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