Bengkulu's Young Governor Tries To Reform Sumatra's

UNCLAS JAKARTA 001144

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From American Consulate Medan # 06, 2006

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR PINS PREL EAID ECON SOCI ID
SUBJECT: Bengkulu's Young Governor Tries To Reform Sumatra's
Most Backward Province

Reftels: (A) 06 Jakarta 000346
(B) 05 Jakarta 015331
(C) 05 Jakarta 009576


1. (SBU) Summary. Elected as a reformer in a poverty-
stricken province more accustomed to corruption, political
hacks and time-servers, new Governor Agusrin Najamudin
represents a break with Bengkulu's past. Only devout Muslim
PKS supported Najamudin's candidacy against candidates from
larger and better-funded parties, a tribute to its
organizing skill. At 35 Indonesia's youngest governor, he
appears strong-willed and outspoken, but has difficulty
getting action out of older section heads and political
colleagues; in Indonesia, the young must defer to those
older regardless of respective ranks. As priorities he has
improving education and developing the province's natural
resources. Until now, it has proven almost impossible to
exploit reserves of coal, geothermal energy and gold because
of dilapidated or nonexistent infrastructure. We discussed
the possibility of Bengkulu using its own or private
resources for education activities and materials, benefiting
from USAID project assistance in other provinces. End
summary.

Bengkulu: A Pocket Of Poverty In Sumatra
--------------


2. (SBU) Sumatra's ten provinces sit on vast resources of
energy and minerals. Booming palm oil and rubber
plantations add to their economic prosperity. Its dominant
ethnic groups appear more direct and practical-minded than
Indonesia's majority Javanese. For the most part Sumatra's
provinces enjoy economic growth rates slightly or
significantly above the Indonesian average, along with
higher levels of education and longer life expectancies.


3. (SBU) As Sumatra's poorest province and a backwater in
every way, Bengkulu provides an exception to Sumatra's
relative prosperity. Most Sumatra provinces have large
lowland areas facing the east suitable for large palm oil or
rubber plantations. Bengkulu has only a small strip of
lowland located between its Indian Ocean coastline and the
mountains of the Bukit Barisan range which flank its eastern
border. The potholed and ill-maintained Trans Sumatra
Highway or a spur connects every other mainland Sumatra
province, but Bengkulu lies far off major highways and has
no railway. Its airport offers a few daily connections to
Jakarta but almost nowhere else. Every other Sumatra
province has major mines or wells extracting oil, coal, tin,
gas or gold, but Bengkulu's energy and mineral reserves,
mainly coal, gold and geothermal, have remain untapped. Its


1.6 million residents have Sumatra's lowest income, lowest
levels of education (36 percent of adult residents have not
finished grade school),and lowest growth rates, all often
below national averages.

A Reformer Emerges From A Political Backwater
--------------


4. (SBU) A political backwater, dominated until recently by
a lackluster set of Golkar and Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI-P) politicians little known outside the
province's borders (ref A),it cast a plurality of its votes
for failed Golkar candidate General Wiranto in the 2004
first-round presidential elections, the only Sumatra
province to do so. A top local Golkar official, Deputy
Speaker of the Bengkulu Assembly (DPRD) Rabihil Kana, got
convicted of trafficking in tiger skins in 2004 (ref B).
Former Governor Hasan Zen, 62, an amiable but unambitious
leader, had as his main plan for assisting the province's
economy a seaside industrial park/tourist area located far
from existing transportation. It died for lack of funding.


5. (SBU) Bengkulu recently emerged a bit from its obscurity
by electing 35-year-old Agusrin Najamudin as Governor,
making him the youngest Governor in Indonesia. Still more
surprising, he got elected with primary backing from the
devoutly Muslim Prosperous Justice Party (PKS.) PKS gets
most of its support from young, well-educated Muslims in
large urban centers, not from poor rural areas like
Bengkulu. (Najamudin does not belong to PKS, but his Deputy
Governor Syamlan does.) A Bengkulu native who spent years
in Jakarta as a businessman, Najamudin won over 23 percent
of the vote in a five way gubernatorial race June 27.
Runner-up Muslihan, supported by the Democratic Party (PD)
of President Yudhoyono, earned 21 percent. The two went
head-to-head in a September runoff which Najamudin won
handily with 55 percent.


6. (SBU) Elected as a reformer, someone who would break with
business as usual and fight official corruption, he cannot
run a province without some of the old guard. Since he won
without personal party affiliation, he joined PD after the
election to enlarge his backing in the DPRD, thereby not
only gaining the support of its members but also Golkar,
allied with the President's party in Bengkulu as in Jakarta.
Golkar has 13 DPRD members, by far the largest delegation.
The move ruffled some PKS feathers, but most PKS DPRD
members understood his need for additional votes; their
delegation counts only five members.

Young Governor Must Deal With The Old Dogs


--------------


7. (SBU) Various Bengkulu politicians we met commented
discreetly on another handicap: his youth. In Indonesia,
respect and deference go with age as much as position or
social status. With most of the politicians and section
heads Najimudin must lead significantly older than he, they
expect deference from the man who has to give them orders.


