Is Yudhoyono Abbott's good cop? The Indonesian foreign minister seems to have been smacked down by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his arrogant attempt to embarrass the Abbott Government. Yudhoyono seems prepared to do business with Tony Abbott, but that business will have to be done quickly, given Yudhoyono has only a year left to serve. Paul Kelly: But the backdrop is the extraordinarily inept decision by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry to break diplomatic protocols by releasing its own version of the New York talks held by the foreign ministers, Bishop and Indonesia's Marty Natalegawa, last Monday. This document records Natalegawa telling Bishop that turning the boats "should be avoided" because they "would risk the tight co-operation and trust that has been bounded in the Bali Process..." There is simply no precedent for Jakarta's diplomatic aggression before the first official meeting of a new Australian prime minister and an Indonesian president... It treats Bishop like an inconsequential fool whose bilateral talks can be merrily published as part of a tactic to intimidate Abbott or put Abbott and Bishop on notice. It is a most un-Indonesian-like move... Chris Bowen and Bob Carr did not miss: they said Natalegawa was "so tired" of Bishop's "robotic insistence" of no policy differences "that he felt obliged to release the minutes of the meeting." Labor is making political hay. The message from inside the government is "Stay cool." Abbott won't be provoked. This event suggests Yudhoyono and Natalegawa have different positions. Certainly, Abbott and Bishop will hope so... As for Natalegawa, if he did authorise release of the record of conversation, it is a grievous mistake without justification... It will fan Coalition fears that Natalegawa, once a student in Australia, is pro-Labor and unsympathetic to the new government. Did Yudhoyono bring Natalegawa to heel? Diplomatic sources in Canberra said the latest Indonesian statements were intended to send Canberra a clear message, "Sorry, we stuffed up," smoothing relations before Mr Abbott's two-day visit... There was no evidence Dr Yudhoyono had intervened to calm the row, but diplomatic observers in Jakarta pointed out he had previously publicly overridden Dr Natelagawa at least twice. In November 2011, the President contradicted the Foreign Minister after discussions with then prime minister Julia Gillard, saying the US marines rotation through Darwin was "not expected to distract or disturb neighbours." In June this year he made an apology to Singapore and Malaysia over "haze" from Sumatra forest fires, days after Dr Natalegawa described calls for an apology as "a bit redundant." Another theory: Natalegawa is the bad cop to Yudhoyono's good. And the price of cooperation just went up.