T

he Foreign Ministry has officially summoned the top American diplomat in Jakarta, Chargé d'€™Affaires ad interim Kristen Bauer, to seek an explanation over the alleged existence of surveillance facilities at the US Embassy in Jakarta.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the ministry director general for America and Europe, Dian Triansyah Djani, had met with Bauer to clarify details related to the allegation.

'€œToday we summoned the US Embassy chargé d'€™affaires to meet with our director general for America and Europe, [in addition to Bauer'€™s] telephone conversation with me yesterday,'€ Marty told The Jakarta Post via text message on Wednesday.

The position of US ambassador to Indonesia is currently vacant following the recent departure of Scot Marciel. A new ambassador is expected to arrive in Jakarta soon.

Indonesia is the latest in a growing list of US allies '€” which includes Germany, France and Spain '€” to lodge a complaint with the American government for its wiretapping activities in their countries.

The US Embassy in Jakarta has been in hot water following an article in Australia'€™s Sydney Morning Herald claiming that the US has been tapping telephones and monitoring communications networks from electronic surveillance facilities in US embassies and consulates across East and Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia. The newspaper based its report on information disclosed by intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The article published on Tuesday included a top-secret map listing 90 US surveillance facilities worldwide, including communications- intelligence facilities at embassies in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Yangon.

The map shows no such facilities located in the US closest allies, including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan and Singapore.

The Herald also reported that a joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) group known as the Special Collection Service conducts sweeping surveillance operations, as well as clandestine operations against specific intelligence targets.

 The map confirms the global reach of US signals intelligence operations, with Special Collection Service facilities located in most major capitals on every continent.

In East Asia, the US intelligence collection efforts are focused on China, with facilities located in Shanghai and Chengdu, while another monitoring facility located at an unofficial US diplomatic office in Taipei.

NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander defended his organization on Tuesday, saying that the US did not collect European records and that the nation was given data by NATO partners as part of a program to protect military interests.

Following the disclosure, Marty strongly condemned the US'€™ wiretapping activity in Indonesia, calling it '€œunacceptable'€.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense, foreign affairs and informatics, Mahfudz Siddiq, told the Post that the report was very likely accurate.

'€œThe US government previously said it would carry out activities considered common in intelligence. This includes wiretapping,'€ he said.

'€œThus, it'€™s very likely that the US government also wiretaps communication networks here. It will be a serious political scandal if the bugged conversations were leaked,'€ the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician added.

Indonesia expressed similar outrage three months ago following a report that the British government spied on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the G20 meeting in London in 2009.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China was concerned by the recently exposed surveillance activities and was closely monitoring the situation.

'€œWe will also take the necessary measures to resolutely uphold our own information security,'€ she said, as quoted by the Associated Press.