PAPUA -- A GOOD WEEK FOR THE GOVERNOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 003003

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/ANP, OES, INR/EAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV SENV PINR ID
SUBJECT: PAPUA -- A GOOD WEEK FOR THE GOVERNOR


Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu traveled to
London this week to receive a TIME Magazine-sponsored
environmental award and tout his conservation plans. Suebu
will also visit Beijing where he will open the first Papua
provincial government overseas office. Suebu has a solid
reputation and he's gaining an increased profile. END
SUMMARY.


2. (U) BIG IN LONDON: TIME Magazine has named Papua Governor
Barnabas Suebu as one of its "Heroes of the Environment."
The award recognizes his efforts to preserve Papuan forests
by declaring a moratorium on timber exports and opposing new
logging concessions in Indonesia's eastern-most province.
Suebu received the award at an October 25 ceremony in
London--which received solid media coverage back home.


3. (C) While in the UK, Suebu met with officials at the
Department for International Development (DFID) to discuss
wide-ranging cooperation on forestry and fisheries issues.
While Suebu's public program focused entirely on
environmental and economic issues, Foreign and Commonwealth
Officials (FCO) pressed political issues in private meetings,
according to UK Embassy officers in Jakarta. FCO officials
underscored the importance of fully implementing Special
Autonomy (an intra-governmental process which devolves
functions and revenue to the provincial government),and
raised reported threats and harassment directed at human
rights defenders.


4. (SBU) BEIJING NEXT: According to Papuan contacts, Suebu
will conclude his international tour with a visit to China,
October 27-November 4. While there, he will inaugurate the
first-ever Papuan provincial government overseas office,
located in Indonesia's Beijing embassy. The office will
promote trade with and investment between China and Papua, as
well as facilitate educational exchanges and highlight Papuan
culture.


5. (C) Suebu advisor Ronald Tapilatu told poloff that the
governor personally lobbied President Yudhoyono on the
overseas office and that the president supported the effort.
Tapilatu also reported that Suebu had persuaded a skeptical
Indonesian ambassador in Beijing, a retired military officer
reportedly suspicious of Papuan separatist tendencies.
Suebu--a firm non-separatist--won the ambassador's support
with a firm pledge that the office would avoid political
matters.


6. (C) MORE PAPUA OFFICES?: So far, the Indonesian
government has only approved the Papua office in Beijing.
Suebu hopes to establish others, with Tokyo probably next.
Tapilatu reported that the governor also hopes to open
offices in Australia and the United States, but noted that
this might face opposition from the Indonesian government.
Given the prominence of Papuan political activists in those
countries, including groups of Papuan independence
supporters, the GOI is suspicious that possible offices might
not be able to remain aloof from politics. The governor's
staff is considering a push for an office attached to the
Indonesian consulate in New York rather than the embassy in
Washington, reasoning that the central government would
accept this as more compatible politically with Papua's
limited-autonomy status.


7. (C) RAISING HIS PROFILE: Suebu--an ethnic Papuan and the
province's first democratically elected governor--has a solid
reputation and is popular. He's clearly gaining an increased
profile and his activities net national media coverage. That
said, he comes under some criticism back home in Papua for
his peripatetic ways, which lead to accusations that he could
be a more hands-on manager.


8. (SBU) The Ambassador plans to travel to Papua November 1-5
and expects to host a reception honoring Suebu's
environmental efforts when the Governor visits Jakarta at the
end of his international trip.
HUME