TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Consular General in Jeddah Mohamad Hery Saripudin said the Consulate General continues to monitor the legal process of two Indonesians who were detained after they made a bomb threat joke in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Two women, with the initials UWD (56) and TKW (50), were detained when they just boarded a plane on 10 January 2017. After they made the joke, they were asked to get off the plane by security officers.

"The legal process has not been on the court level yet. It is still being investigated,” Hery said to Tempo on Friday (20/1).

Hery also could not confirm when the investigation process would be completed but the Consulate General ensured that they would continue negotiating with the Saudi Arabian authority to solve the case.

"We facilitate communication with their family in Indonesia,” Hery said.

In response to this incident, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Indonesian citizens abroad to pay more attention to jokes.

The Ministry’s spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir urged Indonesians abroad to be careful when speaking public places, especially in airports, train stations, and the like.

"Those things (related to terrorism) can be taken seriously. So we have to be careful with our words," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The handling of those two Indonesians, Arrmanatha said, must wait for the legal process from the Saudi Arabian authority.

YOHANES PASKALIS