Should the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs be offended by the cartoons published in an Indonesian Newspaper?

Cartoon did not offend, says PM
By Brendan Nicholson March 31, 2006
PRIME Minister John Howard says he is not offended by an Indonesian magazine's cartoon depicting him and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as amorous dingoes and he says he still hopes to visit Indonesia soon.
Mr Howard urged the Indonesian people to respect the Australian processes that gave protection visas to 42 West Papuan asylum seekers.
"I have been in this game a long time," Mr Howard said. "If I got offended about cartoons, golly — give us a break."
Indonesia withdrew its ambassador in protest after the visas were granted and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla told Malaysian journalists yesterday the ambassador would not return until Australia properly explained why it granted the visas.
Mr Howard said he would like to visit Indonesia "in the next little while".
He said the granting of the visas had put a strain on Australia's relationship with Indonesia because of the sensitivity in Indonesia over its sovereignty over West Papua.
He said Australia had never disputed Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua and fully respected and supported it. "But we went through a process and this process was in accordance with Australian practice and law."
Mr Howard said that when Australians expressed strong views about Schapelle Corby's sentence he asked the community to respect the Indonesian justice system and by and large the community did that.
Mr Downer said the cartoon was tasteless and grotesque and fell well below standards of public taste, but Indonesia was a free society.