Bengkulu's Young Governor Tries To Reform Sumatra's

UNCLAS JAKARTA 001144 SIPDIS SENSITIVE AIDAC DEPARTMENT PASS USTR KATZ DEPARTMENT FOR R, EAP/MTS, EB/IFD/ODF, DS/IP/EAP, DS/DSS, DSERCC, INR/EAP and INL DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS AID Treasury for IA -- Anna Jewell USDA FOR FAS/EC/MCHAMBLISS Singapore for DEA NSC for Holly Morrow and Jed Meline USAID FOR ANE/EAA 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