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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 JAKARTA 006026 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2016 
TAGS: PREL KNPP KISL IR ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIA/IRAN: AHMADI-NEJAD A DIFFICULT GUEST 
 
REF: A. STATE 75849 
     ¶B. JAKARTA 5886 
     ¶C. JAKARTA 5779 
     ¶D. JAKARTA 5705 
 
Classified By: Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe.  Reasons 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C/NF) Summary:  On May 11 the Ambassador conveyed to Dino 
Patti Djalal, National Security Advisor to Indonesian 
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, our objections to the 
GOI's initiative to create a new U.N. grouping to address 
Iran's nuclear program.  Djalal took our points on board, but 
it is clear that the GOI still harbors aspirations to play a 
role on the issue.  Djalal also confided that Yudhoyono had 
been taken aback by President Ahmadi-Nejad's belligerent 
bluster, hard-line ideology, and disrespectful behavior 
toward his Indonesian hosts during his state visit to 
Jakarta.  Yudhoyono now expects the Iranian President will 
try to use the upcoming D-8 Summit in Bali as a platform for 
drumming up support for his nuclear program, and is belatedly 
worried that his own -- and Indonesia's -- international 
reputation will suffer by association with Ahmadi-Nejad.  On 
May 11 and 12, Ahmadi-Nejad was received warmly by Indonesian 
student and Muslim groups.  During his meetings and public 
events he described Israel as a "cancer" and a "tyrannical" 
regime and repeated his assertion that Islam would supplant 
liberal democracy as the world's dominant ideology, calling 
on all Muslims to reject liberal democracy and the West.  It 
will be some weeks before the costs to Yudhoyono of the 
Ahmadi-Nejad visit -- both domestically and internationally 
-- become fully evident.  End summary. 
 
U.S. Rejects Indonesian Initiative 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C/NF) Ambassador met with Dino Patti Djalal, President 
Yudhoyono's spokesman and national security advisor, on the 
evening of May 11 to deliver our response to the Indonesians' 
call for a new negotiating forum to address the Iranian 
nuclear program (ref A).  Djalal took our points on board but 
asked whether Ambassador believed that was our "final" 
position.  Ambassador replied that it was.  Djalal explained 
that by including Algeria and South Africa in the proposed 
forum, the GOI had hoped to make the initiative acceptable to 
Iran.  The Iranians, Djalal added, had suggested including 
Cuba. 
 
For SBY, A Rude Awakening 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C/NF) In this and subsequent conversations, an 
increasingly appalled Djalal provided running updates on 
Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad's ongoing State visit to 
Indonesia (refs B - D).  While Ahmadi-Nejad has been received 
very warmly by student and Muslim groups, his aggressive 
rhetoric and breaches of protocol have alarmed and 
embarrassed President Yudhoyono. 
 
¶4. (C/NF) Djalal reported that Yudhoyono had started his 
two-hour May 10 meeting with Ahmadi-Nejad with a one hour 
tete-a-tete.  Yudhoyono urged Ahmadi-Nejad to cool his 
rhetoric on the nuclear issue, and said that during his 
recent trip to the Middle East he had heard concerns about 
the Iranian nuclear program from all his hosts.  Yudhoyono 
also stressed that it was important that Iran unilaterally 
suspend its uranium enrichment activities, according to 
Djalal.  Ahmadi-Nejad replied that this was out of the 
question; Iran had already done this once, and would not be 
induced to do so again.  He told Yudhoyono that Iran was 
prepared for "any emergency," which the Indonesians took to 
refer to preparations for a response to any military action 
against Iran. 
 
¶5. (C/NF) In the course of their discussion, Ahmadi-Nejad 
told Yudhoyono that liberalism is "the enemy" and was 
"holding Iran back from greatness."  Djalal, clearly in a 
grim frame of mind after the day's events, told the 
Ambassador that the Indonesians were taken aback by these and 
other remarks.  The GOI, Djalal said, had supposed that 
Ahmadi-Nejad might be more polite and "pragmatic" in private, 
 
JAKARTA 00006026  002 OF 004 
 
 
since he was an elected leader and a politician.  There was 
no give-and-take in the discussions.  Yudhoyono had concluded 
that Ahmadi-Nejad thrives in his fight against the West, and 
that "the more pressure he gets, the more he likes it." 
 
