1 day ago
August 01, 2014 5:17PM
News.com.au
Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Picture: Luke Bowden Source: News Corp Australia
IT’S the explosive story that the Australian Government doesn’t want you to know about — but its attempts to shut it down have blown up in its face.
Outgoing Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for the Australian government to release details of a corruption case that names current and former leaders of Asian nations.
WikiLeaks defied a Victorian Supreme Court directive earlier this week and published a suppression order over the case, which the whistleblower website called an “unprecedented” case of censorship.
The case involves allegations that Asian officials and their families were bribed to secure contracts to print their currencies by scandal-plagued banknote manufacturer Securency, which is linked to Australia’s central bank.
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has slammed the government for suppressing details of a corruption case. Picture: Ella Pellegrini Source: News Limited
Yudhoyono has reacted angrily to the smear and demanded that the government “shed light” on the allegations, details of which Australian media organisations cannot legally publish.
His reaction led to the Australia Government releasing an extraordinary statement, which explicitly denies that Yudhoyono or his predecessor Megawati Sukarnoputri were involved in the scandal.
“This is a long-running, complicated case which names a large number of individuals. The naming of such figures in the orders does not imply wrongdoing on their part,” the statement reads.
“The government stresses that the Indonesian President and the former President are not the subject of the Securency proceedings.”
The gag order was made to prevent damage to the country’s international relations, but the WikiLeaks expose has caused the opposite effect, further fracturing Australia’s relationship with our closest neighbour.
“We want to hear directly from Australia,” Yudhoyono said in a statement.
He also took to Twitter to express his displeasure, demanding that Australia should not “cover up” the case, but shed light on it, to ensure the “good name” of he and Megawati is “unstained”.
Sydney-based lawyer Michael Bradley told the ABC that, in the age of the internet, such suppression orders were futile.
RELATED: WikiLeaks publishes court suppression order over what Julian Assange calls ‘unprecedented’ case of censorship
Not pleased … Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Picture: AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad Source: AFP
“I think they can only ever realistically have temporary effect and the degree of interest that they generate once they become known, tends to enhance the amount of publicity that’s attracted to the underlying issue, because it’s a guessing game and it’s entertaining and fun,” he said.
“I think they’re ultimately self-defeating.”
But the Australia Government statement defended the gag order.
“The government considers that the suppression orders remain the best means for protecting the senior political figures from the risk of unwarranted innuendo,” it read.
France-based Reporters Without Borders spokesman Benjamin Ismail said the order spoke “volumes about the current level of transparency in Australia”.
“The grounds given for this gagging order, which include national security, are unacceptable and cannot justify such complete censorship applying to all news and information providers, including both journalists and ordinary citizens,” he said.
“We urge the authorities to put the public interest above national interest and to restore transparency in this case by rescinding this order at once.”
Relations between Australia and Indonesia are only just beginning to normalise after leaks in 2013 revealed Australian efforts to spy on Dr Yudhoyono.
He has had friendly talks with Prime Minister Tony Abbott as recently as last week, when the two spoke about the MH17 tragedy.
Australia and Indonesia are working towards finalising in August a code of conduct to guide the future relationship, before SBY leaves office in October.
The government says it will refer the breach of the suppression order to the police.
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has accused the federal government of “blindfolding the Australian public” over the order, which he called “the worst in living memory”.
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