Indonesia, Australia take steps to calm spy row

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday Australia's leader had made "important" commitments aimed at ending a row over spying but warned much more work was needed before ties returned to normal. But even as tensions calmed with Canberra, they threatened to escalate elsewhere, with Yudhoyono saying his government would summon the South Korean and Singaporean envoys over new espionage claims. Allegations that Australian spies tried to listen to the phones of Yudhoyono, his wife and his ministers in 2009 surfaced last week and sparked a diplomatic crisis. Jakarta reacted furiously, ending cooperation on military exercises and in the key area of people-smuggling and recalling its ambassador from Australia. Indonesia was further infuriated by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's failure to apologise or offer what it saw as a clear explanation. But on Tuesday Yudhoyono struck a conciliatory tone after receiving a letter from Abbott aimed at calming the row with a key ally and trading partner. The letter contained a "commitment from the Australian PM that Australia will not do anything in the future that will disadvantage or disturb Indonesia", the president said. "That is a very important point," Yudhoyono added. He said Abbott supported his proposal to come up with a "protocols" and a code of ethics to govern relations between the neighbours that were "clear, fair and abided to". Yudhoyono described a long process, that would involve assigning the foreign minister or a special envoy to work with the Australians. After the details were hammered out, a formal ceremony would have to take place to bring the new agreements into place, attended by both Abbott and Yudhoyono, said the president. Only after the two countries have "regained trust" in this fashion could normal relations and cooperation be restored, said the president. However Yudhoyono reacted angrily to new reports that South Korea and Singapore helped with US-Australian surveillance in the region. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday that both countries played key roles in a "Five Eyes" intelligence network grouping the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It quoted a top-secret US National Security Agency map that it said was published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The president said that even though Indonesia was not specifically named in the reports, he was nevertheless angry as the whole of Asia was mentioned. "I have instructed our foreign minister to ask for an explanation from the ambassadors of those countries," he said. A presidential spokesman confirmed Yudhoyono meant the envoys would be summoned. Malaysia's foreign ministry earlier Tuesday summoned the ambassador from neighbouring Singapore over the same report. The report said that as a major hub for regional telecommunications traffic, Singapore was an important link in the surveillance network. The allegations that Australian spies targeted Indonesian officials has also sparked anger among the Indonesian public, and on Tuesday a crowd of demonstrators in military-style uniforms protested outside the Australian embassy. The protesters, from a paramilitary group, burned photos of Abbott and demanded the Australian ambassador leave the country. The alleged spying was first revealed by Australian media last week, which based its reports on leaked documents from US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden. They showed that Australia's electronic intelligence agency tracked Yudhoyono's activity on his mobile phone for 15 days in August 2009 under the previous Canberra government. At least one phone call was reportedly intercepted.