JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Amidst harsh criticism to the Australian government, another criticism is launched to the National Encryption Agency (Lemsaneg) for its poor performance in securing state secrets.

An Australian spy agency is alledged to have wiretapped the phone communication by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, and some cabinet members.

Maj. Gen. (ret) Tubagus Hasanuddin, PDI-P lawmaker and Deputy Head of the House Commission I for defense and international affairs, asked the Lemsaneg to improve its work in protecting the country from espionage activities.

Enggartiasto Lukito, a politician from the Nasional Democratic Party (Nasdem) also questioned the capability of Lemsaneg.

“Lemsaneg’s current technology is actually able to protect the national security. But why the wiretapping happen?” he was quoted by Kompas.com Tuesday (Nov. 19).

Both Hasanuddin and Enggar also demand Lemsaneg to focus more on securing state secrets than on protection data for next year’s elections. Lemsaneg has recently signed a partnership with the General Election Commission (KPU) in the management of data in the elections.

In a related progress, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, in a press conference on Monday, stated that the central government decided to recall its envoy from Canberra, Australia. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)