Only full explanation will do, SBY tells Tony Abbott What's riled SBY? Long a friend of Australia, Indonesia's President is now furious over spying and phone monitoring allegations. Indonesia expert Professor Tim Lindsay says the hostile reaction from Jakarta should not surprise us. PT1M27S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2xxjg 620 349 November 22, 2013 - 8:37AM An apology will not be enough to smooth the waters with Indonesia, the letter from the Indonesian president to Tony Abbott makes clear - only a full explanation of the extent of Australia's spying and a signed agreement regulating future intelligence gathering will do that. The Australian Prime Minister has placed other priorities on hold to concentrate his efforts on limiting the fallout from the spying affair, in a bid to avoid a full-blown crisis in the bilateral relationship. Seeking an explanation: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. As the protest in Indonesia moved from the palace to rowdy scenes in the streets outside the Australian embassy, Mr Abbott acknowledged he had received the letter and would do everything he "reasonably" could to repair the relationship with Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's foreign affairs spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, made clear in comments to Fairfax Media what the President's letter demanded of the Prime Minister. "It's not a question of apologising, but a question of explaining and clarifying what has happened," Mr Faizasyah said. That is why we have put emphasis on a new protocol, an agreement to set up co-operation on intelligence gathering in future. Otherwise we cannot consider it's enough. Protest: Uniformed Indonesian demonstrators angry over the tapping of their leader's phone burn a paper Australian flag outside the embassy in central Jakarta. Photo: AAP Mr Abbott made his third statement to Parliament in 24 hours, saying he had received the letter flagged by Dr Yudhoyono on Wednesday evening. "I want to assure the House that the government will respond swiftly, fully and courteously to the President's letter," he said, without revealing its contents. Insiders say the Prime Minister's top foreign policy and security advisers, including the heads of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as the Prime Minister's own department, will meet throughout the day to confer on how best to respond. Twitter rant: Mark Textor. Mr Abbott's office said it had no intention of making its return correspondence public. In response to Mr Abbott's parliamentary statement, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor backed the government's efforts to repair the relationship. Mr Abbott was also forced to hose down tweets by Mark Textor, one of his advisers. Asked during question time whether he stood by the pollster's Twitter postings, Mr Abbott said "they were tacky comments and they have been withdrawn and apologised for." Late on Thursday Mr Textor apologised to "my Indonesian friends frustrated by media-driven divisions," adding "Twitter is indeed no place for diplomacy." During a protest outside the fortified Australian embassy in Jakarta, about 250 uniformed members of two nationalist groups, the Red and White Brigade and the FKPPI, which includes children of defence and police personnel, burnt small Australian and American flags. They carried signs whose slogans included "Mr Abbott is stupid," "Abbott you hurt my heart" and "Boycott Australian products." Some called for an apology. The protesters called for Australian ambassador Greg Moriarty to be ejected from Indonesia and said Indonesia should increase its military budget to improve counters against phone-tapping. They said they were not being paid, saying this was about "the dignity of the state." The story is front-page news in Indonesia, and Mr Textor's tweets made the front page of at least one online newspaper, Kompas. Hacker group Anonymous Indonesia has claimed credit for denial of service attacks that briefly shut down the Australian Federal Police website and also affected the Reserve Bank site. with Karuni Rompies