INDONESIA WELCOMES U.S. SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000211 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR STAS, OES, AND EAP DEPT PASS TO OSTP JASON RAO COMMERCE FOR NOAA BANGKOK FOR RDM/A E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPL TBIO SCUL SENV ENRG PGOV ID SUBJECT: INDONESIA WELCOMES U.S. SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT REF: Jakarta 155 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. All corners of Indonesia's science and policy community welcomed President Obama's science envoy engagement effort. Despite Science Envoy Dr. Bruce Alberts' last minute injury preventing his travel, the GOI pressed on with the majority of the January 18-29 planned schedule with OSTP Senior Advisor Jason Rao and NSC Senior Director Pradeep Ramamurthy. On January 20, as planned, President Yudhoyono laid out his national science objectives in front of an audience of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences, more than half of his cabinet, and 800 science leaders. President Obama's statement read by Ambassador Hume received warm welcome by the science community and media. Dr. Rao visited two major research clusters, universities in Jogjakarta, and alongside USAID Jakarta and Embassy Public Affairs addressed 50 universities and 16 rectors over digital video network. Rao and Ramamurthy discussed science engagement with former President B.J. Habibie and top science leaders (reftel). Overall, Indonesian interlocutors expressed great desire for science and technology cooperation with the United States. They also noted that compared to the Japanese, Germans, Koreans and others, the U.S. had been relatively absent for over a decade since the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis. Many active collaboration activities with U.S institutions resulted from Indonesian returnees from their science studies in the U.S. The GOI has asked to conduct Digital Video Conferences to continue working on science engagement and hopes Dr. Alberts can visit as soon as April if his physical rehabilitation allows. End Summary. President Yudhoyono's Historic Address -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The original conception of the January 20 event at the Indonesian Academy of Sciences was a lecture by Bruce Alberts attended by President Yudhoyono. However, former President B.J. Habibie, a science champion, spoke to President Yudhoyono suggesting a historic address similar to what President Obama did with the National Academy of Sciences in April 2009. Yudhoyono embraced the idea, and, despite Dr. Alberts' sudden injury that prevented his travel to Indonesia, continued with his address. Ambassador Hume read a statement from President Obama for this event, which received 
warm welcome by the Indonesian science community and the media. Before an audience of 800 from the Indonesian Academy of Sciences, other national science leaders, and more than half of his cabinet, Yudhoyono identified science and technological innovation as the key to unlocking Indonesia's future growth and development. He laid out the key steps: changing Indonesia's mindset, being open to collaboration with the international science community, fostering entrepreneurship to bring innovation to market, and then protecting the rights of the innovators. He also listed areas for international science and technology cooperation: poverty, green technology, food, industry, medical, disasters, marine affairs, defense, transportation and biotechnology. Finally, Yudhoyono announced the creation of the National Innovation Committee that will design a national innovation system and report directly to him. Former President Habibie's Suggestions for S&T Activities -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In meeting a meeting with OSTP Jason Rao, Habibie proposed that President Obama address a gathering of the International Islamic Forum for Science, Technology and Human Resource Development (IIFTIHAR). IIFTIHAR is an international Muslim science organization established in 1996 by 84 non-government Islamic Organizations. (Note: See www.iiftihar.org for more background information.) As IIFTIHAR's chairman, Habibie offered to invite members from around the world, including Egypt and Turkey, to gather for an annual meeting in Jakarta at the time of President Obama's visit. Dr. Rao agreed to take the proposal back to the White House for consideration. Turning to U.S-Indonesia science relations, Habibie pointed out that the U.S. has been absent since the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, and that "someone else will fill the gap if the U.S. does not." He recommended that science and technology cooperation between the U.S. and Indonesia focus on solving problems at the sector-specific level in a way that can bring new jobs to both Indonesia and to America. He hoped that cooperation in aerospace and transportation, including marine, could be revived JAKARTA 00000211 002 OF 003 with the U.S. "Transportation advances to link Indonesia's 18,000 islands is the key to solving the whole host of development, health, food security, and social issues in Eastern Indonesia," he said. He emphasized that transportation must be prioritized, otherwise all the focus and funding will go to agriculture and medicine. Finally, he expressed his strong desire to see the U.S.-Indonesia S&T Agreement concluded as soon as possible. The original U.S.