Presidential staffer regrets "sloppy" Australian reports

The Australian media's recent Wikileaks-sourced stories alleging that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono abused his power are regrettable, according to a senior presidential official.

A report entitled “Yudhoyono 'abused power'” published in The Age on Friday and echoed by The Sydney Morning Herald were "sloppy" and that the right of reply offered by the dailies to Yudhoyono was inadequate, presidential spokesman on political issues Daniel Sparingga, said.

"Sloppiness does not represent press from a nation that respects another nation," he said on Saturday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

According to a US State Department cable released by Wikileaks, Yudhoyono personally intervened to halt prosecution of Taufik Kiemas, husband of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, in a graft case centered on infrastructure projects, the reports said.

Daniel said that he regretted the way the US Embassy in Indonesia treated classified information and that an apology from the embassy was inadequate. American diplomats should change their views of the US and of other countries in the wake of the Wikileaks scandal, he said.