Oz PM: Indonesia Owes Us In Execution Row

Australia's Prime Minister has said the country will feel "grievously let down" if Indonesia executes two Australians on death row despite the A$1billion in help it gave following the 2004 tsunami.

Tony Abbott's comments drew an angry response from Indonesia and marked an escalation in the war of words between the two neighbours over the cases of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31.

The pair are members of the so-called Bali Nine, convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle £2m of heroin out of Indonesia. They face execution by firing squad.

Mr Abbott said he continued to make "the strongest possible personal representations" to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

"Australia sent a billion dollars worth (£500m) of assistance," he said, referring to the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami that left 220,000 people dead across 14 countries, almost 170,000 from Indonesia.

"We sent a significant contingent of our armed forces to help in Indonesia with humanitarian relief.

"I would say to the Indonesian people and the Indonesian government: We in Australia are always there to help you and we hope that you might reciprocate in this way at this time."

When asked what would happen if the executions went ahead, he said: "We will be making our displeasure known. We will be letting Indonesia know in absolutely unambiguous terms that we feel grievously let down.

"I don't want to prejudice the best possible relations with a very important friend and neighbour.

"But I've got to say that we can't just ignore this kind of thing if the perfectly reasonable representations that we are making to Indonesia are ignored by them."

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir told reporters in Jakarta he hoped Mr Abbott's statement did not "reflect the true colours of Australians".

"Threats are not part of diplomatic language and no one responds well to threats," he said.