Indonesia 'spied on Australians'

By Tony Vermeer

November 14, 2004

THE outgoing head of Indonesia's spy agency has admitted it tapped phone calls by Australian politicians during the East Timor crisis.

General Abdullah Hendropriyono also said the Australian embassy in Jakarta was bugged and suggested Indonesia had spies working in Australia.

He made the revelations in an interview with Channel 9's Sunday program on his last day as head of the Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN), Indonesia's state intelligence agency.

General Hendropriyono said BIN eavesdropped on Australian military and civilian phone calls during the East Timor crisis in 1999.

"The Australian intelligence tapped all conversations with Indonesian armed-forces officers, but also civilians. Then we made some counter-taps, counter-bugging," he said.

Asked if Australian politicians were targets, he replied: "Politicians, yes."

Hendropriyono said the program had provided a lot of information.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it was not unusual for foreign intelligence agencies to make such claims, but would not comment further.

The Sunday Telegraph

This report appears on NEWS.com.au.

-- ABC

Last Update: Saturday, November 13, 2004. 9:00pm (AEDT) Indonesia tried to infiltrate ASIS, spymaster says

The outgoing head of Indonesia's intelligence service says Indonesian spies have been working in Australia trying to infiltrate the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

Abdullah Hendropriyono has told Channel Nine's Sunday program that during Australia's involvement in East Timor prior to independence, Indonesia tapped the Australian embassy in Jakarta and tried unsuccessfully to recruit Australian spies to work for Indonesia.

He says the spying has stopped now.

But a former ASIS officer, Warren Reed, told the program he believes Indonesia penetrated deep inside the service.

"With penetration deep into the intelligence system here, they would have been pulling plum product out of Canberra," he said.