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CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister John Howard says the terrorist threat in Indonesia is serious.
The federal government yesterday warned Australians to stay away from Indonesia, with fears that another terror attack is imminent.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reissued its travel advisory for Indonesia, saying terrorists are actively planning attacks which could take place at any time.
The New Zealand government's warning states: "There is a high risk to your security in Indonesia and we recommend against non-essential and tourist travel."
Howard said travel advisories are only issued on strong intelligence.
"All terrorist threats are serious and the problem is if you don't warn of them and something happens you are legitimately criticised," Mr Howard told the Nine network.
"They may not materialise but we only give these warnings on strong intelligence."
"We act on the advice of our agencies, we don't do it lightly."
Howard said he spoke with Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer yesterday.
"(Downer) went through all of the papers himself to be completely satisfied that an upgrading of the travel warning was justified," he said.
"We are the last country in the world to want to say anything unnecessarily serious about Indonesia, because Indonesia is a friendly country, but we have above all of that a greater obligation to warn our citizens if we think there is the possibility of something happening."
Howard urged Australians in Indonesia to exercise caution.
"They (Australians) have to stay away from places frequented by Westerners, that's the advice we give."
"We are sorry we have to do it but if we didn't do it we would be criticised, particularly if something went wrong."
- AAP
