VZCZCXRO6214
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #0372/01 0560940
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 250940Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8094
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
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RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000372 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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 EAID KDEM BM ID
SUBJECT: CODEL PRICE WORKS TO STRENGTHEN INDONESIAN 
DEMOCRACY 
 
REF: JAKARTA 218 
 
JAKARTA 00000372  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) This message was coordinated with Consulate Medan. 
 
¶2.  (U) SUMMARY:  From February 17-21, CODEL Price visited 
Indonesia as part of the legislative strengthening program of 
the House Democracy Assistance Commission (HDAC).  CODEL 
Price toured Aceh, met with President Yudhoyono, and held 
meetings with top legislators from the Indonesian House of 
Representatives (DPR).  U.S. Representatives on the trip 
consistently stressed the importance of legislative autonomy, 
accountability, and constituent outreach.  Chair Price and 
DPR Speaker Laksono signed a Memorandum of Understanding 
(MOU) formalizing the HDAC-DPR relationship.  In meetings 
with key interlocutors and during a press event, CODEL Price 
also urged the GOI to work to convince the Burmese regime to 
reform.   END SUMMARY. 
 
USG ASSISTANCE TO ACEH 
 
¶3.  (U) During a February 17-18 visit to Banda Aceh, CODEL 
Price witnessed first hand the remarkable role U.S. 
assistance has played in helping Aceh recover from roughly 30 
years of violent conflict, as well as the devastating tsunami 
of December 2004.  After visiting a memorial site to pay 
respects to the tens of thousands who perished in the 
tsunami, the delegation inspected one portion of the West 
 
SIPDIS 
Coast Highway construction site, where USAID is re-building a 
vital 96-mile transport corridor.  CODEL Price also toured a 
progressive Islamic school supported by U.S. funding.  (Note: 
 The CODEL consisted of U.S. Representatives David Price, 
D-NC, John Boozman, R-AR, Sam Farr, D-CA, Mazie Hirono, D-HI, 
Michael Conaway, R-TX, and Jim McDermott, D-WA.) 
 
¶4.  (U) During February 18 meetings with Aceh Governor 
Irwandi and local legislators from the provincial parliament 
(DPRD), CODEL Price and interlocutors discussed the ongoing 
challenges facing Aceh, while taking stock of the tremendous 
reforms already underway.  CODEL Price underscored to 
Governor Irwandi and the DPRD the USG's long-term commitment 
to rehabilitation and peace building in Aceh, and praised 
Aceh's firm embrace of democracy. 
 
WITH YUDHOYONO:  BURMA, AVIAN FLU 
 
¶5.  (U) During a February 19 meeting with President 
Yudhoyono, CODEL Price congratulated Indonesia on its success 
in hosting the historic COP-13 climate change conference, 
registered concerns about the alarming spread of the avian 
influenza epidemic, and pushed for a more forceful Indonesian 
role in Burma.  Members of the delegation expressed their 
admiration for the speed and scope of Indonesia's democratic 
transformation and noted that Indonesia had become a model 
for the region.  Chairman Price explained HDAC's legislative 
strengthening mandate and history of collaboration with the 
DPR, before urging the President to support greater 
legislative independence. 
 
¶6.  (U) President Yudhoyono thanked the group for its work 
with the DPR and emphasized that democracy had reached the 
point of no return in Indonesia.  In response to a question 
from Representative McDermott about Indonesia's avian 
influenza sample sharing policy, SBY underscored that the 
GOI's policy was one of partnership, fairness and 
cooperation.  The President emphasized that Indonesia sought 
to solve the avian influenza problem, and had issued open 
invitations to the United States and the World Health 
Organization to work in tandem with the GOI towards this 
goal. 
 
¶7.  (U) With respect to the GOI's Burma policy, SBY 
acknowledged CODEL Price's concerns and pointed to Burma's 
plans for a 2010 election as a potential sign of progress. 
 
JAKARTA 00000372  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
SBY emphasized that Burmese Senior General Than Shwe was 
afraid of quick change and opined that sanctions would not 
work with the regime.  Yudhoyono added that as a fellow 
member of ASEAN he could not endorse punitive measures that 
would seek to isolate the regime, and he expressed hope that 
through engagement and working with its ASEAN partners the 
GOI could help push Burma in the right direction.  As a 
measure of his personal activism on the issues, SBY noted 
that he had met with UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari earlier 
in the morning (septel reviews S/E Gambari's Feb. 22 meeting 
with the Ambassador).  Yudhoyono also told CODEL Price that 
he communicated directly with Than Shwe with some frequency. 
In his conversations with Than Shwe, SBY sought to convince 
him that democracy represented the best hope for Burma's 
future. 
 
