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OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #0218/01 0350828
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 040828Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7880
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4694
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1958
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1565
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 3654
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI 0025
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1481
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 2298
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 0562
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000218 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, INR/EAP 
H FOR DRICH 
NSC FOR EPHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV OVIP ID
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR FEBRUARY 17-21 CODEL PRICE VISIT 
 
 
JAKARTA 00000218  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Embassy Jakarta welcomes you to 
Indonesia, one of the world's most dramatic democratic 
success stories.  Your visit comes on the heels of former 
president Suharto's passing, an event which serves as a 
reminder of the tremendous progress Indonesia has made in the 
last decade. President Yudhoyono has moved aggressively to 
implement a reform agenda during his three years in office. 
In Aceh, you will start your visit where he registered the 
hallmark accomplishment of his tenure thus far: the Aceh 
Peace Agreement.  The parliament, while still experiencing 
growing pains, has increasingly moved to assert itself in 
domestic affairs and foreign policy.  Mission works closely 
with this nascent legislative body.  The Indonesian military 
is also growing and evolving in the post-Suharto era.  While 
there is work to be done on accountability, defense 
cooperation remains one of the lynchpins to our effort to 
build a long-term partnership here in the world's largest 
Muslim-majority country.  END SUMMARY. 
 
FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR DEMOCRACY 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Indonesian political system has made dramatic 
strides towards greater democracy and human rights, and the 
space for democratic politics that first opened almost ten 
years ago continues to expand.  There is a vigorous civil 
society and a robust, independent press.  Strong political 
will supports the improvement of Indonesia's human rights 
protections.  The day after Suharto was buried--a symbolic 
end of a repressive era--the National Commission on Human 
Rights announced it would continue to investigate Suharto for 
alleged past atrocities.  In January, the Supreme Court 
sentenced the murderer of human rights martyr Munir to 20 
years and police investigations into the case continue. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The 2009 presidential elections will mark the fourth 
peaceful transition of power since the birth of Indonesian 
democracy in 1999.  Meanwhile, as decentralization continues 
to take root, Indonesia has successfully contested over 350 
local elections in five years.  Many of these elections have 
taken place without incident in the former conflict areas of 
Ambon, Central Sulawesi, Papua and Aceh. 
 
USG HELPING ACEH 
 
¶5. (SBU) On August 15, 2005, the Aceh Peace agreement was 
signed, bringing to a close 29 years of violent conflict. 
Though the destruction and devastation of the December 2004 
tsunami ultimately helped lay the groundwork for the 
 
SIPDIS 
agreement, post tsunami recovery has sometimes overshadowed 
the need for post conflict recovery.  In 2006, Aceh province 
held its first direct election for Governor and the Acehnese 
resoundingly elected former commander of the rebel Free Aceh 
Movement (GAM) Irwandi Yusuf. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The United States responded quickly to the 2004 
tsunami disaster.  In addition to the assistance the U.S. 
 
SIPDIS 
military provided immediately in the tsunami's wake, Congress 
authorized $400 million in humanitarian and long-term 
reconstruction.  American citizens also made a tremendous 
impact, donating an estimated $1.8 billion to tsunami 
reconstruction efforts throughout the region.  USAID has 
become one of the premier donors in Aceh, with a program that 
supports reconstruction of the 96-mile West Coast Highway, 
construction of 900 new homes, the rehabilitation of 1600 
hectares of coastal forest, and support to a farming 
cooperative with over 5000 members.  USAID has played a 
leadership role in supporting the Aceh peace process, the 
reintegration of former combatants, and the 2006 elections. 
 
 
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO: A COMMITTED REFORMER 
 
¶7. (SBU) President Yudhoyono (SBY) truly understands and 
 
JAKARTA 00000218  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
believes in a democratic future for his country.  SBY has 
placed reformers in key economic ministries, the military and 
the police, and has prosecuted major government and corporate 
thieves.  In October 2005, he cut long-standing fuel 
subsidies despite the expected political blowback, thereby 
restoring fiscal discipline in the public sector and freeing 
up resources for education and social welfare programs. 
Yudhoyono signed a landmark law to fight human trafficking in 
April 2007 and has pushed an aggressive investigation into 
the murder of human rights activist Munir.  The murderer was 
sentenced to 20 years in prison and police are investigating 
possible conspiracies.  Internationally, he consistently 
espouses a policy of moderation and cooperation that rejects 
terrorism and nuclear proliferation and calls on countries to 
help resolve problems through collaboration and 
communication.  He has sent peacekeepers to Lebanon, hosted a 
Sunni-Shi'a dialogue to promote reconciliation in Iraq and 
has been at the forefront of efforts to improve relations 
between the Islamic world and the West. 
 
