Goff tells New Zealanders to leave Indonesia

By AUDREY YOUNG and HELEN TUNNAH

New Zealanders have been urged to leave Indonesia after intelligence sources gave a "disturbing" warning of fresh terror threats to Westerners in the region.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said last night that there were concerns for the safety of foreigners in Indonesia and New Zealanders who did not have to be there should leave.

Australia has told its citizens in Indonesia to get out. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said disturbing new intelligence had been passed to Canberra.

He refused to give details of the information, which also prompted Canberra to upgrade travel warnings to Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos.

The development caught the New Zealand Government off-guard and came at the end of a day in which Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen came under pressure in Parliament, ducking questions about whether New Zealand had received warnings about terrorist attacks that mentioned Bali, as Australia has now admitted to receiving.

Two bomb blasts ripped through Bali nightclubs early on Sunday, killing at least 181 people, including up to 119 Australians.

The number of New Zealanders confirmed dead or for whom officials hold serious concerns stood at three last night.

Mr Goff said: "The reasons for the change in travel advice relates to specific information which I am not at liberty to disclose."

He added: "In the current climate we are erring on the side of caution. There are causes for concern about what may happen in Indonesia in the coming weeks, and we are cautious but I think it's merited."

Australia intended to upgrade its travel warnings to other Southeast Asian nations, including Singapore and the Philippines.

Mr Downer said his Government believed there were new and increased risks to Australians in Indonesia.

At least 800 New Zealanders live in Indonesia and 16,700 visited last year.

Australia has 10,000 expatriates living in Indonesia, and another 300,000 visit there each year.

"The decision to amend our travel advice is based on disturbing new information of generic threats to Australians and Australian interests in Indonesia," Mr Downer said.

"We're now recommending that all Australians in Indonesia who are concerned about their security should consider departure."

He said the Government was considering whether to withdraw non-essential embassy staff and their families from Jakarta.

The United States Embassy in Canberra was unaware of information about an increased risk for Westerners, as were New Zealand officials there.

Indonesian and Australian authorities are still investigating the weekend's bombing, and forensic experts are trying to identify bodies.

The instigator of the attacks remains unknown but yesterday the Jakarta Post newspaper said seven foreigners might have masterminded the bombings.

It claimed a hard-line Muslim group led by a Yemeni and a Malaysian was responsible for the Bali explosions and a series of bombings in the region - including one in the Philippines yesterday.

This latest attack happened when two bombs ripped through a shopping mall in Zamboanga, the heart of a Muslim insurgency, killing at least six people and wounding at least 150.

Mr Downer said the new threats Australia was acting on were not specific but were against all Westerners. There was also a worry about more terrorist attacks.

"We are being cautious. We are not sure how accurate this intelligence information is," he said.

Mr Downer's remarks on a new threat came as both the Australian and New Zealand Governments deflected criticisms that they had been warned by the US that Westerners were at risk in Bali.

In Parliament, Dr Cullen said that New Zealand had not received a "specific" warning about an attack on Bali on October 12.

But he would not answer repeated questions on whether New Zealand had received a more general warning in which Bali was listed as a possible target.

He repeated the words of the US State Department that there had been no specific information of "a planned bombing in Bali".

Dr Cullen was answering questions on behalf of Prime Minister Helen Clark, who left yesterday for El Alamein commemorations and Apec.

She assured Parliament on Tuesday that neither Australia nor New Zealand was given any warning of the Bali nightclub bombings.

But Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, has since acknowledged that Bali was included in an intelligence report "along with other tourist and cultural spots in Indonesia for possible terrorist activity against United States tourists".

"This intelligence was assessed by agencies," Mr Howard said, "and the view formed by them that no alteration in the threat assessment level ... was warranted."

Mr Goff said he received no such notice and had told officials to find out whether New Zealand had received it.

But even if it had been received, he said, he would not have expected Foreign Affairs to have issued an advisory notice.

"We act when there is due specificity where we think we have to warn people.

"If we overplayed our hand on saying, 'Maybe there is going to be an attack on a tourist destination in Indonesia, therefore stay right away from Indonesia', we would probably lack credibility with the travelling public," Mr Goff said.

He was also confident that New Zealand would have received any material on terrorism relevant to its interests from its intelligence partners.

The catalyst for the furore over who knew what and when was a Washington Post story this week reporting that United States intelligence had intercepted communications late last month signalling a strike on a Western tourist site and that Bali had been mentioned.

The last travel caution on Indonesia issued by the New Zealand Government before the Bail bombing was on September 30.

It warned of bombings on the main island of Java but of Bali it said "tourist services are operating normally".


Bali messages and latest information on New Zealanders
New Zealand travellers in Bali, and their families around the world, can exchange news via our Bali Messages page. The page also contains lists of New Zealanders in Bali and their condition.

Foreign Affairs advice to New Zealanders

* Travellers should defer travel to Bali

* NZers in Bali should keep a low profile and remain calm

* Foreign Affairs Hotline: 0800 432 111

Feature: Bali bomb blast

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