INDONESIA REACTS, SPURRED ON BY REGIME'S BLOODY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 002737 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, DRL, EAP/PD E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ID BM KPAO SUBJECT: INDONESIA REACTS, SPURRED ON BY REGIME'S BLOODY CRACKDOWN REF: A. USUN 797 ¶B. JAKARTA 2693 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: FM Wirajuda broke the government's silence on Burmese events, calling September 26 for the regime to exercise restraint and noting that the matter will be discussed in the ASEAN context. Mission continues to press the GOI to use all levers available to try to pressure the regime. Indonesian legislators have ramped up their anti-regime posture. Indonesian students have taken to the streets, protesting in front of the Burmese Embassy. The media--urged on by Mission--is now giving prominent coverage to the situation. END SUMMARY. GOI BREAKS ITS SILENCE -------------- ¶2. (U) Speaking September 26 in New York where he is attending UNGA, FM Hassan Wirajuda urged the Burmese regime to exercise restraint and not to use force against protestors, stating: "Indonesia urges Myanmar not to resort to coercive measures in handling the peaceful rallies. If they go that way, it is negative for the Myanmar people as well as for ASEAN." ¶3. (U) Recent developments showed that the so-called "road map to democracy" was going nowhere, despite the regime's protestations to the contrary, he stated. FM Wirajuda doubted that further sanctions would be effective, saying that the regime was already isolated. He did, however, endorse bringing the issue of Burma to the UN Human Rights Council. Wirajuda added that ASEAN foreign ministers would discuss Burma as part of a previously scheduled meeting in New York on September 28. MISSION OUTREACH -------------- ¶4. (C) Noting that Wirajuda's comments were basically positive, but hardly enough given the bloody events in Burma, Pol/C underscored to Harry Purwanto, Director for North American Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU),the need for intensified Indonesian pressure on Burma. Noting the Indonesian PermRep's basically positive comments during the UNSC discussion of Burma on September 26 (Ref A),Pol/C urged Indonesia to continue putting pressure on Burma in the UN and especially in ASEAN contexts, including at the planned September 28 meeting. Purwanto acknowledged these points. He did not have any information regarding GOI plans to bring the issue to the UN Human Rights Council, but would look into the matter. Asked for a formal text of Wirajuda's remarks, he said he would try to get one. ¶5. (C) Pol/C also stressed the importance of a strong ASEAN stand to Gudadi Sasongko, DEPLU's Deputy Director for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Sasongko replied that a Burmese representative would brief ASEAN foreign ministers on the situation during the September 28 meeting. After that briefing, Sasongko expected the ASEAN ministers present to criticize the regime sharply. In making his comments, Wirajuda had been spurred on by the brutal images emerging from Rangoon, he added. Pol/C underlined the importance of Indonesian cooperation with Special Envoy Gambari and his planned trip to the region. ¶6. (C) In continuing outreach to influential opinion leaders, Pol/C discussed Burma with Rizal Malarangeng, director of the Freedom Institute, a public policy institute. Pol/C emphasized the need for Indonesian civil society to take a firm stand in support of the people of Burma and to do it now. Malarangeng agreed that the GOI needed to take action and said he delivered this message to presidential spokesman Dino Djalal in a September 26 conversation. Malarangeng said he would host a television discussion on Burma this weekend and noted that numerous Indonesian think-tanks were planning near-term events to discuss the situation. He added that he planned to discuss the situation with his brother, a JAKARTA 00002737 002 OF 002 presidential spokeman. LEGISLATORS RAMP IT UP -------------- ¶7. (U) Indonesian legislators continue to ramp up their criticism of the Burmese regime (Ref B). On September 26, 28 Indonesian parliamentarians from across party lines signed an open letter from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) to ASEAN, China, and India. The letter urged the three recipients to work together to "encourage the Myanmar government to deliver genuine political and economic reforms." Djoko Susilo, the Chair of the Indonesian Parliament's Myanmar Caucus, was among the signatories, as was Marzuki Darusman, another well-respected member of Parliament. Later in the day, AIPMC issued a press release condemning the violence against peaceful protesters in Myanmar. The release noted that: "AIPMC parliamentarians from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore condemn the actions of the junta and strongly urge it to initiate peaceful discussions with the monks as well as all political and ethnic leaders to resolve the conflict." TAKING IT TO THE STREETS -------------- ¶8. (U) In a demonstration that netted media coverage, a group of Indonesian students--some of whom belonged to the country's small Buddhist community--protested peacefully in front of the Burmese Embassy in Jakarta on September 26. The students carried pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi and called for her immediate release. They also called on Indonesians to show solidarity with the people of Burma. HYPED UP MEDIA COVERAGE -------------- ¶9. (SBU) After some weeks of relatively little focus on the matter despite the build-up in anti-regime momentum, the Indonesian media is now clued in to what is occuring in Burma. Indonesia's leading newspapers gave the protests front-page coverage on September 27, with many providing maps of Rangoon showing the areas where protests were taking place. Press coverage also highlighted FM Wirajuda's comments on the situation. The English-language "Jakarta Post" carried a strongly worded editorial criticizing ASEAN leaders for failing to take stronger action against the Burmese regime. The paper also specifically called on President Yudhoyono to play a greater leadership role in ASEAN re the situation. Mission will continue to reach out to media contacts to urge that they remain focused on this issue. HEFFERN