Withdrawing Australia's ambassador from Indonesia in response to the Bali Nine executions is a bad move, according to former foreign minister Bob Carr.
Australia has an enormous amount to work on with the country, Mr Carr told Sky News, citing cooperation on people smuggling, the live cattle trade and counter-terrorism.
With an absent ambassador, Australians could potentially be at greater risk in the country, he said, while raising the awkward question of when he would be sent back.
"To pluck our ambassador out of the heart of Jakarta simply means we haven't got the clout and this whole agenda could slide away," Mr Carr said.
Mr Carr also warned against the federal government scaling back foreign aid to Indonesia, a move which he fears could lead to schools instead being built by Saudi Arabia, teaching a more extreme version of Islam.
"Cutting aid is something we should be ruling out, even now, it's such a dumb thing to do," he said.
"I thought we were an intelligent country, as well as a compassionate one."
Aaron Connolly, a research fellow in the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute agreed with Mr Carr that the decision to bring the ambassador back to Canberra was the wrong one.
"It's going to be very difficult to avoid an escalatory spiral of diplomatic tit-for-tat," he told ABC radio.
John McCarthy, Australia's ambassador to Indonesia from 1997-2000, also said withdrawing the ambassador was a wrong step.
Australia should instead withhold bilateral visits by ministers while executions continue, or for the rest of the year.
"We should keep our ambassador in Jakarta because communication matters," he said.
However, the executions would deeply affect Australia's perception of President Widodo through the rest of his tenure, and of Indonesia, for years to come.
"It will require lowering expectations and greater persistence and patience," he said on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute blog.
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