VZCZCXRO3935
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1041/01 1701045
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191045Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2597
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST PRIORITY 0033
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI PRIORITY 1038
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR PRIORITY 0123
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, H 
NSC FOR E.PHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ID
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR HDAC CODEL VISIT JUNE 30 TO JULY 2 
 
REF: JAKARTA 977 AND PREVIOUS 
 
JAKARTA 00001041  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.    (SBU) SUMMARY: U.S. Embassy Jakarta welcomes CODEL 
Price to Indonesia.  You will arrive one week before 
Indonesia's second direct Presidential elections, July 8. 
This is a critical time for building relations between the 
U.S. and Indonesia, the world's second and third largest 
democracies.  Incumbent candidate President Yudhoyono, a 
staunch reformist, initiated in 2008 a new comprehensive U.S. 
-Indonesia partnership including cooperation on education, 
environment, trade and investment, science and technology, 
defense cooperation and interfaith dialogue.  Secretary 
Clinton and Foreign Minister Wirajuda's respective visits in 
2009 reinforced this partnership.  President Obama may follow 
up with a visit to Indonesia in November. 
 
¶2.    (SBU) SUMMARY: (CONT) Indonesia is institutionalizing 
its democratic transition through reforms, successful 
elections, and building governance institutions.  Indonesia's 
legislative branch is transforming rapidly, partly thanks to 
HDAC's strong support, which complements broader U.S. 
government initiatives to encourage democratic reform in 
Indonesia.  April 9 legislative elections, including in Aceh, 
were deemed peaceful and successful.  HDAC continued 
successful engagement with the Indonesian legislature (DPR) 
has facilitated progress on a range of issues affecting U.S. 
interests in Indonesia.  END SUMMARY. 
 
U.S. INDONESIA COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶3.    (SBU) President Yudhoyono proposed that the United 
States and Indonesia form a comprehensive partnership in a 
November 2008 speech in Washington.  Secretary Clinton 
endorsed the idea during her February 2009 visit to Jakarta. 
We are working with the Indonesian Government on three broad 
areas of cooperation: political and security, economic; and 
socio-cultural. 
 
¶4.    (SBU) In the political and security arena, we hope to 
complete a Defense Cooperation Agreement, work with Indonesia 
in promoting democracy and interfaith dialogue and cooperate 
in peacekeeping, nonproliferation and disaster relief.  Our 
economic cooperation will include an Overseas Private 
Investment Corporation Agreement.  The United States and 
Indonesia are also pursuing a Science and Technology 
Agreement, expanded health cooperation, and a debt-for 
conservation swap under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act. 
 The US is also a key partner in the Coral Triangle 
Initiative and was one of the major delegations in supporting 
the World Oceans Conference in Manado.  On socio-cultural 
cooperation, we hope to conclude a Peace Corps country 
agreement soon, and aim to have volunteers in the country by 
the end of 2009.  On education, we have signed a new 
Fulbright Agreement and are working to increase the number of 
Indonesian students in the United States and to build 
partnerships between Indonesian and American Universities. 
We hope to launch the Partnership during a possible 
Presidential visit to Indonesia later this year. 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS JULY 8 
 
¶5.    (SBU) Three pairs of candidates are contesting the July 
8 Indonesian presidential elections: President Yudhoyono and 
former Central Bank Governor Boediono; Vice President Jusuf 
Kalla and retired General Wiranto; and former president 
Megawati Sukarnoputri with retired General Prabowo Subianto. 
Both Prabowo and Wiranto, controversial for alleged past 
human rights abuses, originally nurtured presidential 
ambitions. 
 
¶6.    (SBU) Incumbent Yudhoyono (whose Partai Demokrat won 
the legislative elections), is seen as the reformist, clean 
candidate.  He is still a favorite at this point.  Some 
praised his choice of a non-partisan, economically savvy, 
U.S. educated technocrat as running mate.  However, the 
opposition has labeled Boediono as a "neoliberal" who is too 
sympathetic to foreign interests. 
 
¶7.    (SBU) If a candidate gets over 50 percent of support on 
July 8, he or she will win the presidency outright.  If no 
candidate achieves that mark, there will be a second round in 
September involving the top two finishers. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00001041  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS: INDONESIANS INCREASINGLY CONFIDENT IN 
THEIR DEMOCRACY 
 
¶8.    (SBU) The April 9, 2009 elections were the third 
successful legislative elections since the advent of 
democracy in 1998.  They were peaceful and Indonesians 
accepted the results.  This was also the first time 
Indonesian voters were able to directly choose individual 
representatives.  The previous elections were based on party 
lists.  Voters embraced this move and many hope it will 
strengthen member-constituent relations. The new Parliament 
will be seated October 1, 2009.  You will meet with both 
current and incoming Parliament members. There was a high 
turnover of members in the April election, so many of our 
current interlocutors will not hold seats next term.  Seventy 
percent of the incoming Parliament Members are new; many of 
them have varied backgrounds and no legislative experience. 
 