¶8. (SBU) While President Yudhoyono remains committed to 
further reforms, he has been constrained by the need to 
establish consensus within his multi-party cabinet, by a 
recalcitrant bureaucracy and by a parliament that often 
prefers scoring political points to tackling complex issues 
such as investment climate and labor reforms.  The 
President's focus has also been diluted by a steady stream of 
natural and man-made disasters, including tsunamis, 
earthquakes, plane crashes, the East Java mudflow, and rising 
commodity prices.  As the 2009 election approaches, the 
President will become increasingly occupied with political 
survival, further complicating reform efforts until a 
possible second term. 
 
THE DPR STEPS UP ITS GAME 
 
¶9. (SBU) Indonesia's Parliament (the DPR) has recently 
started to assert itself more forcefully in its dealings with 
the President, a development with mixed implications for U.S. 
interests.  In 2007, the DPR twice attempted to invoke a 
parliamentary procedure known as interpellation to force the 
President to personally explain his policies to its members. 
In the first instance, regarding Indonesia's support for UNSC 
1747 on Iran, the demand constituted little more than 
grandstanding in the run-up to the 2009 presidential 
elections, and ultimately failed.  Nonetheless, it had the 
effect of complicating any future efforts to enlist GOI 
support for UNSC Iran sanctions.  In the second instance, 
involving a man-made mudflow disaster in East Java that 
displaced tens of thousands of people, the DPR's pyrotechnics 
helped to focus the government's attention on a critical 
issue that had been languishing. 
 
USAID HELPS STRENGTHEN THE DPR 
 
¶10. (SBU) While forceful in its political advocacy, the DPR 
remains weak in its ability to develop legislation and 
implement sound policy and continues to suffer from negative 
public perceptions.  Speaker Laksono, although supportive of 
USG assistance to the DPR, has yet to make institutional 
reform a top priority.  USAID supports technical assistance 
and training to strengthen the skills of parliamentarians and 
staff, as well as provide institutional support to the DPR 
and other national and regional lawmaking bodies.  Activities 
include promoting constituency and media outreach, developing 
the capacity to draft and analyze operational budgets, and 
strengthening legal and legislative drafting capacity. 
Current multi-year assistance totals approximately $3 million 
and is carried out through two main programs: the National 
Legislative Strengthening Program (NLSP), which supports the 
research, analysis, budget development and legislative 
drafting capacity of the DPR; and the Democratic Reform 
Support Program (DRSP), which provides support to the DPR and 
the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) to strengthen 
their legislative authority and political processes. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00000218  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
MILITARY REFORM SLOWS 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Indonesian armed forces (TNI) saw fundamental 
change in the early years of reform but the momentum has 
slowed.  The TNI's long history of involvement in government 
in Indonesia disappeared by 2004 and the military was 
subordinated to civilian oversight in the form of the 
President and, less directly, the Department of Defense. 
U.S. assistance and expertise is reforming Indonesia's 
defense management to give the Defense Minister the same 
oversight over Indonesian military forces that the U.S. 
Secretary of Defense has over ours.  Moreover, all TNI 
 
SIPDIS 
members now receive human rights training.  Neither the 
government nor the TNI has been prepared to pursue 
accountability for alleged human rights violations which 
occurred during the Suharto era, or the more recent excesses 
in Aceh and East Timor.  Nevertheless, after marines shot and 
killed four protesters in a land dispute in East Java last 
year, the TNI's response was constructive and constituted an 
improvement relative to similar incidents in the past. 
 
¶12. (SBU) A second area of potential TNI reform, the transfer 
of TNI businesses, is now in the hands of a special civilian 
team appointed by the president.  Indonesian defense 
officials have stated a willingness to divest TNI-owned 
businesses, but emphasize that increases in the state defense 
budget need to make up the difference. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Our 12-year military embargo resulted in a "lost 
generation" of Indonesian military personnel without any 
meaningful exposure to the United States.  President 
Yudhoyono cites the restoration of full military ties as one 
of the primary achievements of his administration and would 
likely be embarrassed by any suggestion that the United 
States has stepped back in that relationship.  We encourage 
senior USG visitors to stress to the GOI the need for 
accountability and further reform, but also to welcome the 
significant changes that have occurred and support further 
engagement.  Indonesia is an important strategic partner in 
the region, and we can effect change far more effectively by 
engaging with Indonesia's security forces than by staying at 
a distance. 
 
BUILDING THE FOUNDATION FOR A LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶14. (SBU) Indonesia was recently named the freest country in 
Southeast Asia" by the Freedom House Index, one of the many 
indicators of Indonesia's progress in the last decade.  While 
our relations have been cordial throughout Indonesia's 
democratic transition, the lingering spectrum of restrictions 
on our military-to-military relationship has focused the 
spotlight on Indonesia's past, rather than on the astonishing 
success story here.  The United States currently has a 
remarkable opportunity to help this country of over 200 
million people secure a bright future, while building the 
foundation for a long-term partnership in a strategic corner 
of the world. 
 
HUME