REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIJING -- Indonesia is strengthening its encryption agency by improving its abilities and capacity, a minister said.
"Of course, we will continuously improve the capacity and capability of the encryption agency and its departments," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said while visiting Beijing from November 14-16.
The minister, however, added that he could not offer details because it concerns intelligence matters.
Indonesia is one of the countries whose communications were "monitored" and "intercepted" by the United States and Australia through their representative offices in Indonesia.
"Officially, we are still waiting for clarification from the two countries regarding the wiretapping. However, internally we must strengthen our existing encryption agency," the minister said.
News stories about wiretapping, allegedly conducted by the US and Australia on Indonesia, were reported in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald on October 31.
The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that Australian surveillance collection facilities were in place at embassies in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili, Timor Leste, and at high commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Details are reported in a secret US National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden and published by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.
Indonesia has asked for clarification from the US and Australian governments regarding wiretapping facilities located in their embassies in Jakarta.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa earlier said if the facilities exist, they did not only seriously violate the nation's security, but also diplomatic norms and ethics.
Further, Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Marzuki Alie urged the government to lodge strong protests with the United States and Australia over reports of wiretapping.
"I think we need to protest strongly. As a sovereign nation, we must take a stance against what has been done by the foreign countries' intelligence agents," Marzuki Alie said recently.
Indonesia must not let foreign countries interfere with its independence, he added.
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