AMBASSADOR LOBBIES FOREIGN MINISTER ON SOFA

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 006912 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2016 TAGS: MARR MOPS EAID PREL KTIA ID SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR LOBBIES FOREIGN MINISTER ON SOFA REF: A. STATE 88273 ¶B. STATE 87329 ¶C. JAKARTA 6773 ¶D. JAKARTA 6770 ¶E. JAKARTA 6656 ¶F. STATE 86516 Classified By: Amb. B. Lynn Pascoe, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) During a June 1 meeting with Foreign Minister Wirajuda (other subjects septel),the Ambassador noted that while the presence of U.S. military personnel in Yogyakarta for earthquake relief is expected to be short, the United States considers a SOFA important to cover those deployments. For that reason, we had suggested having a brief exchange of notes repeating what we had previously done in 2005. The Ambassador said that that the U.S. would be pleased to pursue a more general SOFA in conjunction with our expanded military exchanges, adding that there had been preliminary discussions in bilateral meetings about the possibility, but doing a simple document now was the only realistic approach given the short time frame involved. ¶2. (C) The Minister said that the GOI would be open-minded and be willing to explore the possibility of a broader SOFA. As for the present situation he noted that since the deployment time would be so short, it might be best to have no SOFA at all. The Ambassador rejoined that such a document was very important to the United States in case there was an accident or other incident. The Minister's response was non-committal. ¶3. (C) Subsequent to the meeting, PolCouns and North America director Harry Purwanto spoke about the possibility of returning to the approach adopted during previous humanitarian crises. Purwanto ducked, saying that he would have to discuss the issue with Ministry lawyers. He added that he had thought all along that the issue of establishing a SOFA would not be possible given the expected short timeframe of the presence of the American military forces, and the desire of attorneys to include points they considered important. PASCOE