ASIA-PACIFIC DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE -- GOI STILL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000588 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT. FOR G (KCURRIE),EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, DRL/MLA, S/P, DRL NSC FOR EPHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2018 TAGS: PREL KDEM ID SUBJECT: ASIA-PACIFIC DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE -- GOI STILL CONSIDERING PARTICIPATION REF: A. STATE 28071 ¶B. JAKARTA 211 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: DepPol/C on March 24 briefed Umar Hadi--a senior diplomat with close ties to Foreign Minister Wirajuda--on the importance of Indonesian participation in the Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership (APDP). DepPol/C noted that the APDP would complement Indonesia's own Bali Democracy Forum. Hadi said the APDP proposal contains some interesting new points which the GOI will carefully consider before formally responding. END SUMMARY. PRESSING APDP ¶2. (C) On March 24, DepPol/C met Umar Hadi, Director for Public Diplomacy at the Department of Foreign Affairs and a close adviser of FM Wirajuda, to brief him on how much we would value Indonesia's participation in the next meeting of APDP, proposed for the first half of 2008 in Asia (ref A). We emphasized how APDP would complement Indonesia's own Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) and the instrumental role Indonesia could play in bridging APDP and BDF (ref B). We asked for GOI ideas on the timing, location and nature of the next APDP meeting. ¶3. (C) Hadi responded that he had been looking forward to receiving more details on APDP. After reading the non-paper, he commented that the proposal has some interesting new elements which will need to be considered before the GOI responds. He reiterated that Indonesia's main concern is that it does not want to play "a dividing role," thus the BDF includes both democracies and non-democracies (whereas the APDP only involves democracies). He said he would discuss the APDP initiative that same day with Foreign Minister Wirajuda. FURTHER DETAILS RE GOI PROPOSAL ¶4. (C) Hadi had just returned from Bali to scout venues for the first BDF event, which he said is planned for the first half of 2008, likely in June. Australia is co-sponsoring this event, he said. Australian Pol/C Justin Lee confirmed to DepPol/C in a March 24 telcon that Australia has promised to co-sponsor the event, but is waiting for logistical details. Lee said Australia is encouraging Indonesia to also participate in APDP and use its position to link the two initiatives. ¶5. (C) Hadi said the GOI is still talking with several other governments about participating in the maiden BDF event, including New Zealand, Japan, Qatar and all the ASEAN countries. GOI would later consider approaching the U.S., India and China re participation, he said, adding that Russia has already expressed very strong interest. ¶6. (C) Hadi had further details. To support ideas that come out of BDF workshops, GOI also is exploring the establishment of an official Bali-based think-tank called the "Bali Institute for Peace and Democracy" to be hosted by University Udayana in Denpasar. The think-tank would provide technical advice on elections, etc., but its main purpose would be as a conduit for foreign funding to support BDF activities, Hadi explained. QUO VADIS? ¶7. (C) We think the latest USG points re APDP will be seriously reviewed by the GOI. Hadi did seem very interested in them. That said, Hadi and the GOI seem very focused on their own BDF initiative, which still seems a bit vague. We think they will take some time in mulling over our points, trying to see how the APDP can be linked to the BDF and other elements of international architecture, such as the Community of Democracies. JAKARTA 00000588 002 OF 002 HUME