Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08JAKARTA52
2008-01-09 10:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Jakarta
Cable title:
TNI PROMOTIONS: TIME TO DECLARE VICTORY
how-toVZCZCXRO7643 OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM DE RUEHJA #0052 0091008 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 091008Z JAN 08 FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7596 INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1856 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1395 RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 2223 RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 000052
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR P, G, T, EAP, DRL, EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP
NSC FOR E.PHU
SECDEF FOR USAP/ISA/AP P.IPSEN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR MASS ID
SUBJECT: TNI PROMOTIONS: TIME TO DECLARE VICTORY
REF: A. JAKARTA 0008
B. 07 JAKARTA 3128
Classified By: DCM John A. Heffern, for reasons 1.4(b,d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 000052
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR P, G, T, EAP, DRL, EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP
NSC FOR E.PHU
SECDEF FOR USAP/ISA/AP P.IPSEN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR MASS ID
SUBJECT: TNI PROMOTIONS: TIME TO DECLARE VICTORY
REF: A. JAKARTA 0008
B. 07 JAKARTA 3128
Classified By: DCM John A. Heffern, for reasons 1.4(b,d).
1. (C) Over the past two months, President Yudhoyono has
replaced the top echelon of the Indonesian military command.
All four of the top slots--the TNI Commander and the Army,
Navy and Air Force Chiefs--have changed hands (reftels). SBY
has made these moves quietly, and without great fanfare. We
may never know the extent to which U.S. policy views,
reiterated regularly to top GOI officials, were a factor in
his choices, although those views were regularly communicated
and almost certainly played a role. What is more important
is the outcome: that Indonesia's democratically elected,
civilian president has selected four commanders from the
ranks of the Indonesian military who have essentially clean
records on human rights and who set an example of military
professionalism, pointing the way forward. The President
passed over several strong candidates with problematic human
rights records.
2. (C) We take this as a deliberate step on Indonesia's part
to recognize U.S. and other international concerns about the
troubled past of Indonesia's military forces. It is also a
good-faith effort to help create the basis for closer mil-mil
cooperation in the future. We should welcome and reinforce
this positive outcome with a calibrated response which
signals our support. A response could take several forms,
for there are many elements to our mil-mil relationship. We
believe the most appropriate response would be to resume
engagement with KOPASSUS, the Indonesian Army's Special
Forces Unit, Indonesia's most capable force but the one which
has had the furthest to go in breaking from the past.
Engaging with KOPASSUS would signal our endorsement of
Indonesia's desire to set a new course and would provide
concrete support to Indonesia's efforts to remold inherited
institutions like the TNI into modern components of democracy.
HUME
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR P, G, T, EAP, DRL, EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP
NSC FOR E.PHU
SECDEF FOR USAP/ISA/AP P.IPSEN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR MASS ID
SUBJECT: TNI PROMOTIONS: TIME TO DECLARE VICTORY
REF: A. JAKARTA 0008
B. 07 JAKARTA 3128
Classified By: DCM John A. Heffern, for reasons 1.4(b,d).
1. (C) Over the past two months, President Yudhoyono has
replaced the top echelon of the Indonesian military command.
All four of the top slots--the TNI Commander and the Army,
Navy and Air Force Chiefs--have changed hands (reftels). SBY
has made these moves quietly, and without great fanfare. We
may never know the extent to which U.S. policy views,
reiterated regularly to top GOI officials, were a factor in
his choices, although those views were regularly communicated
and almost certainly played a role. What is more important
is the outcome: that Indonesia's democratically elected,
civilian president has selected four commanders from the
ranks of the Indonesian military who have essentially clean
records on human rights and who set an example of military
professionalism, pointing the way forward. The President
passed over several strong candidates with problematic human
rights records.
2. (C) We take this as a deliberate step on Indonesia's part
to recognize U.S. and other international concerns about the
troubled past of Indonesia's military forces. It is also a
good-faith effort to help create the basis for closer mil-mil
cooperation in the future. We should welcome and reinforce
this positive outcome with a calibrated response which
signals our support. A response could take several forms,
for there are many elements to our mil-mil relationship. We
believe the most appropriate response would be to resume
engagement with KOPASSUS, the Indonesian Army's Special
Forces Unit, Indonesia's most capable force but the one which
has had the furthest to go in breaking from the past.
Engaging with KOPASSUS would signal our endorsement of
Indonesia's desire to set a new course and would provide
concrete support to Indonesia's efforts to remold inherited
institutions like the TNI into modern components of democracy.
HUME