Cablegate: Indonesia and Burma: Views From East Java

VZCZCXRO4174
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0049 2821003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091003Z OCT 07
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0069
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0061
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0002
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0013
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0001
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0004
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0011
RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0002
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0002
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0071

UNCLAS SURABAYA 000049

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS (COPE), EAP/RSP, DRL, IO
NSC FOR EPHU

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ID BM
SUBJECT: INDONESIA AND BURMA: VIEWS FROM EAST JAVA

REF: JAKARTA 2799

1. Jakarta-based foreign policy watchers are not the only
Indonesians closely monitoring events in Burma. Since the
crisis erupted, the Surabaya-based daily Jawa Pos has published
front-page reports, with color pictures, covering events inside
Burma and international reaction and providing commentary. The
Surya daily, associated with the Jakarta-based Kompass Group,
has also carried factual reporting on events unfolding in Burma
on its international pages. Both papers covered demonstrations
by local activists calling for stronger ASEAN action.

2. Jawa Pos has been the most active, dispatching a team to
cover the story from different angles and publishing these
articles under the red headline "Myanmar Crisis." Journalist
Kardono Setyorakhmadi has filed a series of reports from the
Burmese-Thai border based on interviews with refugees and
anti-junta activists. As part of this series of articles,
published on the front page October 5, Kardono related the story
of two activists who told him about the brutality of the junta
and described prison conditions in Burma . The article was
accompanied by a photo of a Burmese activist standing in front
of photographs of people who had disappeared or been killed by
the military junta.

3. On October 8, Jawa Pos published an editorial entitled,
"Failure as the Center of ASEAN," criticizing Indonesia for
failing to play a prominent political role in ASEAN and accusing
Jakarta of being weak against the Burmese military junta.
Quoting an opposition activist who fled to Thailand, the
editorial laments that "Indonesia was able to become a
democratic country through peaceful reform, but has failed to
build on this success in Myanmar." The editorial states that,
despite being a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the UN
Security Council, Indonesia is weak and fails to play a
leadership role in international fora regarding issues of peace
and justice. The editorial criticizes Indonesia as a member of
the Security Council for only issuing a condemnation of Burma,
rather than passing a sanctions resolution.

MCCLELLAND

© Scoop Media