8. (SBU) Najamudin told us his greatest difficulty has
proven working with the province's government bureaucracy.
He said section heads left over from the previous Governor
did not seem eager to do their work. Once he assigns them a
project, he has to make follow up phone calls and even then
cannot rest assured they will do the job. He stressed his
personal belief in an ethic of self-reliance and self-
confidence; he does not see these qualities in many of his
provincial government colleagues. (Comment: Najimudin has a
forceful personality; we have little doubt he will
eventually manage to overcome the lethargy of his elders --
but it will take considerable effort. End comment.)

PKS Is Jubilant
--------------


9. (SBU) The five members of the DPRD PKS delegation were
understandably upbeat about the new Governor when we met,
although realistic in their expectations of what he could
achieve. They said they would like to see Najimudin
consult more closely with DPRD, but do not seem overly
concerned about it because they view him as a friend and
ally. PKS Provincial Chief Basuki Ali Subag said Najimudin
won because PKS made a major "door-to-door"-type effort
throughout the 97 percent Muslim province. PKS's DPRD
members, the same age as Najimudin or younger, consist
largely of small businessmen and professionals with
university degrees in such areas as engineering, accounting
and business administration. Two have studied in Saudi
Arabia, but none in the U.S.


10. (SBU) Golkar PKS Sumatra Coordinator Syahrir Bahri told
us Najimudin represents the sort of top-of-the-ticket
candidate the party might look for in other provinces like
Bengkulu in which it does not feel strong enough to field
its own candidate. Najimudin, a strong nationalist, has
little about him that seems overtly Muslim. He does not
wear Muslim garb or sprinkle his conversation with Muslim
pieties. In fact, he told us unbidden that he opposes a
syariah regime in Bengkulu. "We don't want to become like
Aceh," he said, stressing the importance of religious and
ethnic diversity and tolerance.


Rough Spots Dealing With A Defeated Golkar
--------------


11. (SBU) Najamudin's relations with Bengkulu's legislature
have had rough spots. Bengkulu Golkar Party leader Kurnia
Utama, who came in a poor fourth against Najamudin as his
party's candidate in June first round gubernatorial
elections, said the new governor does not consult often
enough with DPRD. We met Utama along with several other
Golkar members of the provincial legislature. They
attributed their loss to an inter-generational conflict in
the provincial party; chastened, Bengkulu's Golkar seeks new
directions. They expect to support Najimudin, but the pain
of their loss tempers their support.

The Big Challenges: Education And The Economy
--------------


12. (SBU) Najamudin sees his two biggest challenges as
improving the quality of Bengkulu's primary and secondary
education, starting with reconstruction of deteriorating
schools, and development of its still-primitive economy. He
hopes to encourage palm oil plantations in the province's
limited lowlands areas, a source of great wealth elsewhere
in Sumatra. Like his predecessor he hopes to attract
tourists to the province's unspoiled beaches. He said the
province's natural resources offer great promise for
economic growth, but the lack of adequate transportation has
hindered exploitation. He said a Singapore corporation has
had a contract for oil exploration in central Bengkulu for
two years but has not begun operations. He said seven
companies hold a total of 23 permits for coal exploration,
but only four have begun exploration. Since Bengkulu's coal
deposits lie mostly in remote areas, his first
infrastructure concerns consist of improving highways to
coal mines and raising the quality of the City of Bengkulu's
port.


13. (SBU) We met the Deputy Chief of the Office of Mining
and Energy Zulkifli Abdullah and his section heads. They
agreed that exploiting the province's energy and mineral
resources will prove difficult. Abdullah told us the
province boasts proven reserves of 122,913,000 tons of coal,
most of it sub-bituminous, with probable reserves of
169,295,783 tons more, but like our other interlocutors
pointed out the lack of connecting roads or railways to
transport the coal and an inadequate port. He said the City
of Bengkulu's port has only a four-meter depth. A short
breakwater does little to prevent sedimentation; conditions
go from bad to worse, he said, as no program of regular


dredging exists. Only barges can ply the harbor. The
province has not located funding for port improvements.


14. (SBU) Abdullah also said the province offers a potential
1,100,000 megawatts of geothermal energy. A Canadian
company, Barrick, has explored for gold in three regencies,
Silumas, South Bengkulu and Kaur, but with inconclusive
results to date. He said his office had offered investors
the possibility of constructing a 100-megawatt coal-fired
electric power generator at Ketahun, in the regency of North
Bengkulu, but no takers yet.

Comment: Only A Dedicated Leader Stands A Chance
-------------- ---


15. (SBU) While Bengkulu's underdevelopment stems largely
from isolation, a fact of geography rather than of politics,
corrupt or lackadaisical politicians exacerbated the
backwardness. Only a dedicated and energetic leader such as
Najimudin can overcome some of the province's shortcomings.
An Embassy USAID Education Officer visited Bengkulu to
explore the possibility of the province using its own or
private resources to have USAID project-trained staff from
other provinces assist him in raising educational
standards. Pascoe