Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06JAKARTA13450
2006-12-08 10:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Jakarta
Cable title:  

DPR PASSES NEW PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL BILL

Tags:  PGOV KDEM KISL ECON EFIN KCOR PINR ID 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 3268
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RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 013450 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL ECON EFIN KCOR PINR ID
SUBJECT: DPR PASSES NEW PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL BILL

REF: A. JAKARTA 13173 (SHOWDOWN BETWEEN PRESIDENT AND VP)


B. JAKARTA 13233 (BALL IN SBY'S COURT ON REFORM UNIT)

JAKARTA 00013450 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe, reason: 1.4 (d).

SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 013450

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL ECON EFIN KCOR PINR ID
SUBJECT: DPR PASSES NEW PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL BILL

REF: A. JAKARTA 13173 (SHOWDOWN BETWEEN PRESIDENT AND VP)


B. JAKARTA 13233 (BALL IN SBY'S COURT ON REFORM UNIT)

JAKARTA 00013450 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe, reason: 1.4 (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) On December 7, the Indonesian House of Representatives
(DPR) unanimously passed a bill requiring the creation of a
new presidential advisory council within three months. The
nine-member council will be charged with advising the
President on a full range of issues, its mandate expiring at
the end of the President's current term. According to the
law, the President will be empowered to select the members of
the council himself and the members will be authorized to
attend cabinet meetings and travel abroad with the President.
The President has not yet commented on the law publicly,
despite the fact that some legislators and a Cabinet Minister
have indicated the law will necessitate the abolition of
SBY'S newly formed Presidential Work Unit on Managing Policy
and Reform Programs, or UKP3KR (Refs A and B). A close
Presidential advisor told the Ambassador that the President
intends to continue with his plans for the UKP3R. End
Summary.

DPR PASSES ADVISORY COUNCIL BILL
--------------


2. (U) According to members of the DPR and media reporting,
the Presidential Advisory Council bill requires the President
to create the council within three months. The council will
have nine members, one of which will serve as chief, and the
council's term will expire at the end of the President's
tenure. The law stipulates that members may not come from
leadership positions in political parties or NGOs, hold
positions with the state, serve as executives of state owned
enterprises, chair professional organizations, or be members
of university faculties.


3. Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa, a Golkar legislator and the

chairman of the special legislative committee (PANSUS) that
drafted the law and negotiated its content, told us the law
enjoyed strong support across party lines. He noted that
Yusril Mahendra, the President's State Secretary, had
actively participated in the law's development over the
course of the two years it took to emerge from the PANSUS, an
unambiguous indication of the President's support for the
legislation in his mind (Note: We point out that Mahendra has
more often than not used his office to obstruct, rather than
assist SBY. End Note). He added that the President
influenced the shape of the bill right up until the day of
its passage, pushing only this week for the number of members
to be expanded from six to nine.


4. According to Sudarsa, the bill gave the President the
ability to shape the direction and influence of the council
to fit his needs; the fact that the President would have
complete authority to select the council's members was
evidence of this. In terms of the council's access and
power, this too would depend on the President's judgment and
comfort level. Sudarsa emphasized that the council's primary
objective would be to respond to the President's requests for
input on whatever issues he deemed appropriate, though the
members would also be expected to research and analyze other
issues without the President's prompting. As an example,
Sudarsa said one member could in theory focus specifically on
developing ways to increase direct foreign investment, while
another member might provide unsolicited counsel on energy
policy options and brief the President accordingly. The
advisory council, in other words, would adjust to fit the
President's specifications.

WHAT ABOUT THE UKP3R??
--------------


5. (C) The Minster of Justice and Human Rights Hamid
Awaluddin, undoubtedly mirroring his good friend Vice
President Kalla's thoughts on the issue, told the Ambassador
the new law would render the UKP3KR obsolete. Sudarsa told
us the law compelled the President to dissolve all other
Presidential advisory bodies. When we asked him explicitly
whether this included the UKP3KR, he said that it did.
Tosari Wijaya, a legislator from the United Development Party
(PPP) and the deputy of the PANSUS, seconded Sudarsa's
interpretation. Sudarsa offered that while the President

JAKARTA 00013450 002.2 OF 002


would not be allowed to keep the UKP3KR intact, SBY could
simply name all three members of the UKP3KR to the new
council and create a de facto UKP3KR within the advisory body
(Note: We point out that the new law prohibits consideration
of individuals with state positions, a stipulation that
presumably would disqualify Marsilam Simanjuntak, who has an
advisory role in the Ministry of Finance).


6. (C) A close advisor to the President told the Ambassador
that SBY did not intend to adjust his plans for the UKP3R
despite the new advisory council law. The presidential
contact said the President recognized the political
volatility of UKP3R and was biding his time and calibrating
precisely how he would utilize the reform unit. According to
the contact, the new advisory council law simply created a
formal, legally recognized home for longtime presidential
advisors such as T.B. Silalahi, Syahrir and Ali Alatas.

COMMENT
--------------


7. (C) The new presidential advisory council law appears to
put the President in a very difficult position politically.
If he attempts to move forward with the UKP3R, his opponents
in Golkar, PDI-P, and the Islamist parties will use the new
law to portray the UKP3R as illegitimate and to undermine its
authority before it even gets out of the gate. If SBY
declines to stand his ground and defend the UKP3R, he will
look weak and indecisive, a disastrous combination for a
President still trying to assert his authority over an
unwieldy bureaucracy.
PASCOE