to look for those responsible for splattering red liquid around the Indonesian Consulate in Sydney and ensure the security of Indonesian diplomats," Norman emphasized here on Wednesday.

According to Norman, the Australian police should provide additional security cover.

"The Australian government should provide more security to Indonesian diplomats," he affirmed.

He also urged Australian authorities to investigate the incident wherein a balloon filled with liquid was pelted at the nations consulate at 6 a.m. local time, on Tuesday morning.

"They have evidence. So, they should investigate the case," Marciano stated.

Moreover, a professor observed that Australia should ensure the security of Indonesian diplomats there in the run-up to the execution of the two Australian convicts in Indonesia.

"The government of Indonesia needs to ask the Australian police to ensure the security of its diplomats and representative offices in that country ahead of the executions," Hikmahanto Juwana, a professor of international law at the University of Indonesia, stated.

Indonesia deploys its police officers at the embassies of friendly countries and the residences of foreign diplomats, he pointed out, adding that Australia should also act accordingly in the wake of the imminent executions of the Bali Nine pair from Australia, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Juwana affirmed that Australia would be blamed if it failed to guarantee the security of Indonesian diplomats and its consulate offices in the country in accordance with the international law.

Chan and Sukumaran, who were convicted of heroin smuggling in 2005, and Raheem Agbaje Salami of Cordoba, Spain, have been moved to Nusakambangan Island where they will be executed soon.

Chan and Sukumaran were taken from Krobokan Prison in Denpasar to Ngurah Rai Airport where they were flown to Cilacap in Central Java by a chartered Wing Air plane bearing the registration number: ATR-72-600 PK-WGO amid heavy rains at 6:50 a.m. local time, on Wednesday.

Escorted by two Sukhoi jets and two F-16 fighter aircraft, the Wing Air plane carrying Chan and Sukumaran arrived at Cilacaps Tunggul Wulung Airport at 8:14 a.m. local time.

On arrival at the airport, they were transferred to the Nusakambangan Island under tight security. They reached the prison there at 8:50 a.m. local time, on Wednesday.
(Uu.A063/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2015