GOI BANS CHEMICAL WEAPONS AS PART OF BROADER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000503

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, T, ISN, ISN/CPI, PM, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS,
EAP/ANZ, EAP/RSP
NSC FOR E.PHU
SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/AP P.IPSEN
JOINT STAFF FOR P.CLEMMONS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2018
TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC PGOV ID
SUBJECT: GOI BANS CHEMICAL WEAPONS AS PART OF BROADER
COMPLIANCE EFFORT

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Indonesian parliament has passed
legislation to implement commitments under the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC). The legislation is a welcome step
which improves Indonesia's export control regime and imposes
stiff criminal penalties for proscribed uses. As part of a
broader compliance effort, Indonesia plans to introduce
similar legislation governing biological, nuclear and
possibly missile technology. END SUMMARY.

NEW LEGISLATION


2. (U) The Indonesian parliament (DPR) passed legislation on
February 19 to implement Indonesia's commitments under the
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). President Yudhoyono is
expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.
Indonesian signed and ratified the CWC in 1998, a year after
it entered into force. Implementation has gone slowly,
however, and the new legislation is a welcome victory for the
nonproliferation team in the Office of Disarmament and
International Security in the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DEPLU),which worked for years to push the legislation
through the DPR. It was a long process: drafting began in
2001 and the bill was submitted to the DPR in 2006.


3. (U) A DEPLU press release on the DPR action states that
the law prohibits development, production, acquisition,
stockpiling, retention, transfer and use of chemical weapons,
including their use for military purposes and riot control,
consistent with the CWC. It notes that the law further
regulates the use of chemicals for peaceful purposes through
a formal licensing process and stipulates criminal penalties
for violations.


4. (C) The legislation is a major step forward in all of
these areas. It leaves in place but updates import-export
regulations and a list of controlled chemicals. It tightens
the existing commercial licensing process managed by the
Department of Trade. Most important, DEPLU contacts stress,
it imposes penalties where none existed previously. The
penalties are stiff, including fines up to 15 billion rupiah
($1.7 million),imprisonment for three to 15 years, and death
for the most severe cases (where human life is endangered).

PART OF BROADER COMPLIANCE EFFORT


5. (C) The legislation is part of a multi-year effort by the
Indonesian government to put Indonesia's nonproliferation
regime into compliance across the board. It represents a
first installment, according to DEPLU contacts, which will be
followed by similar legislation on biological, nuclear and
conventional weapons and possibly missile technology. In the
process, Indonesia's export control regime is slated to
become more uniform and more consistent with current
international practice. Two elements of that are a better
integrated interagency control process and DEPLU's leading
role in coordinating that process.


6. (C) DEPLU experts involved in the drafting of Indonesia's
nonprolifeation legislation say Indonesia is still about two
years away from the adoption of similar legislatin regarding
Indonesia's commitments under the Bilogical Weapons
Convention (BWC). A draft was crculated in early 2007 to
the Ministries of Healh and Defense for comment. Given the
difficultyof detection and verification, the BWC legislation
only covers weapons development, our contacts not, and uses
criminal penalties rather than a licesing process as the
mainn means of control.


7. (C) Next to follow would be legislation on the nulear
front. The Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) dos not
specifically require implementng legislation, DEPLU contacts

JAKARTA 00000503 002 OF 002


note, but Indonesia needs such legislation in order to
fulfill its obligations under the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA). Conventional weapons and missile technology
are also on the agenda. Indonesia's 1951 law on firearms is
woefully out of date, DEPLU contacts note, and must be
replaced with modern controls on conventional weapons,
including landmines and other recent additions to the field.

ADVANCING POLICY GOALS


8. (C) The passage of the CWC implementing legislation is a
welcome step, representing as it does a long-term effort to
bring Indonesia's export control regime into line with its
international commitments. As far as Mission is aware,
Indonesia possesses no chemical weapons. That said,
Indonesia's ability to control this area effectively will
contribute to U.S. and international nonproliferation
objectives. Although the controls pertain primarily to what
happens within Indonesia's national borders, it puts
Indonesia a step closer to being able to enforce
nonproliferation regimes within its (vast) archipelagic
waters.


9. (C) In preparing the legislation for these projects,
Indonesia has received assistance from a number of countries
and international organizations. The USG conducted a seminar
on biological weapons issues in early 2007. Australia has
also been active, providing workshops for the CWC
legislation, co-hosting a bilateral workshop on application
of the BWC in Southeast Asia and offering preliminary
assistance regarding missile technology proliferation. Japan
and the Organization on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW) also provided help on the CWC legislation,


HUME