VZCZCXRO6109
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0013/01 0401003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091003Z FEB 09
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0360
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0173
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0345
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0366

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000013 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, INR/EAP, EB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ID CH
SUBJECT: EAST JAVA: CHINESE SWEAT AND DIPLOMACY -- TRYING TO BUILD 
INDONESIA'S LONGEST BRIDGE 
 
REF: 07 SURABAYA 78 COMMUNITIES UNPREPARED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SURABAYA-MADURA BRIDGE 
 
SURABAYA 00000013  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The bridge linking Surabaya and the nearby 
island of Madura is nearing completion. The Chinese continue 
efforts to transform their reported USD 1.6 billion in loans and 
financing into a milestone representative of China's 
increasingly close economic ties with Indonesia. China's Vice 
Premier Li Keqiang toured the site in late December 2008 and 
called the bridge evidence of China's 'strategic partnership' 
with Indonesia. ConGen Surabaya spoke with Chinese workers and 
Indonesian engineers at the site. Poor coordination has delayed 
work, while a clash of cultures complicates Chinese efforts to 
publicize their contribution. Residents on both sides remain 
unprepared for the changes the bridge will bring when it finally 
opens just two months from now. End Summary 
 
Chinese-Indonesian Partnership: Complex and Sensitive 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) When completed in April 2009, the suspension bridge 
linking Surabaya with the nearby island of Madura will be 
Indonesia's longest. Built by a consortium of Chinese and 
Indonesian companies, the bridge symbolizes the complex 
relationship between China and Indonesia and the lingering 
distrust regarding Sino-Indonesian motives. Chinese Vice Premier 
Li Keqiang's December 21 visit to the Surabaya-Madura bridge, 
referred to locally as Suramadu, was accompanied by the 
"unfreezing" of USD 68.9 million, the final tranche of financing 
for the bridge. Photographs of Li's visit to the bridge received 
wide media coverage. The Chinese Consul General Mr. Fu Shuigen 
told us that there are no plans for another high-level visit by 
Chinese officials to open the bridge; but that might change. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Historic sensitivities about wealthy Sino-Indonesians 
motivations persist. Our Indonesian guides to the Chinese 
worksite said local officials were miffed at the high-handed 
manner in which they were excluded from the visit of the Vice 
Minister and other Chinese officials while they toured the site. 
The presence of the Sino-Indonesian CEO of the Maspion 
Corporation among the delegation reinforced the impression that 
local Sino-Indonesians would benefit the most from the bridge. 
One Indonesian engineer told us that local professional staff 
had the impression that the Chinese construction company did not 
see Indonesian colleagues on the project as full partners. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Indonesians on both sides of the strait told us that 
there is great sensitivity to using foreign labor on the bridge. 
The 300 Chinese construction workers try to keep a low profile, 
working on the Madura side where they are far from view. Chinese 
workers told us that most of the workers on site had worked on 
the bridge for more than two years. They live in air-conditioned 
dormitories built from cargo containers fastened to the deck of 
barges moored to the bridge's pylons. The workers only leave 
occasionally for trips to Surabaya. 
 
Hopefully Meeting in the Middle 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Chinese consortium has completed 100% of the Madura 
side of the bridge, to include asphalt and lane markings. An 
Indonesian company has yet to complete the road bed on the 
Surabaya side. Differences in construction approaches visible on 
either side give the impression of two different bridge projects 
that hope to meet each other halfway. An Indonesian engineer 
told us that the Chinese pour the concrete road bed on site, 
while the Indonesian side relies on prefab roadbed sections 
prepared in a factory elsewhere. Difficulties making and 
transporting the slabs have slowed construction. 
 
¶6. (SBU) No structures have appeared near the Madura bridge 
approaches on either side since our discussions with local 
officials in November 2007 (reftel). The 11 kilometer road 
linking the bridge to a two-lane trunk road running the length 
of Madura is roughly 60 percent complete. Fearing violence, 
authorities waited until after the East Java Governor's election 
in late January to issue a court order to secure the parcels of 
land needed to complete the road. Many people we spoke with in 
Madura had heard rumors of large land purchases by outside 
speculators. The Rector of a Madura's Trunojoyo University 
located only miles from the bridge, contradicted this saying 
local Madurese owned the land and would develop it eventually. 
After many decades of planning and false starts, Surabaya and 
Madura have yet to articulate a shared vision of how to take 
 
SURABAYA 00000013  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
advantage of the bridge to change the provincial economy. 
MCCLELLAND