VZCZCXRO7225
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1001/01 1630517
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120517Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2539
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS COLL
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 7905

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001001 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, OES/AIAG 
USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL 
DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/ABHAT/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH 
GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU AMED EAGR AMGT MASS PGOV
ID, 
SUBJECT: NAMRU-2: THE PATH FORWARD 
 
REF: Jakarta 969, and previous 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified. 
Please handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Although Health Minister Supari 
has postponed her Washington visit, the time is still 
right to explore deepening our health cooperation 
with Indonesia.  To do this we must first overcome an 
immediate challenge-the visas of NAMRU's American 
personnel expire in less than 19 days.  Mission 
believes that Minister Supari's strong interest in 
broader health engagement may provide a path forward 
to resolving the impasse over NAMRU.  This message 
outlines a vision of greater health cooperation with 
Indonesia and describes a strategy to overcome the 
urgent issue facing NAMRU.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
LINKING NAMRU TO BROADER HEALTH ENGAGEMENT 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Indonesians want to explore greater health 
cooperation with the United States as a part of our 
emerging Comprehensive Partnership.  GOI 
interlocutors tell us that Minister Supari is very 
interested in seeking additional U.S. assistance in 
capacity building, health surveillance, research and 
vaccine production.  Prior to the postponement of her 
June trip to the United States, Supari had planned to 
discuss these needs with Secretary of Health and 
Human Services Sebelius and raise the idea of an 
Indonesia-U.S. joint research laboratory.   Supari's 
primary interest is that such a laboratory reflects a 
true partnership through shared leadership by the 
U.S. and Indonesian health ministries.  Supari's team 
recognizes that a joint laboratory would include the 
presence of multiple U.S. agencies, including the 
military, but with new additional partners.  Supari 
in the past has expressed particular interest in 
deepening ties with the U.S. Centers for Disease 
Control and also exploring potential clinical 
research programs with the U.S. National Institutes 
of Health.  She is also very interested in 
cultivating new partners such as the Gates 
Foundation.  All of these interests could be woven 
into a new laboratory model. 
 
¶4. (SBU) NAMRU's possible shutdown could foreclose the 
possibility of any deeper health cooperation.  We have 
made it clear that NARMU's laboratory and trained 
personnel would be the backbone of any new joint 
laboratory.  Supari's advisors accept this.  Although 
deeply suspicious of current NAMRU operations, 
Supari's team recognizes the value of the NAMRU 
operation (40 years, 160 experienced staff, and 
significant funding), and in fact personally know a 
number of NAMRU's Indonesian researchers.  If managed 
correctly, Supari could accept NAMRU if she is assured 
of our genuine interest in developing a new research 
laboratory model (bigger and more comprehensive than 
NAMRU), she could then be helpful on visa extensions 
for NAMRU personnel so that negotiations on the 
broader engagement can begin. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
DEPLU's CONCERNS: STATUS OF PERSONNEL AND MTA 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU) is 
also a roadblock on NAMRU. We understand that FM 
Wirajuda suggested to the Secretary that we must 
complete a bilateral Material Transfer Agreement 
(MTA) before moving forward on NAMRU visas.  However, 
some contacts have suggested that he is more 
concerned with the issue of diplomatic status for 
NAMRU employees than the actual MTA, or may have been 
poorly briefed on the issue. Both of these issues 
 
JAKARTA 00001001  002 OF 002 
 
 
will take time to resolve--the MTA through ongoing 
multilateral negotiations and the status of NAMRU 
personnel through a renegotiated MOU governing our 
health cooperation.  Neither of these can be resolved 
before the current NAMRU visas expire at the end of 
June. 
 
---------------------- 
RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS 
---------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Mission believes that we can use Minister 
Supari's interest in broader health engagement to 
extend NAMRU visas and buy us time to explore other 
options.  These options need to meet Indonesia's 
concern that our health cooperation reflects a true 
partnership.  We recommend the following steps. 
 
 
A) Although her trip has been postponed until after 
Indonesia's elections, Minister Supari still 
wants to meet with HHS Secretary Sebelius to 
discuss broader cooperation and raise the joint 
laboratory.  We plan to meet with DEPLU to see 
how they interpret their Minister's comments, and 
to restate the USG's interest in exploring the 
MTA issue in follow-up to the Secretary's meeting 
with FM Wirajuda.  We will also use the 
opportunity to emphasize that the June 30 
expiration of NAMRU visas will close the NAMRU 
laboratory and thereby preclude both any forward 
motion on a Material Transfer Agreement and 
Minister Supari's discussion of the joint 
laboratory opportunity when she meets with 
Secretary Sebelius. 
 
B) We plan to meet with Supari's advisors to further 
identify MOH's interests in the joint laboratory 
and how this can be built from the current NAMRU 
operation. We will continue to signal U.S. 
concerns and explore ways we can advance a 
proposal. 
 
C) Upon his return, Ambassador Hume plans to meet 
with Minister Supari to seek her support to keep 
NAMRU in place during the negotiations for a new 
laboratory model.  We will ask her to communicate 
this support to DEPLU so that they could provide 
visas accordingly.   We believe DEPLU would have 
difficulty opposing this. 
 
D) We need Washington to agree to send an 
interagency delegation that would include HHS 
representation sometime after the Indonesian 
presidential poll on July 8.  The team can 
explore both the MTA and the broader issue of 
transforming our health cooperation into a true 
partnership. 
 
NORTH