¶6. (C/NF) Djalal went on to say that Yudhoyono was in "bad 
mood" and believed that Ahmadi-Nejad had abused Indonesian 
hospitality by his verbal attacks on Israel and strident acts 
while on Indonesian soil.  It is one thing to make these 
comments for domestic audiences in Iran, Djalal said, but it 
is disrespectful to the host to do so while on a State visit. 
 (During his visit, Ahmadi-Nejad has publicly described 
Israel as a "cancer" and a "tyrannical" regime "based on 
threats" that would one day "vanish.")  Yudhoyono now fears 
that association with these tirades have may have damaged 
Indonesia's international reputation. 
 
¶7. (C/NF) Djalal said that the GOI now realizes that 
Ahmadi-Nejad will seek to use the D-8 Summit, which begins 
May 12 in Bali, as a platform to seek support for its 
position on the nuclear issue.  The GOI is especially 
concerned about Ahmadi-Nejad's likely behavior during an 
informal "retreat" event during the summit.  The GOI, Djalal 
said, would do everything it could to keep the nuclear issue 
off the table. 
 
¶8. (C/NF) The Turkish Ambassador to Indonesia called from 
Bali to ask for the Ambassador's help in keeping the Iranians 
from taking over the D-8 Secretary General position from the 
Turkish incumbent, who is stepping down.  He said Indonesian 
Foreign Ministry personnel in Bali were not being helpful on 
this and suggested the Indonesians should insist on occupying 
the position given that they are the upcoming chair.  The 
Ambassador again called Djalal, who was with the President, 
to encourage Indonesian action on this issue. 
 
Ahmadi-Nejad Rude And Crude, But . . . 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) In the meantime, Ahmadi-Nejad's crass behavior 
during his Jakarta program has offended his Indonesian hosts' 
strong sense of decorum and protocol.  At a joint press 
conference with President Yudhoyono on May 10, Ahmadi-Nejad 
behaved as if his host were not present.  In response to the 
first question asked by a journalist, Ahmadi-Nejad gave a 
half-hour harangue on the nuclear issue.  Local media noted 
that President Yudhoyono, and Djalal who MC'ed the press 
conference became visibly annoyed as the Iranian droned on. 
On Thursday, May 11, leaders of Indonesia's Parliament were 
angered when Ahmadi-Nejad, citing questionable security 
reasons, canceled a meeting at the last minute and proposed 
to hold the meeting in the hotel where he was staying - 
located only 200 meters from the Parliament building.  (The 
meeting was later rescheduled for May 12.)  Ahmadi-Nejad 
garnered more bad press when he kept a group of editors 
waiting for over two hours to hold an "afternoon tea" 
roundtable interview. 
 
. . . A Big Man On Campus 
------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Other events went better, from Ahmadi-Nejad's 
perspective.  Speaking before an enthusiastic group of 
students at the University of Indonesia in Depok, the Iranian 
President once again defended his country's nuclear program 
and attacked Israel.  The audience reportedly booed each time 
the West, the U.S., or Israel was mentioned.  Some carried 
banners reading, "Iran In Our Hearts" and "Nuclear Power For 
Peace."  Ahmadi-Nejad generated loud applause when, 
responding to a question he found to his liking, he 
spontaneously offered a student a scholarship to study in 
Iran. 
 
¶11. (C/NF) Ahmadi-Nejad's May 11 at the State Islamic 
University was, if anything, even more enthusiastic.  A 
contact told us that students filled the university's 1,500 
seat auditorium to capacity in order hear Ahmadi-Nejad's 
speech, while several hundred more listened to the speech 
outside through speakers.  He contrasted the exceedingly warm 
and enthusiastic reception, punctuated with regular bursts of 
 
JAKARTA 00006026  003 OF 004 
 
 
sustained applause for Ahmadi-Nejad and booing at the mention 
of the U.S., with the correct hearing and pointed questions 
received by Undersecretary Karen Hughes in her October 2005 
visit to the same venue.  He said the main issues that came 
up in Ahmadi-Nejad's speech and lengthy Q-and-A session were 
Iran's nuclear program, which student questioners praised 
effusively, an alleged American double standard toward 
Iranian and Israeli nuclear programs, and claims of USG 
hostility and aggression toward Muslims.  The contact quoted 
the Iranian leader as telling the cheering and whooping 
students, "we are talking about nuclear energy but we should 
be talking about you - you are the nuclear energy of the 
future." 
 
