Diplomatic row between Indonesia and Australia following the spying scandal took a turn for the worst, after an Australian flag was burnt in the city of Yogyakarta and hardline "Red and White Brigade" organised a protest outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta. In a related incident Anonymous Indonesia, a hacker group in the country, claimed credit for attacks that briefly shut down the Australian Federal Police site and affected the Australian Reserve Bank.

The latest string of protests seems to have been sparked by reports appearing in the local Indonesian-language media of tweets by a top Liberal strategist, who likened Indonesia's foreign minister to a 1970s Filipino porn star.

Indonesian-language online news site, Kompas, reported on the several provocative tweets by Liberal pollster Mark Textor on the spying scandal.

In an apparent derogatory reference to Foreign Minsiter Marty Natalegawa, Mr Textor tweeted:

"Apology demanded from Australia by a bloke who looks like a 1970s Pilipino (sic) porn star and has ethics to match."

In another tweet, referring to the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's tweets on Monday, Mr Textor wrote:

"What sort of head of state communicates with a head of a neighbouring government by twitter FFS? SBY".

Meanwhile, In Australia, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek termed the tweets by Mr Textor as "disgraceful".

"The Prime Minister must disassociate himself, the Liberal Party, and the Australian government from them immediately and unequivocally," Ms Plibersek said.

In response, Mr Textor defended himself saying his reference was neither about the Indonesian president or foreign minister. He claimed the story had been blown out of proportion.

''I was not referring to anyone particular,'' he reportedly said to ABC. The tweet has since been deleted and Mr Textor issued an apology via Twitter:

''Apologies to my Indonesian friends - frustrated by media-driven divisions - Twitter is indeed no place for diplomacy."