SIGNING A BENCHMARK MOU 
 
¶8.  (U) On February 19, CODEL Price met with Speaker Laksono, 
Commission I Chair Theo Sambuaga--the DPR's Foreign Affairs 
and Defense Commission--and other senior parliamentarians. 
Laksono welcomed the CODEL to Indonesia, spoke about his own 
efforts at legislative reform, and agreed with the CODEL's 
assessment that a stronger legislature would help expedite 
the democratic consolidation process in Indonesia.  Chairman 
Price noted that HDAC hoped to continue to develop the 
friendship between the DPR and the U.S. and described the 
partnership between the two institutions as one of HDAC's 
most successful relationships.  Chairman Price also 
emphasized HDAC's belief that if the DPR wanted to be fully 
independent of the executive, it would need to take control 
of its own budget and bolster the number of expert staff 
available to help Indonesian legislators conduct the nation's 
business.  He further stressed that the DPR's staffing 
structure, currently under Executive Branch oversight, should 
be reformed to develop a staff cadre that would report 
directly to the Legislative Branch. 
 
¶9.  (U) Speaker Laksono and Chairman Price closed the meeting 
by signing an MOU between HDAC and the DPR.  (Note: Mission 
will forward the document to EAP/MTS.)  The MOU formalizes 
assistance between the two institutions by encouraging 
periodic staff and member exchanges, technical assistance, 
and continued cooperation.  The MOU is the first such 
agreement that the DPR has ever signed with another 
legislature.  The signing ceremony was well attended by the 
local media and received positive press coverage throughout 
Indonesia. 
 
CODEL PRICE ENGAGES WITH THE DPR 
 
¶10.   (U) The six Representatives and six staffers in CODEL 
Price participated in an intense series of meetings at the 
DPR that stretched out over the better part of two days.  The 
representatives met at one point or another with the Speaker, 
the DPR Reform Implementation Team, the Legislative Council, 
the DPR House Affairs Committee, the DPR Budget Committee, 
Commission I, legislators from all ten party factions, the 
U.S. Indonesia Caucus, the Inter-Parliamentary Caucus, the 
Myanmar Caucus, and USAID's legislative strengthening 
partners. 
 
¶11.  (U) CODEL Price staffers participated in many of the 
same meetings and also engaged in a staff specific program 
with members from the Speaker's office and expert staff from 
the Legislative Council.  Library of Congress staffers held 
three training workshops, including two large sessions for 
over 40 DPR research staff members on the issues of 
accountability, constituent outreach, legislative autonomy 
and impartiality in providing assistance to members.  One 
measure of the intensity of the program was the fact that at 
several points during the visit, the Representatives and 
staffers participated in three concurrent meetings at the DPR. 
 
JAKARTA 00000372  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12.  (U) In meetings with the DPR's Budget Committee, 
Legislative Council and its Reform Implementation Team, 
Indonesian parliamentarians consistently highlighted the 
issue of budget autonomy as the DPR's most pressing concern. 
A number of DPR members explained the budget process in 
Indonesia and noted that until the DPR controls its own 
financial fate, its scope and authority would remain limited. 
 
 
¶13.  (U) Representative McDermott captured the essence of the 
importance of budget autonomy when he noted that: "he who has 
the gold rules."  Chairman Price explained that HDAC sought 
to assist other legislatures by way of example and through 
the exchange of information and experiences.  Several members 
of CODEL Price conceded that even with the benefit of over 
two hundred years of experience, the United States Congress 
was also still a work in progress.  In a meeting with the 
House Affairs Committee, Congressman Conaway underscored the 
importance of accountability in a professional legislature 
and stressed the distinction between representing one's party 
versus representing one's constituents. 
 
PRESSING THE GOI ON BURMA 
 
¶14.  (U) CODEL Price raised the issue of Burma at every 
possible turn, urging President Yudhoyono and DPR Speaker 
Laksono to leverage Indonesia's access to the regime to 
effect change.  During a reception at the Ambassador's 
residence that included several members of the DPR's Myanmar 
Caucus, CODEL Price lauded the Caucus' role in raising the 
visibility of the Burma issue in Indonesia and urged the 
Caucus to continue to press the GOI to play a more active 
role on the issue. 
 
¶15.  (U) In a lunch with Commission I, responsible for 
foreign affairs and defense, Chairman Price praised members 
of the Commission for using the ratification process of the 
ASEAN Charter to press the regime to undertake needed 
reforms.  Price also emphasized the need for civilian 
oversight of defense.  Djoko Susilo, a member of Commission I 
and also the Myanmar Caucus Chair, emphasized that the ASEAN 
Charter was central to the Caucus' Burma engagement strategy. 
 Finally, in a February 20 press conference, Chairman Price 
used his opening statement to call for an immediate end to 
human rights abuses in Burma.  Price told the media that the 
delegation had raised the issue throughout their visit. 
 
¶16.  (U) CODEL Price reviewed and cleared this message. 
HUME