The government is drawing up new strategies to reinforce national defense in the wake of the spying scandal that has led to a diplomatic row with neighboring Australia.

Among the moves is the procurement of a new satellite that will be operational next year to prevent future spying by Australia or other foreign agencies.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that Indonesia was currently renting satellites from foreign providers for its defense system, which left the country vulnerable to eavesdropping activities.

'€œIt'€™s really important for us to have our own satellite for strategic purposes such as security and intelligence operations inside and outside the country,'€ Purnomo told reporters outside a seven-hour closed-door meeting with the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense, foreign affairs and information on Thursday.

In addition to improved defense and communications technology, the government will also upgrade the quality of human resources in state agencies tasked with national security.

Commission I chairman Mahfudz Siddiq said the House had approved the project'€™s budget and was ready to transfer the funds to the Communications and Information Ministry for the purchase early next year.

Mahfudz, a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) emphasized that Indonesia had decided not to procure the satellite from either Australia or the United States, given their roles in the recent wiretapping scandal. '€œWe don'€™t know yet where to buy to the satellite. But we will be extra careful in choosing the country because we don'€™t want similar incidents to happen again,'€ Mahfudz said.

As well as Purnomo, those attending Thursday'€™s meeting were Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Marciano Norman, National Police chief Gen. Sutarman, Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Najib Riphat Koesuma, and officials from the Communications and Information Ministry and the State Secretary.

The meeting was called to discuss the future of Indonesia-Australia relations following the spying revelations.

Speaking on behalf of Sutarman, who opted out of a joint press conference after the meeting, Mahfudz said that the National Police had canceled a plan for the force to manage detention centers for undocumented migrants seeking to enter Australia through Indonesia.

The canceled plan added to the list of projects dropped by Indonesia following the revelation of Australia'€™s surveillance activity.

The National Police has also stopped its program of sharing information on cyber-crime investigations with the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono previously announced that Indonesia would continue to freeze military, intelligence and information cooperation with Australia, including joint operations to deal with boat people, until both countries implemented a code of conduct (COD) for future cooperation, the drafting of which is ongoing.

BIN chief Marciano said that his agency and Australia'€™s secret intelligence service had agreed to discuss protocols regarding cooperation between the two intelligence bodies, which would be included in the COD.

'€œWe will later submit these to the foreign minister to include them in the government'€™s overall concept of the COD,'€ Marciano said.

As reported earlier, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has not firmly accepted Yudhoyono'€™s proposed COD, describing it only as a '€œgood way forward'€.

When the foreign minister was asked what the government would do if Australia rejected the proposal, Marty replied that the government would take one step at a time.

'€œOf course we have contingencies for such a possibility, but it would not be wise to reveal them now,'€ Marty said.

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