BURMA -- URGING INDONESIA TO SUPPORT GAMBARI'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 002917 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS (COPE),IO, IO/UNP (WICKBERG),EAP/PD NSC FOR EPHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO PHUM ID BM SUBJECT: BURMA -- URGING INDONESIA TO SUPPORT GAMBARI'S MISSION REF: A. STATE 144434 ¶B. JAKARTA 2904 AND PREVIOUS ¶C. RANGOON 1019 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) This message was coordinated with Consulate Surabaya. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Pol/C reviewed Ref A points with GOI officials. They expressed full support for UN Special Envoy Gambari's efforts and said Indonesia is examining steps meant to facilitate his mission. As part of his SE Asia trip, Gambari will visit Jakarta, October 18-19. In other news, an influential Indonesian foreign policy analyst--in a newspaper commentary piece--proposed a transition period to ease Burma's path to democracy. Media reaction from Surabaya is attached below. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (C) SUPPORTING GAMBARI: In separate October 16 discussions, Pol/C delivered Ref A points to Harry Purwanto, Director for North American Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU),and Gudadi Bambang Sasongko, DEPLU's Deputy Director for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Pol/C urged support for Gambari's mission. He stressed the importance of Gambari's returning to Burma as soon as possible and the need for the Burmese regime to grant him free access to all stakeholders. ¶4. (C) DEPLU contacts responded that the Indonesian government fully supported Gambari's efforts. The GOI continued to review what steps Indonesia could take to support his mission. Separately, local UN officials confirmed that Gambari will be in Jakarta, October 18-19, and that he had requested meetings with President Yudhoyono, FM Wirajuda and former FM Alatas. ¶5. (SBU) PUNDIT'S PROPOSAL: Jusuf Wanandi, a well-connected foreign policy analyst and Vice Chair of Jakarta's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),cautioned in the October 16 issue of the Jakarta Post against sanctions or other efforts to promote rapid change in Burma, saying such measures could provoke civil war and the disintegration of the country as ethnic minority areas went their own way. Wanandi proposed instead an internationally-supervised transition period where the current regime and the democratic opposition shared power. Mission has forwarded a copy of the commentary to EAP/MTS and EAP/MLS. ¶6. (C) Mission has no indication that Wanandi coordinated his commentary with the Indonesian government, but notes that Wanandi expressed views which we have already heard--in vaguer form--from Indonesian officials. FM Wirajuda proposed a similar transition arrangement in an October 3 speech in Chicago, for example. ¶7. (U) SURABAYA MEDIA: Interest in Burma remains strong outside of Jakarta, with Surabaya's major daily, Jawa Pos, continuing to run stories by Tomy Gutomo, its reporter in Rangoon. Gutomo interviewed a number of monks who were arrested, were forced by the regime to disclose the names of others who participated in demonstrations or were made to sign a pledge not to participate in protests. The monks interviewed did not report being tortured. Gutomo also spoke with Indonesian monks who were studying in Burma when the protests began. Although the Indonesian monks were not involved in the protests, they reported that embassy officials from SE Asian countries had evacuated monks from their countries as the protests began. (Note: Consulate Surabaya plans to meet with the Jawa Pos journalists who covered the story in Burma and Thailand when they return to Indonesia.) HUME