VZCZCXRO8141
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1392/01 2331156
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211156Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3135
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001392
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP
NSC FOR J. BADER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER KDEM ID
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CODEL REYES VISIT AUGUST 26-28
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Representative Reyes, the staff of
Embassy Jakarta warmly welcomes your visit. Indonesia and
the United States are key partners in promoting democracy and
security in Southeast Asia. Ten years of political and
economic reform have made Indonesia democratic, stable, and
increasingly confident about its leadership role in Southeast
Asia. Indonesia has held successful, free and fair
elections; has weathered the global financial crisis; and is
tackling internal security threats. After the terrorist
attacks of July 17, the Indonesian government and people are
resolute in overcoming the terrorist threat. Our
Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia will bolster
Indonesia's reform efforts and advance U.S. interests in the
region. The visit of CODEL Reyes will happen at an exciting
time in U.S.-Indonesian relations. END SUMMARY.
A REGIONAL ANCHOR
2. (SBU) Indonesia is the natural leader of Southeast Asia.
The success of Indonesia's democratic and reform process has
given the country new confidence in its stability,
sovereignty and territorial integrity. This new confidence
can help the United States work better with Indonesia to
achieve our aims in Asia. Indonesia sits at the crossroads
of transit between East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East
and will be critical to ensuring balanced and stable
relations in the region. As home of the ASEAN Secretariat,
Jakarta seeks a greater leadership role in ASEAN, and it is
succeeding. GOI officials spearheaded efforts to enshrine
democracy and human rights in the ASEAN Charter. Indonesia
has played an important but largely behind-the-scenes role in
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, Foreign
Minister Wirajuda pressed the Burmese to release jailed
democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
A VIBRANT DEMOCRACY
3. (SBU) Indonesian April 9 legislative and July 8
presidential elections were fair, free, and peaceful. The
results of the legislative and presidential elections
affirmed incumbent President Yudhoyono's reformist policies.
In April, President Yudhoyono's Partai Demokrat (PD) won a
plurality in legislative elections, with 20.85 percent of the
popular vote (and over a quarter of the 560 parliamentary
seats). This was followed by President Yudhoyono's landslide
reelection victory in July. 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. Vice President
Jusuf Kalla and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri
challenged Yudhoyono in the presidential elections. Neither
Kalla nor Megawati gained enough votes to force President
Yudhoyono to a second round of run-off elections.
A VIBRANT ECONOMY
4. (SBU) With estimated growth of four percent for 2009,
Indonesia is the third-fastest growing economy in the G-20.
Indonesians are proud of their transition over little more
than a decade from economic basket case during the Asian
financial crisis to member of the G-20, coordinating global
responses to the crisis. Although some of Indonesia's
responses to the economic crisis have been protectionist, new
opportunities for U.S. businesses are emerging. Boeing has a
huge order book with Indonesian airlines. General Electric
and Electro-Motive are competing for a several hundred
million dollar locomotive deal. The Export-Import Bank is
considering infrastructure and clean energy facilities to
finance U.S. business deals and looking for ways to decrease
the costs for lending in Indonesia. And OPIC is negotiating
a new Investment Incentive Agreement with Indonesia.
OVERCOMING SECURITY THREATS
5. (SBU) The Government of Indonesia's (GOI) response to the
July 17 terrorist attacks has been swift. The GOI has
heightened security nationwide, and the INP is working
steadily to find the masterminds of the attack. While
Indonesia's counterterrorism efforts have been impressive and
its capacity to fight terrorism within its borders has
JAKARTA 00001392 002 OF 003
improved steadily, continued vigilance is needed, as the
events of July 17 demonstrated. Malaysian Jemaah Islamiyah
(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. Indonesia's security posture is
generally stronger than it was prior to the July 17 attacks,
and Mission has determined that a new travel alert is not
necessary at this time. The attacks have not affected the
planning for a potential visit by President Obama in November.
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, and the GOI's has redoubled
its efforts since the July 17 bombings. U.S. assistance has
been an important component of this success. The Embassy has
worked to build the investigative support for and forensic
capabilities of the Indonesian National Police (INP) through
numerous developmental programs administered by Department of
Justice's International Criminal Investigative Training and
Assistance Program. The Indonesian National Police,
including elements of the USG-funded Special Detachment-88,
have effectively disrupted the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
terrorist network and are helping to investigate the Marriott
and Ritz-Carlton bombings. The USG-funded Attorney General's
Task Force on Terrorism and Transnational Crime has
successfully prosecuted 64 terrorists, including 43 JI
members since 2006, and DOJ enhanced the prosecutorial
capacity of the task force.
JAKARTA RESOLUTE AFTER BOMBINGS
7. (SBU) Indonesians remain resolute to continue with life
as usual in spite of the terrorist attacks. Although
security has been heightened across Jakarta, residents have
continued with their lives, including a weekend ritual of
flooding the shopping malls. The impact of the attacks on
the Indonesian economy overall have been minimal, and the
Indonesian currency and stock market showed only a slight
decline on July 17 and had rebounded by July 21. The tourism
sector will likely take the greatest hit, given the
Australian and Singaporean travel warnings. On the
Indonesian national day, August 17, Indonesians used the
celebrations to express their support for counterterrorism
efforts, wearing signs bearing Noordin M. Top's image and the
phrases: "wanted," "exterminate terrorists," and "beware of
terrorists." The Indonesian online community, "Indonesia
unite," has used their motto "We are not afraid," to continue
support for Indonesia, promote tourism, and provide support
for local businesses.
A COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP
8. (SBU) President Yudhoyono proposed that the U.S. and
Indonesia launch a Comprehensive Partnership in his November
2008 speech in Washington. Secretary Clinton's visit in
February 2009 was a critical step in beginning a dialogue
with Indonesians about the key elements of that partnership.
The United States and Indonesia will have many of the
elements in place in time for President Obama's proposed
visit to Indonesia in November. Under a Comprehensive
Partnership, we will strengthen Indonesia's democratic
institutions and capacity to promote democracy beyond its
borders. The partnership will allow us to expand our already
robust regional security cooperation and deepen our
cooperation with the Indonesian military to enhance its
capability to provide disaster relief and participate in
international peacekeeping operations. We will promote the
people-to-people ties that are critical to the success of our
partnership, including bringing the Peace Corps back to
Indonesia and expanding education cooperation. Indonesia is
richly endowed with biodiversity and natural resources.
However, Indonesia the one of the world's largest greenhouse
gas emitters. In recent years, Indonesia has taken a
stronger leadership position on protecting its environment.
We are discussing with the Indonesians commitments to reduce
emissions from deforestation, cooperation on food security
focusing on fisheries, and combating emerging and tropical
disease whose spread will be exacerbated by climate change in
this region.
JAKARTA 00001392 003 OF 003
INDONESIA: IMPORTANT U.S. PARTNER IN DEMOCRACY
9. (SBU) Our security relationship with Indonesia is only
one dimension of a robust partnership. Indonesia's
democratic institutions are flourishing. Indonesian consumer
confidence rose in July to its highest level in nearly five
years. Although much work remains to be done in educational
reform, poverty alleviation, combating corruption, improving
security, and reducing environmental degradation, Indonesia
is emerging as a leader in ASEAN, G-20 and other multilateral
fora on the global stage. Our Comprehensive Partnership with
the world's third largest democracy is an opportunity for the
United States to promote its interests bilaterally,
regionally, and internationally.
HUME