VZCZCXRO9904
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1785/01 2991108
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261108Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3660
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001785 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, CA/FO 
CA/VO/L/C BEER 
NSC FOR J.BADER, D. WALTON 
DHS/ICE/VSU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL CVIS KISL ID
SUBJECT: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON VISA CASE OF 
PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR (SJAFRIE SJAMSOEDDIN, 30 OCT 52, IDSA) 
 
REF: JAKARTA 01732 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: In reftel message, Mission provided 
information regarding allegations of gross human rights 
violations against presidential advisor and Defense Secretary 
General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. Mission is providing additional 
information on the allegations brought against Sjamsoeddin 
that may assist the Department in making a determination on 
his visa eligibility.  The GOI remains keenly interested in 
having a determination made.  Our review of the information 
available leads us to the conclusion that there is no direct 
evidence he ordered or took part in the atrocities in East 
Timor or Jakarta to which he is alleged to have been linked. 
Lacking any direct evidence, our recommendation is that 
Sjamsoeddin should be eligible for a U.S. nonimmigrant visa. 
END SUMMARY 
 
 
CASE OF PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR 
 
¶3.  (SBU) As reported reftel, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, DPOB 
October 30, 1952, Indonesia, is the subject of a security 
advisory opinion due to various allegations against him 
related to events in East Timor and Jakarta in the 1990s. 
Jakarta DATT has separately interviewed Sjamsoeddin at length 
regarding the allegations (septel). 
 
1991 and 1999 EAST TIMOR ALLEGATIONS 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The bulk of the allegations against Sjamsoeddin 
concern East Timor.  Human rights observers have accused 
Sjamsoeddin of involvement in the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre, 
in which more than 55 people were killed in and around the 
Santa Cruz Cemetery in East Timor.  According to 
Sjamsoeddin's own account, he was in Dili at the time but not 
involved in the massacre.  Sjamsoeddin points out that his 
unit was replaced before the incident occurred.  Sjamsoeddin 
has further stated that, on the day of the massacre, he 
rescued American and Australian journalists from 
pro-Indonesia militia members.  The accounts of an officer 
serving at Mission at that time appear to lend credence to 
Sjamsoeddin's assertion that he assisted foreign nationals 
escape the violence.  There is no direct evidence in any case 
tying him to the Santa Cruz killings. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Human rights observers have accused Sjamsoeddin of 
having taken no action to stop Indonesian forces from killing 
civilians in Dili in 1999, while serving as Assistant for 
Territorial Affairs to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed 
Forces (ASTER).  Mission is aware of information indicating 
that Sjamsoeddin may have been in contact with militia 
leaders in East Timor at that time.  However, Mission's 
investigations have turned up no specific evidence of his 
direct involvement in 1999 East Timor human rights 
violations.  Sjamsoeddin has stated to Mission that he 
explained to the Indonesian Investigative Commission into 
Human Rights Violations in East Timor/National Commission on 
Human Rights in East Timor the events of September 1999, 
including the violence at the home of Bishop Francisco Belo. 
The Commission absolved him of any wrongdoing. 
 
¶6. (SBU) As noted reftel, at the request of the United 
Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) 
James Dunn investigated allegations of Sjamsoeddin having 
committed gross human rights violations and concluded he was 
implicated.  According to an Australian Associated Press 
report dated April 20, 2001, UNTAET refused to release Dunn's 
report.  Moreover, UN chief Prosecutor Mohamed Othman 
criticized the content, conclusions and structure of the 
report.  Othman stated, "It is his (Dunn's) own report and 
reflects his own views," and added that the report lacked 
hard and original evidence.  Othman emphasized that Dunn had 
no official status with the United Nations and was only 
engaged as a consultant to UNTAET.  Othman continued, "making 
the report public has diminished its effectiveness as a legal 
document as it can now be challenged for prejudicing our 
investigation."  John Martinkus's authoritative account of 
 
JAKARTA 00001785  002 OF 002 
 
 
human rights violations East Timor in 1997-2000, "A Dirty 
Little War," makes no mention of Sjamsoeddin. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The report of the Indonesia/Timor-Leste Commission 
on Truth and Friendship (CTF) on East Timor makes no mention 
of Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin having committed any human rights 
violations while posted in Dili.  Moreover, the UN Serious 
Crimes Unit in Dili did not investigate him.  Amcit David 
Cohen (please protect), a member of the CTF, told Poloff that 
Sjamsoeddin was not someone who came up during the CTF's 
investigative process.  Cohen is the Director of UC 
Berkeley's War Crimes Studies Center and is considered an 
expert on East Timor. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Sjamsoeddin was one of many military officers listed 
in the report of the Timor-Leste Commission for Reception, 
Truth, and Reconciliation (CAVR) as a "Person with High Level 
Command Responsibility" for his role as ASTER from June to 
September 1998.  However, the report does not attribute any 
specific wrongdoing to him. 
 
1998 JAKARTA ALLEGATIONS 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Various reports have alleged that, as Commander of 
the Jakarta Military Command, Sjamsoeddin allowed violations 
of human rights to occur during the May 1998 riots in 
Jakarta, including the May 12, 1998, shootings at Trisakti 
University.  In response to these allegations, Sjamsoeddin 
has stated to Mission that the police lost control and the 
military was called in to secure strategic areas.  (Note:  At 
that time, Indonesian military and police were under joint 
command.)  Sjamsoeddin has stated that all of his actions 
were in line with Indonesian law.  At the request of the 
Indonesian Human Rights Commission, the GOI conducted a 
special investigation into the Trisakti incident and 
subsequent violence in Jakarta.  The investigative commission 
recommended that he be questioned but did not recommend 
bringing charges against him.  According to Minister of 
Defense Sudarsono, in September 1999 the State Secretariat 
cleared Sjamsoeddin of all accountability and legal 
responsibility for the mid-May 1998 riots and subsequent 
public disorder. 
 
NO KNOWN CONNECTION WITH EXTREMIST GROUPS 
 
¶10.  (SBU) As reported reftel, a search of all sources of 
information available to us have not found any links between 
Sjamsoeddin and violent Muslim extremist groups.  In 2000, 
sources alleged that Sjamsoeddin was involved with such 
groups in South Sulawesi.  However, we have been unable to 
obtain access to this information.  Separately, Mission has 
reviewed TD-314/40150-04 and believes that it contains no 
specific derogatory information regarding Sjamsoeddin. 
 
 
MISSION RECOMMENDATION 
 
¶11.  (SBU) As noted above, Mission is aware of the multiple 
allegations against Sjamsoeddin and has looked into them in 
detail.  None of the various official Indonesian, Timorese, 
or UN investigations of which we are aware found culpability 
on Sjamsoeddin,s part or recommended that he be punished. 
The bottom line of our review is that there is no evidence 
linking Sjamsoeddin directly to the human rights abuses that 
occurred in the cases mentioned above.  We do not believe 
that circumstantial evidence linking Sjamsoeddin to these 
incidents through his positions of command is enough to find 
visa ineligibility.  Therefore, Mission,s recommendation is 
that Sjamsoeddin should be issued a U.S. visa. 
HUME