VZCZCXRO3290
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #2316/01 3580952
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230952Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1060
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5763
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 3444
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 1530
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 1517
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2539
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 5263
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2884
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 3364
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 3192
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 1365
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 002316 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR D, P, EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO TRANSITION TEAM 
STATE FOR USAID ADMINISTRATOR FORE 
NSC FOR E. PHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM ECON ID
SUBJECT: THE U.S. ROLE IN INDONESIA'S DEMOCRATIC 
TRANSFORMATION 
 
REF: A. JAKARTA 2279 
     ¶B. JAKARTA 2644 
 
JAKARTA 00002316  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified; please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Indonesia has a great story to tell. 
This country's ten-year transformation from authoritarianism 
to democracy was Indonesia's decision and is Indonesia's 
success.  Likewise, the Indonesian government's strategic 
decision to end communal and separatist conflicts and to 
fight terrorism has succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. 
Although these are primarily Indonesian successes, U.S. 
policy and assistance during the last eight years played a 
major part in this success story.  President Bush's three 
bilateral summits with Indonesia's leaders in 2004, 2005 and 
2006 were cornerstones in the success of this cooperation. 
These achievements have created an opportunity to advance our 
interests here by launching talks on a possible strategic 
partnership.  END SUMMARY. 
 
INDONESIA'S TRANSFORMATION 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Since 1998, Indonesia has rejected 
military-dominated authoritarianism to become a democracy 
that the NGO Freedom House calls the freest in Southeast 
Asia.  The decisions and actions undertaken in this 
extraordinary transformation were driven largely by internal 
events here, not external pressure or finger-wagging.  The 
same can be said for the major turn-around in the security 
situation since the 2002 Bali bombing, which prompted the GOI 
to finally acknowledge its terrorism problem and make the 
strategic decision to combat it aggressively. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The United States has helped Indonesia make this 
transformation.  U.S. policies and assistance have proven 
vital in supporting the security sector, reforming the 
government, and combating corruption.  Bilateral summit 
meetings between President Bush and former President Megawati 
and current President Yudhoyono launched important elements 
of this bilateral cooperation.  The 2004 Bush-Megawati summit 
in Bali kicked off the President's Education Initiative that 
provided $157 million to transform Indonesia's basic 
education curriculum, among other things to foster critical 
thinking skills.  In 2005, after Yudhoyono met the President 
in Washington, the Bush Administration made the crucial 
decision to restore bilateral military-to-military ties by 
lifting the 13-year sanction on security assistance.  In 
2006, when President Bush met Yudhoyono in Bogor, the two 
Presidents jointly reiterated their commitment for broad 
bilateral cooperation in the areas of security, democracy, 
good governance, education, health, disaster relief, trade 
and investment. 
 
HOW WE HAVE HELPED 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In a Washington speech last month, President 
Yudhoyono noted the success of bilateral relations under 
President Bush and called for a strategic partnership with 
the United States, particularly in the areas of climate 
change, food security, energy security and in combating the 
global financial crisis.  Ref A outlines President 
Yudhoyono's remarks.  He specifically thanked the Bush 
Administration for the end of the arms embargo, the lifting 
of the travel warning, cooperation with the police, 
prosecutors, tsunami relief, the Education Initiative, 
support for the Coral Triangle Initiative and increased trade 
 
JAKARTA 00002316  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
and investment.  President Yudhoyono also thanked President 
Bush for inviting him to participate in the G-20 financial 
summit, which Indonesians interpret as a symbol that 
Indonesia has arrived as an important global player. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The core of our contribution to Indonesia's 
transformation has been in the area of security, both 
military-to-military relations and cooperation with the 
Indonesian National Police (INP).  Ending the embargo in 2005 
was the critical first step.  However, the U.S. has done much 
more to promote military and police reform, increase security 
and combat terrorism.  These security sector successes 
culminated in Washington's decision in April 2008 to lift the 
eight-year old travel warning on Indonesia, which reflected 
the improved security climate here. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Reform of Indonesia's military (TNI) has been at 
the top of our bilateral agenda.  The Indonesian government 
made important decisions to separate the military and police, 
get the military out of politics and put the military under 
civilian control.  The national police similarly are being 
transformed from a force that protected the state under an 
authoritarian system to a force that protects the people in a 
democracy.  The goal of all of our security assistance, IMET, 
military-to-military engagement, and INL-funded police 
cooperation implemented by the Department of Justice has been 
to professionalize security forces here and to cement reforms 
initiated by the government of Indonesia and promoted by 
President Yudhoyono. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Our newest area of success is in counter-narcotics 
cooperation.  DEA and JIATF-West in Honolulu have done great 
work with the Indonesian anti-narcotics police (BNN), again 
with the goal of professionalization and regional 
cooperation.  The culmination of this success from our 
perspective was BNN's active cooperation last month turning 
over Haji Juma Khan--reputed to be one of Afghanistan's 
biggest heroin traffickers--to the U.S. for prosecution. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) A pro-active public diplomacy effort has helped the 
relationship as well.  An expanded Fulbright program, YES 
high school exchanges, an extensive International Visitors 
Program, ACCESS English teaching programs, more university 
linkages, and Embassy outreach activities, have fostered 
closer people-to-people ties and more mutual understanding. 
In part, these efforts have helped improve Indonesian's 
overall perception of the U.S. 
 
GOVERNANCE AND THE RULE OF LAW 
 
¶10.  (SBU) President Yudhoyono also welcomed the decision 
last week to declare Indonesia's eligibility for a Millennium 
Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact.  Our work during the 
on-going two year $55 million threshold program has focused 
on governance, rule of law and health.  The next challenge 
will be to work with the Indonesian government to use the 
compact program to push Indonesia to the next level in terms 
of  economic openness, job creation, and poverty alleviation. 
 Nothing will do more to solidify Indonesia's democratic 
reforms than economic success for the average Indonesian. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The positive MCC decision builds on a decade of 
USAID, INL and S/CT programs in the areas of basic human 
needs, rule of law and human rights, education, environment 
and economic growth.  This foreign assistance package of 
about $180 million per year is the largest in East Asia and, 
while modest on a per capita basis, has effectively helped 
 
JAKARTA 00002316  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
the Indonesian government build capacity and spread reforms. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The Mission has recommended that Washington seize 
the current opportunity to build on this solid foundation and 
launch talks with the government of Indonesia to develop a 
bilateral strategic partnership.  We are in a very favorable 
position with this strategic country of 245 million people, 
in large part due to the decisions and policies of the Bush 
Administration. 
 
HUME