Rob Taylor, Canberra – The execution of three militants for the 2002 Bali bombings should have been more tightly controlled to avoid becoming a public spectacle, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Wednesday.

The three men from the militant Islamist group Jemaah Islamiah – Imam Samudra, Mukhlas, and Amrozi – were executed by firing squad Sunday for the 2002 nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians.

"Perhaps myself I expected that the process leading to the executions of the Bali bombers would have not been wide open," Wirajuda told reporters during a meeting with his Australian counterpart in Canberra.

Just days ahead of the executions, the three bombers gave interviews to television channels, calling for more attacks on westerners and encouraging other Indonesians to take up their militant struggle for an Islamic state.

Their burials in their home towns in Java saw violent clashes between police and hundreds of militant Islamic supporters, and prompted fresh travel warnings from western nations about possible attacks on foreigners. "Perhaps that's the cross that we have to bear in an open and democratic Indonesia," Wirajuda said.

He said in carrying out the executions, Indonesia's government had demonstrated its resolve to fight extremists and delivered what most of the Indonesian public had expected.

"The Bali bombers had committed unforgivable acts in killing so many people, and I think it's not only our view, but the people of Indonesia, that they deserved that kind of punishment," Wirajuda said.

Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said daily media commentary in the leadup to the executions likely caused great distress to victims of the nightclub bombings.

"Its always open to the Australian media and the Indonesian media not to report these matters," Smith said, backing Wirajuda's assessment that post-execution clashes and demonstrations were part of a democratic Indonesia.

There have been a string of threats made against hotels, Western embassies and government offices since the executions, although no major bomb attacks have occurred since 2005. (Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)