VZCZCXRO4763
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1292/01 2170001
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 050001Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2990
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001292 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP 
NSC FOR J. BADER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ID
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CODEL NELSON VISIT AUGUST 14-16 
 
REF: A. JAKARTA 1041 
     ¶B. JAKARTA 1277 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.    (SBU) SUMMARY: U.S. Embassy Jakarta welcomes CODEL 
Nelson to Indonesia.  You will arrive the day of the National 
Day Address to Parliament by President Yudhoyono, who will be 
inaugurated on October 20 for his second term after a 
landslide victory.  Indonesia has done well under his 
administration.  Despite the global economic crisis, 
Indonesia had the third highest economic growth rate in the 
G-20 after China and India during the first quarter. 
Nevertheless, the need to continue to strengthen our 
collaboration on counterterrorism and other areas is evident 
after the recent bombings in Jakarta.  President Yudhoyono, a 
staunch reformist, initiated in 2008 a new U.S.-Indonesia 
Comprehensive Partnership.  Secretary Clinton and Foreign 
Minister Wirajuda's respective visits in 2009 reinforced this 
partnership.  President Obama will likely follow up with a 
visit to Indonesia in November.  He will find that Indonesia 
is institutionalizing its democratic transition through 
reforms, successful elections, and building governance 
institutions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
U.S.- INDONESIA COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶2.    (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 to develop 
specific initiatives in three broad areas of cooperation: 
political and security, economic, and socio-cultural. 
 
¶3.    (SBU) In the political and security arena, we hope to 
work with Indonesia in promoting democracy and interfaith 
dialogue and strengthening our cooperation in peacekeeping, 
maritime security, nonproliferation and disaster relief. 
Robust counterterrorism cooperation remains a cornerstone of 
our security relationship.  Our economic cooperation includes 
ongoing negotiations to conclude an updated Overseas Private 
Investment Corporation Agreement.  The United States and 
Indonesia are also pursuing a Science and Technology 
Agreement, expanded health cooperation, and have signed a 
debt-for-conservation swap under the Tropical Forest 
Conservation Act.  The U.S. is also a key partner in the 
Coral Triangle Initiative and sent the largest delegation to 
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 Comprehensive Partnership during the 
proposed Presidential visit to Indonesia in November. 
 
INDONESIA: AN IMPORTANT PARTNER ON BURMA ISSUES 
 
¶4.   (SBU) Indonesia has played an important but largely 
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.  During late July 
ASEAN meetings, FM Wirajuda pressed the Burmese to release 
jailed democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.  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 
 
¶5.   (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 recent series of 
shootings near the Papua operations of U.S. mining giant 
Freeport-McMoRan--the suspected work of Papuan 
separatists--underscores the security challenges in the 
region.  A leading government think thank has recently 
 
JAKARTA 00001292  002 OF 003 
 
 
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 second Yudhoyono government takes office. Mission is 
aware of Congress' interest in the region, and will continue 
to pay close attention to developments. 
 
U.S SUPPORTS INDONESIA'S COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Until the bombings on July 17, Indonesia 
experienced three and a half years without a major terrorist 
incident.  The Indonesian government's counterterrorism 
efforts drastically reduced the ability of militant groups in 
Indonesia to carry out attacks.  Indonesian National Police 
(INP) successes from previous years in breaking up terrorist 
cells linked to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and other violent 
Islamic extremist organizations continued to pay dividends, 
and JI's traditional structure has been largely broken. The 
Indonesian National Police (INP) continued their program to 
"de-radicalize" convicted terrorists to promote moderate 
teachings and gain valuable information on terrorist 
networks.  The Government of Indonesia has continued to build 
a legal and law enforcement environment conducive to fighting 
terrorism within its borders. 
 