-Indonesia S&T Agreement that Habibie signed was Indonesia's first. (See Jakarta 155 on Ramamurthy's lunch meeting with Habibie.) Ministry of Research and Technology: 7 Priorities -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Dr. Rao met with three deputy ministers of the Ministry for Research and Technology (MRT),led by Deputy Minister for International Cooperation Dr. Teguh Rahardjo. They laid out Indonesia's seven research and technology priorities: energy, food security, information and communication technology, defense, transportation, medicines, and advanced materials. Each year the Ministry provides research grants from a pot of approximately USD 12 million via proposal competition. Of the 4,000 proposals received each year, less than 10% receive funding. The brainstorming discussion ranged from the possibility of joint funding and selection of grant recipients on common scientific goals, bringing additional USG POCs with Dr. Alberts for the 7 priority areas, short courses in Indonesia taught by visiting U.S. professors, increasing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) students in both directions, to establishing metrics to measure progress. ¶5. (SBU) Director for International Cooperation Nada Marsudi reported that research permits approved by her ministry for U.S. cooperative projects were up by 5 to 73 in 2009. However, she pointed out that it is difficult to know the specifics of all the cooperative activities. Japan, Germany, UK have placed resident advisors inside the ministry to help improve coordination on joint activities. Deputy Minister for Utilization and Dissemination of S&T Idwan Suhardi noted that USAID grants have helped in the area of bringing technology to market. ¶6. (SBU) Deputy Minister for Clinical Microbiology Amin Soebandrio explained that not all health-related issues fall under the Ministry of Health. Basic and non-clinical research is done by institutes coordinated by MRT and by universities. These include vaccine development, diagnostics, and drug development. He said many cooperation avenues exist, but politically we need to find a way to deal with the NAMRU issue. Dr. Rao responded that the important focus is to help people, noting that disease knows no borders and health security must be global. Visits to Research Institutes and Labs -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Dr. Rao visited the main research campus of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the Cibinong Science Center in Bogor. The 40-hectare facility conducts research on Molecular Farming, R protein inhibitors effective against Avian Flu, Genetic Hunting and Transgenic Rice, energy production from microalgae, and many other areas. The center also houses Indonesia's largest botanical (3 million),bird (2 million) and insect (2 million) collections. The institute struggles to digitize the collections, and so far less than 10% have been studied. They welcome foreign scientists to come and use the collections. ¶8. (SBU) Dr. Rao also visited the 120-hectare Training Center for Research, Science, and Technology run by the Ministry of Research and Technology. The center is a science cluster that includes many other research institutes, including Indonesia's nuclear research labs. The main labs visited and proposals collected involve biomass, ocean and earth sciences, and chemistry. Dr. Rao also visited labs that test and provide verifications based on requests from industry. Information, proposals and Indonesian POCs have been provided by e-mail to OSTP Dr. Rao. Academic Institutions -------------- JAKARTA 00000211 003 OF 003 ¶9. (SBU) In Jogjakarta, Dr. Rao visited and held discussions with the science faculty of Muhammadiyah University, an Islamic school of 11,000 students. The university currently has programs focused on developing small-scale clean energy solutions for local communities. They hope to develop models that can be replicated throughout Indonesia, and have coordinated closely with local and central government energy officials. Funding comes from a Dutch grant. Muhammadiyah hopes U.S. scientists can join their efforts in clean water, environment management, and organic agriculture. Dr. Nas Wadi briefed on Muhammadiyah's international program on Law & Sharia and Islamic Banking, currently carried out in collaboration with Australia and Malaysia. Wadi invited U.S. lecturers to visit Muhammadiyah and participate in the program. Dr. Rao also visited and spoke with students at the American Corner on campus. (Note: 67% of Muhammadiyah graduates find jobs in their field, while the remaining 33% become entrepreneurs or housewives who may never enter the workforce. Muhammadiyah graduates many who enter Indonesian political careers in both central and local government.) ¶10. (SBU) Dr. Rao visited Gadjah Mada University (UGM),arguably Indonesia's premier institute of higher learning with 56,000 students. UGM Rector Sudjarwadi noted that he had read the OSTP blog that morning and looked forward to working together to make the unknown known. They discussed a wide range of UGM activities and links to several U.S. universities. Sudjarwadi expressed desire for cooperation with the U.S. on mathematics and natural sciences, and offered to provide facilities for visiting U.S. professors. Dr. Rao then visited the Institute of Tropical Disease and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and discussed Indonesia-specific findings on Avian Flu resistance and virus characterization. NSC Senior Director Ramamurthy joined Dr. Rao for discussions with students at the American Corner, before meeting the regents of the University over dinner. In contrast to Muhammadiyah University, nearly all of UGM graduates find jobs in their respective fields of study. Next Steps -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The GOI has suggested that Dr. Alberts visit Indonesia as soon as mid-April, pending the progress of his rehabilitation from surgery. In the meanwhile, they welcome Dr. Alberts' requests for DVCs to continue the conversation and coordination of activities. ¶12. (SBU) OSTP Dr. Rao has cleared this message. HUME