Australia apology to Jakarta boss

Gov Sutiyoso said he was sleeping when police entered his room

An Australian state leader has apologised to a senior Indonesian official who had protested over his treatment by police in Sydney.

Jakarta governor Sutiyoso cut short his trip to Sydney and demanded an apology after saying police had entered his hotel room uninvited as he slept.

He said they wanted him to testify at an inquest into the deaths of five journalists in East Timor in 1975.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma said he was "disturbed" by the report.

"I apologise for the distress and inconvenience caused and regret your early departure from New South Wales," he wrote in a letter to Gov Sutiyoso, made public to news outlets.

He said a review of the circumstances surrounding the incident revealed the state's "co-ordination of security and protocol was less than satisfactory".

"This is extremely disappointing to me," he added.

'Barged in'

The apology appears to have dampened diplomatic tensions that had risen over the incident. Indonesia had lodged a formal protest.

Gov Sutiyoso had been in Sydney at the invitation of the state government when police allegedly entered his hotel room as he slept.

"They barged into my room after forcing the hotel to give them a duplicate key," he told reporters after returning to Jakarta.

He said they asked him to sign an invitation to testify at the inquest into the five journalists who were killed in the East Timor town of Balibo on October 1975.

Australia and Indonesia have always said the journalists died accidentally, having been caught in crossfire as Indonesian troops entered the town.

A senior lawyer told the inquest on Wednesday that far from being an accident, the journalists were deliberately shot by Indonesian troops after they tried to surrender, according to the testimony of witnesses.

Gov Sutiyoso, a former general, said he had served in East Timor in 1975 but was never stationed in Balibo.