INDONESIA CREATES NEW DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER POSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001712 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, INR/EAP NSC FOR E.PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2018 TAGS: PGOV PRELID PINR ID SUBJECT: INDONESIA CREATES NEW DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER POSITION REF: JAKARTA 0597 JAKARTA 00001712 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU) has created the new position of Deputy Foreign Minister and is expected to install career diplomat Triyono Wibowo as its first incumbent on September 11. The precise responsibilities, authority and relationship to other senior positions, including the Foreign Minister and the Secretary General (which up to now has effectively been the number two position),have yet to be clearly defined. Wibowo is currently Indonesia's ambassador to Austria (see bio material in Para 8) and is generally well-regarded. END SUMMARY. CREATION OF NEW POSITION ¶2. (SBU) The new position, which required presidential approval, was announced on September 9. Its first occupant, Triyono Wibowo, is an Indonesian foreign service officer with wide-ranging experience (see para 8 below). Wibowo was earlier mentioned as a possible candidate for the job (see reftel),has strong credentials and appears to be generally well regarded. ¶3. (C) DEPLU reportedly sought the new position because it had no senior official with the authority to backfill for Foreign Minister Wirajuda in his absence. USG and other foreign officials have engaged Secretary General Imron Cotan, informally considered to be the next most senior DEPLU official, on high-level policy issues. ¶4. (C) Cotan's experience as ambassador to Australia and in the Directorate for North American and European Affairs makes him a capable substantive interlocutor. Technically, however, his position, deals with internal administrative, budgetary and personnel matters and is not the equivalent of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State. Rather, the various director generals-for American and European Affairs, for Asian and African Affairs, for Multilateral Affairs and so forth handle the substantive policy matters for their respective areas. Moreover, they are equivalent in rank to the secretary general and report directly to the foreign minister on policy, although they answer to the secretary general on administrative matters. At most, the secretary general is a first among equals. CLARITY LACKING (FOR NOW) ¶5. (C) DEPLU contacts told DepPol/C that the exact responsibilities and authority of the deputy minister, as well as the position's relationship with the foreign minister, secretary general and various director generals, had yet to be defined. These would be detailed in the official job description that was expected to be released with Wibowo's installation on September 11. That document will need to make clear his duties as deputy and as acting foreign minister. Once these details are released it should be clearer what role the position has. ¶6. (SBU) Senior administrative officials are appointed by the president and are subject to legislative approval, so there will be no formal review of the new position or its first incumbent by the Indonesian legislature (DPR). Legislators criticized DEPLU when the proposal was first announced several months ago for not having consulted the DPR, although the criticism mostly concerned process rather than substance. JAKARTA 00001712 002.2 OF 002 ¶7. (SBU) Reacting to the recent announcement, Theo Sambuaga, who chairs the DPR's Commission on Foreign and Security Affairs, welcomed the appointment as giving Indonesia the capability to exercise greater continuity and consistency in foreign policy, owing to the position's expected ability to fill in for the foreign minister in his absence. Sambuaga, as well as other legislators, praised the choice of Wibowo as a seasoned and capable diplomat. TRIYONO WIBOWO BIO ¶8. (SBU) Triyono Wibowo has been Indonesia's ambassador to Austria since 2005. Before that he was Advisor to the Minister for Administrative and Management Affairs from 2004 to 2005 and Secretary for the Directorate General for European and American Affairs and Head of Personnel at DEPLU from 2002 to 2004. He was Minister Counsellor in Washington, D.C. from 1999 to 2002 and Deputy Director for Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries from 1996 to 1999. He served at the Indonesian Mission to the United Nations from 1991 to 1996 and the Indonesian Permanent Mission to the IAEA in Vienna from 1984 to 1988. He joined the Indonesian Foreign Service in 1980 and graduated from the Faculty of Law at Airlangga University in Surabaya in 1979. He is married and has three children. HUME