Warm Welcome From Muslim Groups 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) On May 12, Ahmadi-Nejad began the day with a 
courtesy call on a small group of leaders of Muhammadiyah, 
Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organization.  A group 
insider told us the meeting had been all but imposed on 
Muhammadiyah the previous day by the GOI Minister of Research 
and Technology, and that Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin 
did not bother to change a previously-scheduled Thursday 
travel departure in order to personally host the Iranian. 
After the low-key 40-minute event (the Iranians reportedly 
did not want a press conference), an Indonesian attendee told 
us Ahmadi-Nejad spoke almost exclusively on the importance of 
Muslim brotherhood and unity in order to confront the forces 
of Western liberal democracy.  The Iranian leader stated that 
liberal democracy was falling apart, as evidenced by its 
cruel and hypocritical treatment of Palestinians and its 
alliance with Israel, and predicted it would follow Marxism 
as a failed ideology.  He proclaimed that Islam would 
supplant liberal democracy as the world's dominant ideology 
and called on all Muslims to reject liberal democracy and the 
West in order to make this a reality.  Iran's nuclear program 
was not discussed.  Apart from identifying America as the 
West's leading proponent of liberal democracy and criticizing 
its treatment of Palestinians, Ahmadi-Nejad reportedly made 
no other reference to the U.S. 
 
¶13. (C/NF) In contrast to Muhammadiyah's second-tier 
reception of the Iranian leader, rival Islamic group 
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) laid on red-carpet treatment for 
Ahmadi-Nejad.  NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi, who had recently 
visited Tehran as an Iranian government guest, hosted a 
gathering of religious and political leaders at NU 
headquarters.  Although Muzadi had reportedly invited a 
veritable who's-who of public figures to attend the event, an 
NU participant told us that only a few political heavyweights 
such as former Speaker of Parliament Akbar Tanjung, current 
MPR Chair Hidayat Nur Wahid, and a number of parliamentarians 
joined NU officials and clerics for the event. 
Representatives of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front 
(FPI) and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's Islamic Mujahidin Council 
(MMI) were also reportedly in attendance, along with 
officials of other small Islamic organizations.  The NU 
participant told us Ahmadi-Nejad spoke at length in defense 
of Iran's nuclear program, asking rhetorically why Iran's 
"peaceful program for energy and economic development" is 
challenged by the only country on earth to have ever used 
nuclear weapons to murder innocent people.  Ahmadi-Nejad also 
reportedly encouraged Indonesian Muslim youth, particularly 
girls, to focus on study of science and technology in order 
to counter Western domination.  The Iranian leader later 
performed congregational Friday noon prayers with various 
Muslim leaders at the National Mosque and gave a short speech 
at the end of the prayer. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14.  (C/NF) Indonesia still has a need to believe it has a 
role in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue; this may well be 
related to its ambitions for a seat on the UN Security 
Council.  Its real room for maneuver, however, is limited by 
the lack of sophistication of the Indonesian body politic on 
the issue.  Most Indonesians appear to view Ahmadi-Nejad's 
visit in simplistic terms: the West believes it can do 
 
JAKARTA 00006026  004 OF 004 
 
 
whatever it likes in the nuclear field, but it wants to 
prevent Iran from engaging in nuclear research; Iran has 
stood up to America, which has been bullying Muslim countries 
ever since the September 11, 2001 attacks.  In this 
simplistic outlook, Indonesia, by offering Ahmadi-Nejad a 
warm reception, is siding with an Islamic brother nation and 
remaining true to its Non-Aligned Movement heritage. 
 
¶15.  (C/NF) For others, Ahmadi-Nejad demonstrated an 
independence from the U.S. and other foreign power that they 
believe Indonesia should emulate.  This seemed particularly 
evident in the student gatherings.  But it also has resonated 
in older nationalistic circles; former Indonesian Army Chief 
of Staff General Ryamizard Ryacudu -- always quick to seek 
foreign conspiracies as the reason for Indonesia's problems 
-- told the press "We should have the courage to confront 
foreign intervention like Iran does in confronting the U.S." 
 
¶16.  (C/NF) It will be some weeks before the costs of the 
Ahmadi-Nejad visit -- both in terms of Indonesia's 
international reputation for "moderation" and the extent to 
which it bolstered Yudhoyono's internal critics -- become 
fully evident.  There can be no doubt, however, the Iranians 
have succeeded in circumscribing the Indonesian room for 
maneuver on the nuclear issue.  End comment. 
PASCOE