CENTRAL JAVA -- PROMOTING U.S.-INDONESIAN RELATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000185

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, INR/EAP, DRL, EAP/PD, S/CT,
INL
SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/AP P.IPSEN
NSC FOR E.PHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO ID
SUBJECT: CENTRAL JAVA -- PROMOTING U.S.-INDONESIAN RELATIONS


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


1. (C) SUMMARY: POL Regional Security Unit Chief met
security policy scholars, and spoke at a local university and
Muslim boarding school in Yogjakarta, central Java, January
28-29. He highlighted positive developments in
U.S.-Indonesian relations, and opportunities for further
cooperation on reform and international issues. The scholars
reviewed the latest thinking on police and defense reform in
Indonesia. Student participants in the two outreach sessions
asked a wide range of questions about U.S. foreign policy.
END SUMMARY.

PUBLIC OUTREACH IN YOGJAKARTA


2. (U) Regional Stability Unit Chief spoke about
U.S.-Indonesian bilateral relations to a graduate-level class
at Gadjah Mada University and at a pesantren (Islamic
boarding school) in Yogjakarta in central Java, January
28-29. To the 30 students at the university and almost 200
students at the pesantren RSU Chief emphasized the progress
Indonesia had made in the past decade, which had helped
establish a strong basis for bilateral cooperation on reform,
regional security and international issues. In looking ahead
to next steps, RSU Chief made the following key points:

-- Establishing democracy needs to include good governance by
national and local officials who act in the public's interest
and whose decisions cannot be bought by special interests.
The United States needs such a counterpart in order to
address effectively the environmental and health issues of
the day, including HIV/AIDS, avian influenza and the
destruction of rain forests.

-- The U.S. will continue to play an important role in the
security of Southeast Asia and wants a partnership based on
equality, mutual respect, common interests and the shared
values of freedom, pluralism and tolerance. To do this
effectively, the United States looks to Indonesia to develop
professional police and military forces which share this
vision and can work with us as equal partners.

-- Our two countries continue to cooperate on important
international issues, including Iraq, Iran, North Korea,
Sudan and Burma. As the world's leading Muslim-majority
state and a leading state in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has a
crucial leadership role to play in resolving these and other
issues.


3. (U) RSU Chief also reviewed various U.S. exchange and
scholarship programs--particularly those available to
university students--for study in the United States and
offered to provide further information to interested
students. There was considerable interest among students in
these opportunities. Several students noted the positive
impact of the American Corner at Gadjah Mada University in
promoting ties with the United States.


4. (U) Follow-on discussion with the students was lively and
easily filled the two-hour window for each event. Students
were particularly interested in: U.S. views of democracy in
an Islamic cultural context; whether Americans saw pesantren
as hotbeds of terrorism; the reasons for the United States'
support for Israel and current U.S. efforts to achieve peace
in the Middle East; the impact of the U.S. economy on the
global economic situation; the rationale for U.S. positions
on the Tokyo Protocol and the Bali UN Framework Conference on
Climate Change; and, why Papua was of concern to the United
States. Students also asked about the U.S. elections.

MEETING SECURITY POLICY EXPERTS


5. (U) RSU Chief met in Yogjakarta with scholars at Gadjah
Mada University's Center for Security and Peace Studies
(CSPS) to discuss progress and next steps in security sector
reform in Indonesia. The Center was established in the

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1990's on the initiative of several university professors to
promote cooperation with reform-minded elements within the
Indonesian armed forces (including its then-integrated police
wing) in the last years of the Suharto era. Largely
privately funded, the Center currently facilitates research
by as many as 50 scholars from Gadjah Mada and other
Indonesian universities on security issues.


6. (U) Since 1998, the focus of those studies has gravitated
toward police issues, but the Center also hopes to encourage
more attention to military issues in the future. RSU Chief
discussed possibilities for cooperation with U.S.
counterparts and offered to explore potential USG assistance
opportunities in this area. (Note: Administrators said the
Center had received assistance from the National Democratic
Institute, NDI, in its formative years.)


7. (C) One scholar discussed his research on conflict
resolution with particular attention to the communal conflict
in Poso, which is now in a post-conflict stage. The scholar
attributed the success of conflict resolution in Poso to the
combined efforts of senior government leaders, judicious use
of police forces, community initiatives to heal the breach
and investment in new facilities, such as a modern pesantren.
Another academic detailed current initiatives by government
and civil-society groups to develop "community policing"
(pro-active outreach by police forces to local communities),
a non-traditional role of security forces in Indonesia, which
remain largely centralized as national institutions. A third
researcher discussed the importance of the police and
military in administration at the provincial and local
levels, where governors and subordinate officials routinely
consulted military officials in making decisions of
governance.

DISCUSSING DEFENSE REFORM


8. (C) Regarding defense reform, the scholars offered the
view that the Indonesian military (TNI) needed to push
structural reform further. The TNI was hampered in effecting
this transition by a lack of equipment and material resources
and therefore an inability to perform its professional
defense and other related functions, including humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief.


9. (C) For the military, the result of these factors was a
lack of direction, a sense of drift and a turning inward.
The central ingredient needed to move this reform agenda
forward was adequate budgetary funding. Adequate funding
would allow the TNI to focus on the accomplishment of
concrete activities and attainable goals. RSU Chief
underscored USG willingness to cooperate re defense reform.
He also underlined the importance of civilian control of the
military, stressing that the military must stay out of
politics.


10. (U) CSPS staff and scholars expressed avid interest in
maintaining professional contacts with U.S. counterparts, and
welcomed any exchanges which would bring U.S. scholars to
Gadjah Mada University and CSPS.

HUME