EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR ATTRIBUTES INDONESIA'S UNSCR

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 000949 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2012 TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL ID SUBJECT: EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR ATTRIBUTES INDONESIA'S UNSCR IRAN VOTE TO US PRESSURE REF: A. JAKARTA 851 - KUWAITI AMB WELCOMES INDO MIDEAST ACTION ¶B. JAKARTA 740 - CDA COURTESY CALL ON NEW SAUDI AMBASSADOR ¶C. JAKARTA 250 - INDONESIA SEEKING HIGHER PROFILE IN MIDDLE EAST? Classified By: Charge d'Affaires John A. Heffern, Reasons 1.4(b) and (d ) ¶1. (C) As part of a series of courtesy calls on Arab ambassadors to discuss Indonesia's Middle East peace initiatives and Iran's nuclear program (refs A and B),CDA met with Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed El Sayed on March 30. El Sayed was non-committal about the utility of Indonesian peacemaking efforts, saying only that the Indonesians would like to be helpful and more involved. He added that the Arabs would have no objection to increased Indonesian activism "as long as Jakarta can get more concessions for the Palestinian people." In his opinion, the Indonesians are motivated by two things: a desire for a higher profile in the Middle East and the need to please Indonesian public opinion. (Note. As reported ref C, the Indonesians have intermittently proposed hosting a meeting to bring Hamas and representatives of the EU and US together; according to El Sayed, this has been postponed again until at least mid-April. End Note.) Iran UNSCR -------------- ¶2. (C) We asked for El Sayed's assessment of Indonesia's vote in favor of the Iran UNSCR. El Sayed repeatedly implied that the GOI voted as they did because of U.S. pressure, claiming he had heard we made contact with the Indonesians "until the last minute" to "force the vote." We took issue with this characterization, noting that while the U.S. did indeed contact everyone on the Security Council, we did not strong-arm anyone. To the contrary, we noted, the GOI -- along with the South Africans and Qataris -- was quite aggressive in forcing changes to the resolution. In the end, we accepted many of their amendments to the resolution. ¶3. (C) Nevertheless, El Sayed said that as the world's biggest Muslim country, Indonesia's vote on the resolution was "very significant." We asked if he spoke with the GOI about the resolution or Iran in general. El Sayed said he did not/not encourage the GOI to support the resolution and strongly disagreed that it would be helpful for the Egyptians to weigh in on the Iran nuclear issue. Egypt does not want to raise tensions, El Sayed argued, and provoke a conflict with Iran that might affect Egyptian laborers working in the Gulf. El Sayed also contended that the Muslim world feels that there is a double standard concerning Iran's nuclear program, since Israel has "at least 200 nuclear bombs. So why talk about Iran when Israel has bombs?" Egyptian-Indonesian Relations -------------- ¶4. (U) El Sayed said that bilateral cooperation between Egypt and Indonesia centers largely on economic issues (with the trade balance favoring Indonesia) and educational exchanges. According to El Sayed, there are more than 5000 Indonesians studying in Egypt, primarily at Al-Azhar University and mostly in Islamic Studies programs. He pointed out that a number of prominent politicians, including former President Abdurrahman Wahid and Middle East Special Envoy Alwi Shihab are Al-Azhar alumni, as are many members of the Indonesian Ulama Council's (MUI) fatwa committee. HEFFERN