VZCZCXRO5508
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1929/01 3270801
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230801Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3898
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001929 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, EAP/INR 
NSC FOR D. WALTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ID PINR
SUBJECT: NEW STAFF AT PRESIDENTIAL PALACE 
 
REF: JAKARTA 01862 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.    (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- 
Please handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  The President's Office has appointed six 
new staff members.  Julian Adrian Pasha will be in a 
particularly prominent position as Spokesperson for Domestic 
Affairs.  Two key staff positions which remain unchanged are 
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (Dino Djalal) and the Chief of 
Presidential Household (Setia Purwaka).  Djalal reportedly 
may receive an ambassadorial appointment early next year. 
Para 5 contains bio information on the six new staff.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
PRESIDENT'S OFFICE APPOINTS NEW STAFF 
 
¶3.    (SBU) On November 20, the President's Office appointed 
six new staff members.  Julian Adrian Pasha will replace 
former domestic spokesperson Andi Mallarangeng, now Minister 
for Youth and Sports Affairs.  Pasha is a former academic. 
Andi Arief, a member of the President's Partai Demokrat, will 
serve as staff member for social aid and natural disasters. 
Colonel (ret'd) Ahmad Yani Basuki will serve as staff member 
in charge of communication and information.  Basuki is a 
former Army spokesperson and head of the information center 
at Army Headquarters.  In 2003, he was Spokesperson for the 
Aceh Military Operations Command.  Bio sketches on these 
picks and the others are contained in para 5. 
 
TWO KEY STAFF MEMBERS STAY ON (AT LEAST FOR NOW) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Two key staff members will stay on.  The foreign 
affairs spokesperson (Dino Djalal) and the chief of 
presidential household (Setia Purwaka) are slated to remain 
in place.  Djalal reportedly may receive an ambassadorial 
appointment early next year, perhaps for Washington. 
Purwaka, a former military officer, heads up a staff of over 
1,000.  He takes care of foreign visits by President 
Yudhoyono and makes protocol arrangements for foreign 
visitors to Indonesia.  He also manages all presidential 
offices in Indonesia, including the ones in Jakarta, Bogor, 
Yogyakarta and Bali. 
 
BIO DATA 
 
¶5.    (SBU) Bio data re the six newly-appointed staff 
follows: 
 
--Julian Adrian Pasha, Spokesperson for Domestic Affairs: 
 
      Pasha replaces outgoing Spokesperson Andi Mallarangeng, 
who was just appointed as Minister of Youth and Sports. 
Pasha is Deputy Dean of the School of Social and Political 
Science at the University of Indonesia.  He got both his 
Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of 
Indonesia, and his Ph.D. from Hosei University, Japan, in 
¶2006.  He is originally from Lampung, Sumatra.  His father, 
Professor Asyid Akrabie, is a law professor at Lampung 
University Law School. 
 
--Andi Arief, Special Staff for Social Aid and Natural 
Disasters: 
 
      Arief is a Partai Demokrat (Yudhoyono's party) member 
and was a student activist and kidnapping victim during the 
final days of the Suharto regime in 1998.  Arief is 
originally from Lampung, Sumatra.  He is the son of a 
prominent political figure in Lampung.  President Yudhoyono 
appointed him Commissioner of PT Pos Indonesia, the 
state-owned postal company, in 2006.  He ran but lost in the 
gubernatorial election in Lampung in 2008. 
 
--Velix Wanggai, Special Staff for Regional Development and 
Autonomy Affairs: 
 
      Wanggai worked at the National Development Planning 
Agency (BAPPENAS) from 1996 to 2002.  He headed up the 
Subdivision of Underdeveloped Regions in the Regional Affairs 
Directorate, then the Subdivision of Special Regions of 
Eastern Indonesia.  He also founded and served as Executive 
Director of a think tank, the Institute for Regional 
Institutions and Networks (IRIAN Institute).  He is a young 
Papuan scholar who converted to Islam.  Born and raised in 
Jayapura, Papua, he got his Bachelor's degree in 
international relations from Gadjah Mada University in 
 
JAKARTA 00001929  002 OF 002 
 
 
Jogjakarta in 1996.  He finished his Master's degree in 
public policy and administration at Flinders University, 
Australia in February 2005.  He is currently a long distance 
Ph.D. student in public policy at Flinders, working to 
complete his thesis on "The Politics of Formulating Regional 
Development Policy: The Case of Papua Indonesia 1998-2006." 
 
--Colonel (ret'd) Ahmad Yani Basuki, Special staff for 
Communication and Information: 
 
      Basuki is a former Army spokesperson and head of the 
information center at the Army Headquarters.  In 2003, he was 
Spokesperson for the Aceh Military Operations Command. 
Basuki received both his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the 
School of Social and Political Science at the University of 
Indonesia, graduating in 2007.  His Master's thesis was on 
the sociology of community development and his Ph.D. thesis 
was on military reform.  In 1982, Basuki graduated from the 
Islamic State University in Surabaya as a preacher.  Basuki 
was born March 5, 1956, in the same hometown as President 
Yudhoyono:  Blitar, East Java. 
 
--Daniel Sparringa, Special Staff on Politics: 
 
      Sparringa has been professor of political science at 
Airlangga University, Surabaya, since 1983.  He specializes 
in political communication.  He got his Bachelor's in 
political science from Airlingga University and his Master's 
and Ph.D. degrees in sociology in 1991 and 1997 from Flinders 
University, Australia.  His dissertation topic was 
"Discourse, Democracy and Intellectuals in New Order 
Indonesia."  He is a frequent media commentator and is well 
known as a political analyst, having written extensively on 
democracy, conflict and military issues since 1997. 
Sparringa was born in Surabaya on June 25, 1959. 
 
--Jusuf Jangkar, Special Staff for Food and Energy Security: 
 
      Jangkar is a lecturer at the National Resilience 
Institute (Lemhanas).  His name has also been spelled by the 
media as "Wangkar". 
HUME