Indonesia's foreign minister has condemned Australian Senator Fraser Anning's controversial comments following Friday's Christchurch terrorist attack, a day after local media reported that another Indonesian politician had called on the senator to be banned from their country.
Hours after the shocking attacks, the Independent senator released a statement which linked Muslim migration to the shootings, which left 50 people dead.
Retno Marsudi announced on Twitter that she had met with the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Gary Quinlan, to express Indonesia's condemnation of the statement.
Fraser Anning has come under widespread criticism for his comments following the Christchurch attacks. Source: AAP
"Ambassador Quinlan reassured that Senator Anning's statement did not reflect the position and attitude of the Australian government and people," the Tweet read.
"Indonesia and Australia agreed to strengthen cooperation in promoting tolerance."
Indonesia, one of Australia's closest neighbours, has the largest Muslim population in the world.
On Saturday, Mr Quinlan tweeted in Indonesian that Mr Anning's statements were "disgusting".
"That view has no place in Australia, especially in the Australian Parliament," he wrote.
Charles Honoris, a member of Indonesia's house of representatives, on Sunday also responded to Mr Anning's comments, calling on the Indonesian government to ban him from entering the territory "so that he cannot bring the perspective that can divide religious communities", the Jakarta Post reports.
"As I condemned the terrorist acts in two mosques in Christchurch, I also strongly condemned the official statement of Senator Fraser Anning of Queensland who basically assumed that terrorism against mosques was a price worth paying [by] Muslims and that Islam is an 'ideology of violence."
"That's just a statement of fact and for some reason that's upset a lot of people including Mr Morrison," Senator Anning said.
"He said my statements were disgusting. I see nothing disgusting about stating the facts. If I make a statement of fact I shouldn’t be condemned for it."
Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi and Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Gary Quinlan. Source: Twitter
Prime Minister Scott Morrison had previously said he wanted the Independent senator to face.
An online petition calling for Mr Anning's expulsion from Parliament has been signed by more than one million people, making it the biggest online petition ever started in Australia.
