REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry has expressed doubt as to whether Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australians might avoid holidays in Indonesia due to death penalty sentences handed down to two Australian nationals.

"I doubt a foreign minister from a friendly country and who is respected in the region made a statement like that," said Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir during a press briefing here on Friday.

The statement by Nasir follows news from Australian media which reported that Minister Bishop said Australians might boycott Indonesia as a travel destination, particularly Bali Island, to express their disapproval of the death penalty handed down to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Chan and Myuran were sentenced to death in 2006 for attempting to smuggle heroin into Australia. Their clemency plea has since been rejected by President Joko Widodo.

"If she said she advised Australians not to sell drugs in Indonesia, I would support her," he added.

Nasir emphasized that the death penalty was part of law enforcement penalties used by the government, based upon the impact narcotics can have on the Indonesian people, particularly the nation?s youths.

"The death penalty is not directed to any particular nationality or state, but related to the crimes they have done. And the Indonesian government stressed that the convicts had gone through the process of law as regulated in Indonesia," he said.

Nasir also noted that the government of Indonesia, including the president, foreign affairs minister and related authorities, were continuing to hold intensive and open communications with their Australian counterparts.

"In the communications we have held, they (the Australian government) understand the law's supremacy in Indonesia and that bilateral relations with Indonesia are important," he said.

Earlier in January, Roy Morgan's poll showed 52 percent of Australians agree that drug traffickers convicted in another country and sentenced to death should be executed.

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