Fresh blow for Australian relations with Indonesia after Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expresses shock and hurt at naming of his country’s politicians in injunction

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has called on the Australian government to explain the sweeping gagging order on international bribery allegations, saying he was shocked at Indonesian politicians being named in the injunction.



The Australian government’s suppression order – intended to prevent “international relations” being harmed by court proceedings – appears to have instead created a problem, with Yudhoyono calling for an explanation.

The president held a media conference late on Thursday to complain about the Indonesians who have been named in the injunction, Antara news agency and the Jakarta Post reported.

“We are shocked by the report by WikiLeaks. Given the facts I have obtained ... the report is hurtful,” Yudhoyono said.

“Such a policy by Australia to hide [alleged involvement] of certain non-Australian individuals is something that I am not comfortable with because it could instead trigger suspicions and accusations,” Yudhoyono reportedly said.

“I am aware that this kind of report can go viral very quickly,” he said. Yudhoyono added it was very sensitive because it related to the honour and dignity of the Indonesian politicians named.

He reportedly said any Australian investigation should be open and transparent.

The Australian embassy in Jakarta was forced to issue a statement of reassurance that the injunction had been intended to protect senior figures from “innuendo”.

The order of the supreme court of Victoria still prevents the contents of the case, or the injunction itself, from being reported in Australia, but it has been widely reported in the region after being revealed by WikiLeaks on its website.

Yudhoyono said his foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, had spoken to the Indonesian ambassador in Australia and the Australian ambassador in Indonesia before the media conference.

According to Indonesian news website Viva, the secretary general of Megawati Sukarnoputri’s PDI-P party, Tjahjo Kumolo, also demanded clarification as to why Indonesian politicians had been named in the leaked document.

The Australian embassy in Jakarta later issued this statement: “The Australian government obtained suppression orders to prevent publication of information that could suggest the involvement in corruption of specific senior political figures in the region, whether in fact they were or not.

“The government considers that the suppression orders remain the best means for protecting the senior political figures from the risk of unwarranted innuendo.

“This is a long-running, complicated case which names a large number of individuals. The naming of such figures in the orders does not imply wrongdoing on their part.

“The government stresses that the Indonesian [identities redacted] are not the subject of the Securency proceedings. We take the breach of the suppression orders extremely seriously and we are referring it to the police.”

The leaked super-injunction comes as Australia and Indonesia were repairing their relationship after the revelations in documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden that Australia had spied in Yudhoyono, his wife and other figures in his inner circle.

The injunction was issued by the criminal division of the supreme court of Victoria “to prevent damage to Australia’s international relations that may be caused by the publication of material that may damage the reputations of specified individuals who are not the subject of charges in these proceedings”.