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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001712 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, INR/EAP 
NSC FOR E.PHU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PRELID PINR ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIA CREATES NEW DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER 
POSITION 
 
REF: JAKARTA 0597 
 
JAKARTA 00001712  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  The Indonesian Department of Foreign 
Affairs (DEPLU) has created the new position of Deputy 
Foreign Minister and is expected to install career diplomat 
Triyono Wibowo as its first incumbent on September 11.  The 
precise responsibilities, authority and relationship to other 
senior positions, including the Foreign Minister and the 
Secretary General (which up to now has effectively been the 
number two position), have yet to be clearly defined.  Wibowo 
is currently Indonesia's ambassador to Austria (see bio 
material in Para 8) and is generally well-regarded.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
CREATION OF NEW POSITION 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The new position, which required presidential 
approval, was announced on September 9.  Its first occupant, 
Triyono Wibowo, is an Indonesian foreign service officer with 
wide-ranging experience (see para 8 below).  Wibowo was 
earlier mentioned as a possible candidate for the job (see 
reftel), has strong credentials and appears to be generally 
well regarded. 
 
¶3.  (C) DEPLU reportedly sought the new position because it 
had no senior official with the authority to backfill for 
Foreign Minister Wirajuda in his absence.  USG and other 
foreign officials have engaged Secretary General Imron Cotan, 
informally considered to be the next most senior DEPLU 
official, on high-level policy issues. 
 
¶4.  (C) Cotan's experience as ambassador to Australia and in 
the Directorate for North American and European Affairs makes 
him a capable substantive interlocutor.  Technically, 
however, his position, deals with internal administrative, 
budgetary and personnel matters and is not the equivalent of 
the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.  Rather, the various 
director generals-for American and European Affairs, for 
Asian and African Affairs, for Multilateral Affairs and so 
forth handle the substantive policy matters for their 
respective areas.  Moreover, they are equivalent in rank to 
the secretary general and report directly to the foreign 
minister on policy, although they answer to the secretary 
general on administrative matters.  At most, the secretary 
general is a first among equals. 
 
CLARITY LACKING (FOR NOW) 
 
¶5.  (C) DEPLU contacts told DepPol/C that the exact 
responsibilities and authority of the deputy minister, as 
well as the position's relationship with the foreign 
minister, secretary general and various director generals, 
had yet to be defined.  These would be detailed in the 
official job description that was expected to be released 
with Wibowo's installation on September 11.  That document 
will need to make clear his duties as deputy and as acting 
foreign minister.  Once these details are released it should 
be clearer what role the position has. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Senior administrative officials are appointed by 
the president and are subject to legislative approval, so 
there will be no formal review of the new position or its 
first incumbent by the Indonesian legislature (DPR). 
Legislators criticized DEPLU when the proposal was first 
announced several months ago for not having consulted the 
DPR, although the criticism mostly concerned process rather 
than substance. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00001712  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Reacting to the recent announcement, Theo Sambuaga, 
who chairs the DPR's Commission on Foreign and Security 
Affairs, welcomed the appointment as giving Indonesia the 
capability to exercise greater continuity and consistency in 
foreign policy, owing to the position's expected ability to 
fill in for the foreign minister in his absence.  Sambuaga, 
as well as other legislators, praised the choice of Wibowo as 
a seasoned and capable diplomat. 
 
TRIYONO WIBOWO BIO 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Triyono Wibowo has been Indonesia's ambassador to 
Austria since 2005.  Before that he was Advisor to the 
Minister for Administrative and Management Affairs from 2004 
to 2005 and Secretary for the Directorate General for 
European and American Affairs and Head of Personnel at DEPLU 
from 2002 to 2004.  He was Minister Counsellor in Washington, 
D.C. from 1999 to 2002 and Deputy Director for Economic 
Cooperation among Developing Countries from 1996 to 1999.  He 
served at the Indonesian Mission to the United Nations from 
1991 to 1996 and the Indonesian Permanent Mission to the IAEA 
in Vienna from 1984 to 1988.  He joined the Indonesian 
Foreign Service in 1980 and graduated from the Faculty of Law 
at Airlangga University in Surabaya in 1979.  He is married 
and has three children. 
 
HUME