VZCZCXRO9398
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #0921/01 1300854
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 090854Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8958
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 7774

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000921 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, OES/IHA, L/DL FOR DICKERSON 
USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL 
DEPT PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/ABHAT/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH 
DEPT PASS TO USDA/FAS/OSTA BRANT, ROSENBLUM 
DOJ FOR OFL/HOLLIS 
GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN 
NSC FOR EPHU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2018 
TAGS: PGOV TBIO KFLU KLIG ID
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTRY NON-COMMITTAL ON AVIAN FLU LAWSUIT 
 
REF: A. JAKARTA 854 
     ¶B. JAKARTA 843 
     ¶C. JAKARTA 786 
     ¶D. STATE 43100 
 
Classified By: Poloff Adam West for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A Foreign Ministry official was non-committal 
on whether the Ministry (DEPLU) could put an end to a lawsuit 
filed in a local court in April.  The suit was brought by the 
family of an Indonesian victim of Avian Influenza (AI).  An 
initial hearing is currently scheduled for May 13, but post 
was not properly served and does not plan to attend based on 
instructions from L/DL.  DEPLU in turn requested our 
assistance on several cases in U.S. courts that involve the 
GOI as a litigant. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) Post DOJ Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) and poloff met 
May 9 with Arif Havas Oegroseno, Director of DEPLU's 
Department of Political, Legal and Regional Treaties.  (Note: 
 A Harvard educated lawyer, Oegroseno was chosen for the 
approach due to his familiarity with the U.S. perspective on 
legal matters.)  RLA explained the circumstances of the case 
and the impossibility of the plaintiff ever collecting 
damages from the USG due to international agreements on 
sovereign immunity.  He suggested that DEPLU may want to get 
involved in the case to prevent further escalation of current 
misunderstandings surrounding the issue of Avian Influenza 
(ref A).  Oegroseno was sympathetic to these arguments and 
indicated that he would send a letter to the court advising 
them that the Embassy would not attend the May 13 hearing. 
However, he was non-committal on whether DEPLU would be able 
to halt the proceedings. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The lawsuit was filed in March by the father of an 
AI victim who passed away in January (ref B).  The suit 
alleges that the USG, along with the World Health 
Organization, bears responsibility for the death.  The case 
is based on charges made in Minister of Health Siti Fadilah 
Supari's recent book, "It's Time for the World to Change: 
Divine Hand Behind Avian Influenza." The plaintiff requests 
financial compensation of approximately $250,000 and that the 
defendants place a printed apology in five print media 
outlets.  An initial hearing scheduled for April 22 was 
postponed after the initial summons to the Embassy was 
improperly served based on instructions from L/DL (refs C and 
D).  A second summons for the May 13 hearing was also 
improperly served. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Oegresono went on to request post assistance on 
several cases currently underway in U.S. courts involving the 
GOI.  The three cases, as described by Oegroseno, are as 
follows: 
 
      --A suit filed by State-run oil company Pertamina 
seeking to lift an anti-suit injunction imposed on it by New 
York District Court and currently pending review at the U.S. 
Supreme Court.  The injunction is preventing Pertamina from 
filing a suit in the Cayman Islands against Karaha Bodas 
Company (KBC). 
 
      --A class action suit, "Refined Petroleum Products 
Anti-Trust Litigation" currently before the Federal Court 
Southern Texas District.  The case targets OPEC member 
countries, including the GOI.  Pertamina is also listed as a 
co-conspirator. 
 
      --An attempt by a U.S. firm, Perry H. Koplik and Sons, 
to re-try a case against Indonesian PT. Bank Mandiri in the 
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. 
The case had already been tried in Indonesian court, which 
ruled in favor of Bank Mandiri, and the verdict was upheld by 
the Indonesian Supreme Court.  According to Oegroseno, Koplik 
is now trying to re-try the case in the U.S. based on 
complaints of widespread corruption in the Indonesian 
judiciary and has cited DOS's 2003 Human Rights Report on 
Indonesia in support of its claim.  In 2006, the Bankruptcy 
Court denied a motion by Bank Mandiri to dismiss the case. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00000921  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5.  (C) While it seems unlikely that Oegroseno was proposing 
any kind of quid-pro-quo regarding these cases, in raising 
them he has highlighted the difficulties involved in asking 
the executive to interfere in a domestic judicial proceeding. 
 The lawsuit has not received significant press coverage to 
date, but that could change if the hearing takes place as 
scheduled on May 13.  Given the current environment 
surrounding the AI issue, such publicity is likely to be 
highly negative towards the USG. 
HUME