Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – A lawmaker said that the government should improve how it monitors foreigners' activities in Indonesia to prevent espionage.

"We need to be sure that these foreigners will do us no harm in the future. That is why we need to be extra careful," Effendy Choirie from the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) said on Wednesday.

He then said, without elaborating, that he had witnessed many foreign intelligence operations aimed solely at bringing down the country. He added that there were some NGOs that worked for foreign interests.

"Thus, there is no other way than bringing strict rules to monitor foreigners' activities. We could use the hand of law enforcers and the intelligence agency to do the monitoring," he said.