VZCZCXYZ0121
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJA #1185/01 0312348
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 312348Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 8913
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0356
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA 0024
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0167
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
INFO RUEHJA/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 1224

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001185 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2016 
TAGS: ECON EMIN ENIV ID
SUBJECT: FREEPORT PURSUES "NO TALL TREES" STRATEGY IN ARMY 
PAYMENTS PROBE 
 
 
JAKARTA 00001185  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Energy and Mineral Resources Officer Kurt van der Walde, 
 Reason:1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C/NF) Summary.  A senior executive from the U.S. mining 
giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold told us on January 25 
that his company will avoid the media spotlight while 
cooperating fully with GOI inquiries regarding the legality 
of the mining giant's payments to Indonesian security forces 
in Papua.  He added that the company will flood selected 
prominent political opponents with detailed records showing 
Freeport's contribution to the Indonesian economy and 
treasury and to local communities where Freeport operates. 
Separately, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on 25 
January that he has ordered an inquiry into the allegations 
raised by last month,s New York Times report detailing 
nearly USD 20 million in payments to military and police 
officials from 1998 through 2004.  The Freeport executive 
also alleged that Saudi Wahabi extremists, who wish to drive 
American companies out of Indonesia and topple President 
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) from power, have made common 
cause with and are funding many of the environmental and 
political organizations causing problems for Freeport. 
However, he did not provide evidence to substantiate this 
allegation. End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C/NF) Freeport-Indonesia's Senior Vice President Dan 
Bowman told us on 25 January that the U.S. mining company 
will keep a low profile in rebutting the charges from last 
month,s New York Times report detailing almost USD 20 
million in payments to police and military security forces in 
Papua from 1998 through 2004.  Bowman said local 
environmental groups and other political opponents of the 
company have seized on the Times article as a means to 
shutter the company's Papua operations and drive them and 
other American companies out of Indonesia.  In response, he 
said that the company will pursue a "No Tall Trees" strategy 
so as not to stand out and draw attention to itself.  The 
company is confident that they enjoy support at the highest 
levels of the Indonesian executive branch, according to 
Bowman, and that pursuing a high profile public relations 
strategy to rebut the myriad spurious allegations and 
exaggerations against the company would risk winning battles 
only to lose the war.  Nonetheless, he said Freeport expects 
a tough road ahead with little overt public support from SBY 
or Vice President Jusuf Kalla. 
 
Seeking out Amien Rice and Other Opponents 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (C/NF) Meanwhile, Bowman said Freeport will seek out 
prominent vocal political opponents like former People,s 
Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, who recently 
strongly supported calls by environmental groups to close 
Freeport,s Papua mine operation.  Rais said in press 
interviews on January 20 that Freeport had committed "a 
crime," not just violations of environmental and financial 
regulations.  Rais also said that Freeport paid few taxes and 
the Indonesian people got little from the company,s 
presence.  Bowman said that Freeport,s Indonesian President 
Director met with Rais on January 25 to provide him detailed 
copies of Freeport,s Indonesian tax returns back to 1995, 
detailing the annual tax and royalty payments to the GOI, 
which totaled USD 1.1 billion in 2005, according to Bowman. 
He said that Freeport spent USD 51 million in community 
development programs in Papua last year.  In addition he said 
high mineral prices will probably boost the value of the 
Papua mine,s output to an amount equivalent to 3.5-4 percent 
of Indonesia,s 2005 GDP.  (Note:  Indonesia,s estimated 
2005 GDP was USD 270 billion.  Company financial statements 
report USD 4.18 billion in 2005 revenue, or about 1.5 percent 
of Indonesian GDP.)  Bowman was philosophical about swaying 
critics with facts, however.  "They want to topple SBY, and 
we,re a good means through which to attack him and hopefully 
get a piece of the mine for their own pockets," he said. 
 
¶4.  (C/NF) Bowman said the company is still preparing 
detailed responses to each of the allegations raised in the 
December New York Times article.  He said they will not 
likely make the report public but will provide it to the GOI 
when completed.  He said the main allegations about direct 
payments by the company to military and police officials are 
true but misleading and resulted from the chaotic nature of 
Indonesian military and police finances.  Bowman said that 
the military and police did not have institutional bank 
accounts into which Freeport could deposit funds, so they 
 
JAKARTA 00001185  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
were forced to make payments directly to the commanding 
officers responsible for security at the mine.  Bowman added 
that the company widely publicized to the GOI and to ordinary 
soldiers and police officers at the mine exactly how much was 
given to their commanding officers to avoid that money being 
stolen by the individuals receiving the money. 
 
Allegation of Saudi Wahabist Involvement 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C/NF) Bowman offered no proof, but said he was growing 
increasingly confident that Saudi Wahabist extremists are 
funneling money through Yemen to the relatively large 
Indonesian-Yemeni community to support a broad range of 
anti-SBY and anti-U.S. business groups, all of whom have 
separate agendas and might not even be aware of their shared 
funding sources.  He said the Indonesian environmental NGO 
Walhi that is leading the charge against Newmont and Freeport 
is funded by these individuals.  He noted that the charity 
Medical Emergency Relief Charity (Mer-C) is making a big push 
into Papua, courtesy of Saudi funding, and said he doubted 
their altruistic motives.  Bowman described a sophisticated 
and subtle campaign by un-named Saudis to influence public 
opinion in Indonesia away from its moderate form of Islam 
toward the Saudi,s more fundamentalist version.  He said the 
Saudi-backed Indonesian-Yemenis have quietly bought 
controlling interests in Sulawesi newspapers or suborned 
editors to begin to change their coverage to be more 
sympathetic to the Saudi's stricter form of Islam and an 
eventual Islamic republic in the archipelago. 
 
¶6. (C/NF) Comment.  The broad outlines of Freeport,s 
payments to the military and police were public knowledge in 
Indonesia before the New York Times story broke. 
Nonetheless, the article has sparked a modest wave of press 
coverage in Jakarta, as well as critical statements by Rais 
and the Environment Minister.  However, we see no rush to 
judgment by the GOI--we are aware of no statements on the 
issue to date by SBY, Vice President Kalla, or Coordinating 
Minister Boediono.  We have been picking up rumors of Saudi 
perfidy since 2002-2003, but have yet to see concrete proof 
of this connection.  End Comment 
PASCOE