The Indonesian foreign ministry has warned that the Australian government's plan to turn back asylum seeker boats would endanger co-operation and trust in joint efforts aimed at combating people-smuggling.
The warning, contained in a statement issued on Thursday, came as the Indonesian navy joined in criticism of Tony Abbott's plan to turn boats back, saying the policy was "too risky" and could cost lives at sea.
In the latest of a string of objections coming out of Jakarta, and just days before talks between Abbott and the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a senior officer from the Indonesian navy has called for the turnback plan to be abandoned.
"What they need to do is to revise their own policy," Major Andy Apriyanto, a senior officer with the Maritime Security Coordinating Board said. "Casualties may happen with this, and if they are in open sea, first of all it's too risky with boats commonly in poor condition and over capacity."
He said Indonesia had co-operated in attempting to disrupt people smuggling operations, but that "it's impossible for us to stop all of the boats from entering Australia". "We could've just let them sail to Australia, but no, we respect Australia's wishes," he said.
"This is a dilemma. If we don't save them, then everyone will be blaming us for not respecting human rights, not saving them. But if we let them [sail to Australia] then Australia would be yelling at us why we let them go."
The comments from the senior officer, who had been directed by Indonesian navy headquarters to speak on the issue, appear to be part of a ramping up in criticism coming out of Jakarta in recent days over Abbott's asylum seeker policies, more specifically his plan to turn boats around.
Further details of the rebuke of the policy delivered by the Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, in New York earlier this week also emerged on Thursday, revealing he told the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, the turnback plan put at risk future co-operation in tackling people-smuggling.
The Indonesian foreign minister conveyed that "unilateral measures which are about to be taken by Australia are worrying... [and] risk close co-operation and trust which has been gained under the framework of Bali process and with that, should be avoided", according to a statement from the Indonesian foreign ministry.
The statement was prepared as a summary of the discussions between Natalegawa and Bishop in New York, but also included a broader Indonesian assessment of the Coalition government's asylum seeker policies.
"Australia is expecting support from Indonesian government to prevent fishing boats with Indonesian flags to be used for people smuggling," the statement said.
"Australia also conveyed that they are ready to co-operate fully with Indonesian government on this issue 'behind the scenes' and 'quietly' to avoid excessive publicity that would have a negative impact on such efforts."
The Coalition has repeatedly said its new set of border protection measures, including the turnback plan and paying Indonesian villagers for information on people smuggling operations, was non-negotiable.
Bishop has said that the Coalition would not be "seeking permission" to implement its asylum seeker policies despite Jakarta labelling some of the measures as an attack on Indonesian sovereignty.
The statement from the Indonesian foreign ministry confirmed the Coalition's boat policies would be discussed during talks between Abbott and Yudhoyono in Jakarta next week, but also said Australia was "stressing that this issue will not dominate the whole agenda".
Abbott said on Thursday that his policy would respect Indonesia's sovereignty. The prime minister said he wanted to work "co-operatively and constructively with our neighbours" to stop asylum seeker boats travelling to Australia.
"We have in the past worked very constructively together to stop this problem," he said in Melbourne. "We are even now working very well together with the Indonesians, but we can do better in the future and we absolutely respect Indonesia's sovereignty and we would never do or propose anything which is contrary to that."