INDONESIA AND BURMA: GOI OFFERS TO PLAY A ROLE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 002784 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS (COPE),EAP/RSP, DRL, IO E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ID BM SUBJECT: INDONESIA AND BURMA: GOI OFFERS TO PLAY A ROLE REF: A. JAKARTA 2772 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. STATE 137644 ¶C. RANGOON 949 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) This message was coordinated with Consulate Medan. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Mission continues to press Indonesia for a stronger stance regarding the Burmese regime's crackdown. Charge was told that President Yudhoyono has extended an offer to the Burmese regime to help it establish a dialogue with the democratic opposition. Indonesian religious leaders have condemned the crackdown while media commentaries continue to hit out at the regime. Officials at the ASEAN Secretariat are monitoring the situation, saying they are SIPDIS surprised at the vehemence of member-state reactions. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (C) GOI OFFERS TO PLAY A ROLE: Late October 2, Presidential Advisor Dino Djalal told Charge that he had spoken to the Burmese Ambassador to Indonesia on President Yudhoyono's instructions. Djalal said to the envoy that Indonesia fully supported the ASEAN statement of September 27 and urged the Burmese regime to open a dialogue with the opposition. President Yudhoyono was willing to help promote this dialogue. Djalal told Charge he did not expect the Burmese to respond positively to SBY's offer given that the Indonesian government has offered to help before and basically been ignored by the regime. ¶4. (SBU) DEPLU AND SANCTIONS: As part of our ongoing dialogue with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU), poloff briefed officials there on newly announced U.S. sanctions against Burma. Poloff provided copies of the information sheets in Ref B and explained that U.S. sanctions were aimed to pressure the regime while not harming the Burmese people. ¶5. (SBU) INTERFAITH LEADERS CONDEMN CRACKDOWN: A group of Indonesia's most prominent religious leaders condemned the Burmese regime on October 1. In a strongly worded statement, Din Syamsuddin, chair of the mass Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, expressed solidarity with the Burmese people and called on the regime to refrain from violence. Leaders of Indonesia's Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist communities joined in the statement, which received significant media coverage. ¶6. (C) The Charge thanked Syamsuddin for the statement and urged that Muhammadiyah maintain strong pressure on the GOI to support reform in Burma. Pol/C also thanked senior official Markus Sudibyo of Muhammadiyah's international office for the organization's statement. Sudibyo related that the inter-faith group planned to continue to monitor the Burmese situation -- "We will not sit around when fellow religious men like monks are being brutalized for exercising rights that are their birthright." ¶7. (C) Pol/C also raised Burma with Rozy Munir, a senior official of the mass Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Indonesia's Ambassador-designate to Qatar. Noting that other religious groups had issued statements, Pol/C urged NU to do so also. Munir agreed that Burma was a critical issue and promised to discuss issuing a statement with NU's leaders. ¶8. (C) KEEPING THE LEGISLATURE ENGAGED: Pol/C continued Mission's vigorous outreach to the Indonesian national legislature (DPR). In response to these efforts, prominent DPR MP Alvin Lie promised to press contacts in the Presidential Palace for a public statement on Burma by President Yudhoyono (which has not yet happened, although FonMin Wirajuda has commented on the situation). Pol/C also raised the matter with Arif Budiman, a key staffer to DPR Speaker Agung Laksono. Budiman promised to review Pol/C's recommendation that the Speaker issue a statement on Burma and will discuss it with Laksono. ¶9. (C) ASEAN SECRETARIAT ABUZZ: Officials at the ASEAN JAKARTA 00002784 002 OF 002 Secretariat in Jakarta told us they were taken aback that SIPDIS member countries have taken such a strong stance on recent events in Burma. Contacts there told econoff that recent ASEAN statements expressing "revulsion" at the developments in Burma contain the strongest language the organization has ever used re the "internal affairs" of a member country. Secretariat contacts believe that Singapore, host of this SIPDIS year's ASEAN Summit, is under particular pressure to defend ASEAN's image by taking a strong stand on the issue. ¶10. (C) The Secretariat is worried that tensions in Burma will create complications for the ASEAN Summit, scheduled for November 18-22. ASEAN officials speculate that in reaction to the junta's crackdown, some members may revive the earlier proposal recommended by the Eminent Persons Group for a stronger human rights body, with censure/compliance mechanism. Such a step could complicate efforts to ratify the ASEAN Charter, the contacts said. ¶11. (SBU) OUTRAGE IN THE MEDIA: Burma continued to receive prominent coverage in the local media, with the religious leaders' statement receiving front-page coverage in many papers. Leading daily Kompas devoted two pages to Burma coverage, complete with numerous color photos. Goenawan Mohamad, one of Indonesia's most respected journalists, penned a touching commentary supporting Aung San Suu Kyi in the October 7 issue of Tempo, the country's leading weekly news magazine. Mohamad called for strong ASEAN action in support of Burma's democratic opposition. ¶12. (SBU) Indonesia's regional papers also covered Burma issues. The influential Sumatra daily Analisa carried scathing criticism of the Burmese regime on the front page. Another Sumatra paper, Medan Bisnis, gave prominent coverage to statements by NGOs and human rights activists criticizing the regime in Rangoon. ¶13. (SBU) As part of Mission's media outreach strategy, the Charge has offered to discuss Burma on selected television stations. HEFFERN