JAKARTA. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has stressed that the government’s decision to withdraw Indonesian Ambassador to Brazil Toto Riyanto was a harsh response to regrettable treatment from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

According to him, Rousseff should not have rejected a ceremony to receive a letter of credentials from the Indonesian ambassador.

Jokowi received information on the incident from Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi on Friday and ordered her to call Toto back home.

“Regarding the diplomatic row with Brazil, I decided to withdraw [the Indonesian ambassador] because it is a matter of the state’s sovereignty and the nation’s dignity,” he said after receiving Toto and the foreign minister at Merdeka Palace on Tuesday.

Jokowi acknowledged that he could not accept the Brazilian president’s treatment or when other countries intervened in law enforcement at home.

According to him, all foreign countries should respect Indonesian law.

“There should be no intervention into the execution of capital punishment because it is our legal sovereignty, our political sovereignty,” he said.

Rousseff suddenly cancelled receiving a letter of credentials from Toto when the latter, along with four ambassadors of other countries, was at the Presidential Palace in Rio de Janeiro last week to hand over his letter.

She took the measure to protest the Indonesian government’s plan to execute 11 death-row convicts, including a Brazilian sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

Previously, the government also executed six drug and murder convicts in Nusakambangan and Boyolali, Central Java, including a Brazilian.

The diplomatic row escalated when the President ordered a comprehensive evaluation of the two countries’ bilateral ties and cooperation in all fields.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Monday that the government was also reconsidering an ongoing plan to purchase a squadron, or 16 units, of Brazilian-made EMB-314 Super Tucano warplanes.

Editor: Hendra Gunawan