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ustralian Prime Minister Tony Abbott'€™s attempt to repair strained bilateral ties with Jakarta is being stymied by a recent incident in which Australian navy ships towed back a boatload of undocumented migrants to Indonesian waters and added three extra passengers '€” including an Indonesian '€” to the boat.

The incident was brought to light a few hours before Abbott phoned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono while the latter was attending the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Bali on Tuesday.

The Australian prime minister was also scheduled to attend the meeting, where he would have met Yudhoyono for the first time since a spy scandal surfaced last year. A senior Indonesian official claimed last month Abbott had confirmed his attendance in Bali but a few weeks later, the prime minister said he could not make the visit, citing domestic issues.

The Australian media reported that Abbott may have canceled his visit due to an '€œon-water operation'€ that had the potential to cause '€œembarrassment'€ to Yudhoyono.

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said he had been informed of an incident where several undocumented migrants were added by the Australian authorities to a boat and towed back to Indonesia.

'€œIf confirmed, it is a very serious development,'€ he said.

Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said Jakarta was taking the incident seriously and despite Abbott'€™s conciliatory gesture, an assessment would be made to decide whether the incident would hamper the process of improving relations. '€œWe knew of the alleged incident in the morning, while Abbott'€™s phone call was planned before it,'€ he said.

Indonesian Navy spokesman Col. Manahan Simorangkir confirmed that the navy rescued 20 alleged undocumented migrants in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Sunday after their boat was towed back to Indonesia by Australian ships.

The undocumented migrants are all male, consisting of 16 Indian nationals, two Nepalese and two Albanians.

'€œThe Indian migrants [and Nepalese migrants] took a boat journey from Kendari [in Southeast Sulawesi]. As the boat entered Ashmore Reef, Australian Border Protection ships escorted it back,'€ he said on Tuesday at Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters in Cilangkap, Jakarta.

The two Albanians were heading to Australia from Rote Islands, NTT, on a separate boat. After entering Australian waters, the Australian navy ordered the two and the Indonesian crew member to move onto the boat occupied by the Nepalese and Indians, a police preliminary investigation has found.

As of Tuesday evening, the undocumented migrants were in the custody of the Kupang Immigration Office in the NTT capital of Kupang. This is the eighth occurrence of boats being turned back to Indonesian waters since December 2013.

Many undocumented migrants, in particular from the Middle East and Africa, use Indonesia as a final transit point to Australia.

According to Indonesian Foreign Ministry data, as of April there were 10,623 undocumented migrants in Indonesia, with most of them illegally entering the country by sea.

Indonesia recorded nine boat accidents involving 728 undocumented migrants in 2012, while in the following year the number rose to 23, involving 615 victims.

Jakarta suspended cooperation with Canberra following the revelation last year that the Australian intelligence agency was spying on Yudhoyono and his inner circle. Indonesia demanded the two nations draft a code of conduct.

Faizasyah said the two leaders hoped strained relations between the two countries could thaw. '€œThey hope [the code of conduct] can be completed so both countries can resolve the situation,'€ he said.

Marty said Abbott'€™s hard-line policy, known as Operation Sovereign Borders, was not working, as shown in the latest incident.