MELBOURNE, Australia
The linking of foreign aid to the plight of two Australians facing execution in Indonesia was described by “unhelpful” by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop Tuesday, local media reported.
Bishop said Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s reference to the 1 billion Australian dollars ($774 million) donated to Indonesia after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami when discussing the looming executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had been badly received in Jakarta, ABC News reported.
"It was seen in that way in Indonesia and that's why I spoke to Vice President [Jusuf] Kalla to make it quite clear that the prime minister did not intend to link it in an unhelpful way," she said.
"What he was pointing out was that Australia has always been a friend of Indonesia, we are there when Indonesia needs us. Vice President Kalla accepted that that's the way the words should be taken."
Asked if she agreed that Abbott’s comments were viewed as unhelpful, Bishop added: "Well, that's how it was reported in the press."
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry had reacted angrily to Abbott’s comments, calling them “threats,” ABC News reported.
On Monday, Kalla said Indonesia was ready to return the aid. "If the aid is deemed not humanitarian in nature, we will pay back," he said, according to the Jakarta Post.
The 2004 disaster left around 200,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia.
Bishop said Australia was “not leaving any stone unturned in our efforts to seek clemency for these two Australian citizens."
Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, are facing execution by firing squad over the smuggling of 8.3 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin as part of the Bali Nine trafficking ring.
The case has drawn high-level international efforts to commute the death sentences of the duo and five other foreign drug convicts.
Abbott’s comments on Wednesday last week, in which he called for Indonesia to “reciprocate” following tsunami relief efforts, led to a public and political backlash in Indonesia, with people collecting coins to reimburse the Australian payment.
In Jakarta, Abbott was labeled a Shylock, after Shakespeare’s money lender, and a “drug dealer’s cousin.”
On Sunday, a backbench lawmaker from Abbott’s Liberal Party, Teresa Gambaro, warned against “sabre rattling,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Abbott has come under fire this year over a number of blunders and narrowly survived a party leadership vote two weeks ago.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has declined clemency for drug offenders facing execution, citing the harm caused to Indonesia by illegal narcotics.