¶9.    (SBU) Indonesians are increasingly confident in their 
democracy.  Through free press and active civil society, they 
are quick to demand corrections when the system is not 
working.  Many chastised the Election Commission (KPU) for 
its ineffective administration of the legislative elections. 
Voter list irregularities effectively disenfranchised 
millions of voters, according to NGOs.  The Constitutional 
Court is reviewing allegations of fraud and other election 
dispute cases until June 24.  Its decisions, considered 
impartial, are changing the outcomes of some of the 
legislative election results and re-instilling confidence in 
the credibility of the election process.  Significantly, one 
of the court's decisions may mean that the current Speaker of 
the House, Agung Laksono (with whom you will have a courtesy 
call July 1), could lose his seat. 
 
¶10.   (SBU)  Nine parties won parliamentary seats April 9. 
The top three parties are secular nationalist parties, 
followed by four Islamic-oriented parties and two parties led 
by former generals.  President Yudhoyono's Partai Demokrat 
(PD) was the winner, with 20.85% of the popular vote, 
followed by Vice President Kalla's party, Golkar, and 
Megawati's party, The Indonesian Party of Struggle, (PDI-P). 
 
 
PEACE IN ACEH: NEXT CHALLENGE-GOVERNANCE 
 
¶11.   (SBU) As part of the Helsinki MOU, six local political 
parties participated in Aceh's provincial legislative 
elections.  Local Partai Aceh (PA) won a near majority at the 
legislative level (33 of 69 seats) and a majority of seats at 
many of the local levels.  PA leaders have requested 
legislative capacity building from us.  PA's ability to 
govern will directly affect the prospects for continued peace 
and development in Aceh. 
 
INDONESIA: AN IMPORTANT PARTNER ON BURMA ISSUES 
 
¶12.   (SBU)  Indonesia has played an important 
behind-the-scenes role on encouraging democracy and human 
rights in Burma.  President Yudhoyono's Bali Democracy Forum, 
attended by Burma, is meant to lure the Burmese regime into 
learning about the benefits of democracy.  Indonesia has 
taken the lead along with Australia in the Bali Process to 
deal with irregular migration issues.  A key element of this 
is pressing Burma to grant citizenship to Rohingyas and to 
respect their rights. 
 
CHALLENGES IN PAPUA 
 
¶13.   (SBU) Indonesia continues to struggle with governance 
and development challenges in its eastern most provinces of 
Papua and West Papua.  Despite vast natural resource wealth, 
Papuans continue to lag behind other Indonesians-a situation 
that fuels discontent.  Implementation of the region's 2001 
Special Autonomy Law has lagged due to the provincial 
government's lack of capacity and the reluctance of  some 
central government ministries to cede control over critical 
areas.  The Indonesian police and military have made 
significant progress on human rights in Papua although 
incidents still sometimes occur.  A leading government think 
thank has recently published a plan-The Papua Roadmap-that 
charts a course for addressing Papua's development deficit 
and political grievances.  However, we do not expect any 
action on the plan until a new government takes office. 
 
JAKARTA 00001041  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Mission is aware of Congress' interest in the region, and 
will continue to pay close attention to developments. 
 
 
MISSION/HDAC COOPERATION CRUCIAL TO PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶14.   (SBU) The U.S. Embassy has been continuously engaged 
with the DPR, and USAID provides direct assistance to the 
DPR.  HDAC programs are a welcome and complementary 
initiative that has facilitated progress on a range of issues 
affecting U.S. interests in Indonesia.  For example, the 
Embassy has engaged key DPR decision makers to encourage 
implementing legislation for the Cape Town Treaty.  This 
legislation allowed EX-IM to provide a $1 billion loan to 
Indonesian companies Lion Air and Garuda Air to purchase 
Boeing airplanes.  Our close cooperation with the DPR will be 
 key for institutional capacity building and democratic 
reform, particularly since the new DPR will consist of mainly 
new, inexperienced members.  We appreciate the opportunity to 
continue to jointly encourage Indonesia's growing democracy, 
and expand the U.S.-Indonesia comprehensive partnership. 
NORTH