Bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia have “remained intact” despite Indonesia’s refusal to halt the execution of two Australian drug traffickers, a spokesperson fot the Indonesian foreign ministry said on Thursday. <br /><br /> Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbot has been working to get two of his country’s citizens off death row for trying to smuggle heroin from the resort island of Bali to Australia.<br /><br /> Abbot said he has had telephone discussions with Indonesia’s president.<br /><br /> “I don’t think it would help the case of these two young Australians if I was to start ventilating in public the contents of the conversation. Suffice to say that the president absolutely understands our position,” Abbot told reporters.<br /><br /> An Indonesia court has rejected a clemency appeal in the cases of the Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, along with nine others facing a firing squad.<br /><br /> Last week, Abbot indicated that Indonesia would face diplomatic consequences if the executions went ahead.
