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oreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has talked with her Saudi Arabian counterpart over the controversial statement made by a Saudi envoy in Jakarta about an Islamist rally, which was held over the weekend.

Retno and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir talked over the phone on Tuesday evening, during which he assured her that his country did not have an agenda with regard to Indonesia’s domestic affairs.

“We talked about the good and strong relations we have with Saudi Arabia, and it was inevitable that we also talked about the tweet of the Saudi ambassador in Jakarta,” Retno told reporters on the sidelines of the second Bali Democracy Students Conference on Wednesday.

On Sunday, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Indonesia Usamah Muhammad al-Syuaiby posted a number of photos on his Twitter account, @Os_alshuaibi, with a caption in Arabic that read: “The actions of millions of Muslims as a reaction to the burning of a flag bearing the tawhid by a deviant organization.”

The tweet referred to an incident in October when members of Banser, a civilian security unit under Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama’s (NU) GP Ansor youth wing, burned a flag bearing Islamic text.

On Monday, the NU leadership issued a statement calling on Retno to declare Al-Syuaiby persona non grata.

The Foreign Ministry called Al-Syuaiby’s tweet unethical and not consistent with the principles of diplomatic relations.

The ministry contacted him hours after the tweet was posted.

Al-Syuaiby was summoned on Monday, but he was still in Saudi Arabia, so the ministry requested the presence of the embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Yahya Hasan al-Qahtani.

Retno said despite the envoy’s statement, Al-Jubeir assured her that it was not in line with the kingdom’s policy.

“In our conversation, the foreign minister emphasized that Saudi Arabia does not have a policy of, and does not tolerate interference in another country’s domestic affairs, especially when the country is a friend like Indonesia,” she added.

Retno said Al-Jubeir was one of the ministers she had a good relationship with, and the call was to follow up on his visit to Jakarta in October for the first joint commission meeting between the two countries following King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud’s visit to Indonesia in March.

The two ministers also met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, where they exchanged views on efforts to support the Palestinian cause.

On Monday, the NU leadership issued a statement calling on Retno to expel the ambassador.

“[We] urge the Indonesian government to send a diplomatic note to the Saudi Arabian government to recall the ambassador as punishment for his reckless move of involving himself in a matter of national politics,” NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said at a press briefing.

Responding to the backlash, Al-Syuaiby deleted his post on Monday afternoon.

In his statement, Said Aqil also accused the ambassador of intentionally making a libelous statement by alleging that the burning of the flag was conducted by members of jamaah al-muharifah (a deviant organization).

He added those who took part in the flag burning incident were rogue members of the organization who had been duly punished.

“We have also expressed regret over the burning of the flag.”