¶7. (SBU) USG assistance has been an important component of 
this success.  The Embassy has worked to build the 
investigative support for and forensic capabilities of the 
INP through numerous developmental programs administered by 
Department of Justice's International Criminal Investigative 
Training and Assistance Program.  The USG-funded Special 
Detachment-88 has effectively disrupted the JI terrorist 
network and is helping to investigate the Marriott and 
Ritz-Carlton bombings.  The USG-funded Attorney General's 
Task Force on Terrorism and Transnational Crime successfully 
prosecuted 64 terrorists, including 43 JI members since 2006, 
and DOJ enhanced the prosecutorial capacity of the task 
force. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) While Indonesia's counterterrorism efforts have 
been impressive and its capacity to fight terrorism within 
its borders has improved steadily, continued vigilance is 
needed, as the events of July 17 demonstrated.  Malaysian JI 
operative and recruiter Noordin Mohammed Top, who is 
suspected of involvement in every anti-Western terrorist 
attack in Indonesia since 2002, including the July 17 
bombings, remains at large. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) However, Mission has assessed the security 
situation and determined that a new travel warning is not 
necessary at this time.  The Government of Indonesia's (GOI) 
response to the attacks has been swift and effective.  The 
GOI has heightened security nationwide, and Indonesians are 
resolutely continuing with their lives.  Muslim leaders from 
moderates to hardliners have condemned the attacks. 
Mission's current guidance is to be vigilant about personal 
security but to continue to support Indonesia and to welcome 
U.S. visitors.  President Obama has also underscored that 
this attack will not deter him from visiting Indonesia. 
 
NATIONALIST PARTIES WON APRIL LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS 
 
¶10.    (SBU) The April 9 elections were the third successful, 
peaceful legislative elections since the advent of democracy 
in 1998.  Nine parties won parliamentary seats.  As has been 
the trend to date, 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 
percent of the popular vote (and over a quarter of the 560 
parliamentary seats), followed by Vice President Kalla's 
party, Golkar, with 14.45 percent.  Megawati's party, The 
Indonesian Party of Struggle, (PDI-P), came in third with 
14.03 percent of the popular vote.  The four Islamic parties 
combined garnered about 24 percent of the national vote. 
 
LEGISLATIVE COOPERATION CRUCIAL TO PARTNERSHIP 
 
¶11.   (SBU) The U.S. Embassy is continuously engaged with the 
DPR, and USAID provides direct assistance to the DPR. 
Congress, through the House Democracy Assistance Commission 
(HDAC) programs and the Library of Congress's Jakarta 
representative, provides complementary support that has 
facilitated progress on issues affecting U.S. interests in 
Indonesia.  For example, the Embassy has engaged key DPR 
decision makers to support adoption of implementing 
legislation for the Cape Town Treaty.  This legislation 
 
JAKARTA 00001292  003 OF 003 
 
 
allowed EX-IM to approve over $1 billion in financing to 
Indonesian companies Lion Air and Garuda Air to purchase 
Boeing airplanes.  Continued close cooperation with the DPR 
will be also be key in promoting good governance, especially 
since most of the 2009 DPR will be comprised of new, 
inexperienced members. 
 
YUDHOYONO WINS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS JULY 8 IN A LANDSLIDE 
 
¶12.    (SBU) Indonesia held its July 8 presidential elections 
peacefully.  Three pairs of candidates contested the 
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. 
 
¶13.    (SBU) Incumbent Yudhoyono (whose Partai Demokrat won 
the legislative elections) won the elections in a landslide. 
Seen as the reformist, clean candidate, he further shored up 
his credentials by choosing a non-partisan, economically 
savvy U.S.-educated technocrat as running mate.  Together 
they captured 60.8 percent of the vote and 28 of the nation's 
33 provinces. Megawati's team followed with 26.79 percent and 
Kalla was a distant third with 12.41 percent of the vote. 
Yudhoyono's decisive win obviated the need for a second round 
of run-off elections. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Technical and administrative flaws in the election 
process stirred controversy, as during the legislative 
elections.  Yudhoyono won by a wide margin and Indonesians 
have accepted the results.  Nonetheless, losers Megawati and 
Kalla have challenged the results in the Constitutional 
Court, claiming the election was not credible because of 
voter list flaws.  They have called for a second election 
round.  Most analysts do not believe the court, which must 
rule on this by August 11, will order a second round. 
 
INDONESIA: IMPORTANT U.S. PARTNER IN DEMOCRACY 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Despite the recent terrorist attacks, Indonesia's 
democratic institutions are flourishing.  It has weathered 
the global economic crisis well, and is one of the few 
countries in the region expected to see growth this year. 
Indonesian consumer confidence following the elections rose 
in July to its highest level in nearly five years.  The 
budget President Yudhoyono unveiled before Parliament August 
3 offered a slew of populist measures and projected that the 
economy would continue to grow at five percent next year. 
Some observers note that much work remains to be done in 
educational reform, poverty alleviation, combating corruption 
and other areas.  Nonetheless, after only eleven years of 
democracy, Indonesia is emerging as a leader in ASEAN, G-20 
and other multilateral fora on the global stage.  Indonesia 
is also an increasingly important partner for the U.S. as we 
work toward forging an expanded Comprehensive Partnership. 
HUME