tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9083592332331184648.post303742814294336652..comments2024-03-23T02:47:06.479-07:00Comments on Kerry B. Collison Asia News: Explosive WikiLeaks Cables Expose YudhoyonoKerry B. Collisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02939821793284561307noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9083592332331184648.post-85862352551819307502011-03-12T14:04:41.803-08:002011-03-12T14:04:41.803-08:00Yusril 'not surprised' by reports of SBY s...Yusril 'not surprised' by reports of SBY spying<br /><br />Former state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra says he is not<br />surprised about the revelation of US diplomatic cables that<br />allege President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono used official channels<br />to spy on him during his tenure in Cabinet.<br /><br />The Presidential Palace, however has denied the legitimacy of<br />the cables, published in a headline news report in Australia’s<br />The Age newspaper on Friday.<br /><br />“I'm really not that surprised with the news because I have long<br />felt this,” Yusril said Friday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.<br /><br />Yusril added that he was disappointed because he had been among<br />Yudhoyono's main supporters when the latter ran for president in<br />2004.<br /><br />“Along with Democratic Party executive Boedisantoso and General<br />Eddy Sudrajat, I was among those who signed SBY's nomination to<br />become President during his registration at the General<br />Elections Commission.<br /><br />“I don't understand why I was considered a rival who had to be<br />spied on. As a close friend, I consider that step barely<br />ethical,” Yusril said.<br /><br />Among the information revealed in the report, The Age says<br />Yudhoyono directed State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Syamsir<br />Siregar to monitor Yusril during a secret trip to Singapore to<br />meet Chinese businessmen.Kerry B. Collisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02939821793284561307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9083592332331184648.post-38211547370511526212011-03-12T14:03:40.660-08:002011-03-12T14:03:40.660-08:00Jusuf Kalla Admits There Is Some Truth to Wikileak...Jusuf Kalla Admits There Is Some Truth to Wikileaks Allegation<br /><br />Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla admitted on Friday that there<br />was some truth to an allegation, released by Wikileaks and<br />published today in Australia's The Age newspaper, that he had<br />"distributed" money to Golkar Party members when he was elected<br />party chairman during Golkar's 2004 convention in Bali.<br /><br />The claim, published today in The Age in an article titled<br />“Yudhoyono 'Abused Power,'” accused Kalla of paying “enormous<br />bribes” to win the chairmanship.<br /><br />According to the article, a cable from the US embassy said<br />multiple sources had revealed that Kalla's team had offered<br />district boards at least Rp 200 million ($23,000) for their<br />votes.<br /><br />"Provincial boards — which had the same voting right, but also<br />could influence subordinate district boards — received Rp 500<br />million or more. According to one contact with prior experience<br />in such matters, board officials received down payments... and<br />would expect full payment from the winner, in cash, within hours<br />of the vote,” the article claimed.<br /><br />Jusuf Kalla said on Friday that the allegation was not<br />altogether false.<br /><br />“Yes, [I spent] between Rp 2 billion to Rp 3 billion,” Kalla<br />told news portal tempointeraktif.com on Friday.<br /><br />He said the money was used to pay for the plane tickets of 3,000<br />Golkar officials from all over Indonesia. He also paid for the<br />hotel where the convention took place.<br /><br />However, he said it was customary for the elected Golkar<br />chairman to pay for the plane tickets and hotel.<br /><br />“Almost every political party does it. It's not a secret,” he<br />said. “I used my own money, not corruption money,” he said.<br /><br />Kalla is not the only Golkar official mentioned in the<br />newly-revealed cables. They also claim that then Indonesian<br />House of Representatives chairman Agung Laksono had allocated Rp<br />50 billion for the convention.Kerry B. Collisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02939821793284561307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9083592332331184648.post-8871222458249988702011-03-12T14:02:33.383-08:002011-03-12T14:02:33.383-08:00How Should SBY React to Leaked Cables?
by Anita R...How Should SBY React to Leaked Cables?<br /><br />by Anita Rachman<br /><br />If senior political figures, including President Susilo Bambang<br />Yudhoyono, plan to fight explosive allegations about them in US<br />cables leaked on Friday, they had better find credible data to<br />back them up, analysts have warned.<br /><br />The Age, an Australian newspaper, on Friday published a report<br />based on a series of secret cables released to it by WikiLeaks,<br />revealing US diplomats’ views on various figures and including a<br />note from the US Embassy in Jakarta that it had doubts about the<br />integrity of Yudhoyono himself.<br /><br />J. Kristiadi, an analyst from the Center for Strategic and<br />International Studies, said the government was now in a duel<br />with The Age. “They are competing to provide credible data,” he<br />said.<br /><br />Kristiadi said he was unsure how much damage the leaks would do<br />to the president and his government because the country’s image<br />was already not very clean, but he believed ties with Australia<br />and the United States would not be affected.<br /><br />He said the government should not panic, stop dismissing the<br />reports and instead prove to the public that the allegations<br />were false. Various officials, including some close to the<br />president, have denied the allegations, but so far, no one has<br />provided decisive supporting evidence.<br /><br />Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political observer at the Indonesian<br />Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said Yudhoyono was a darling of<br />Canberra and was unlikely to make a fuss to the Australian<br />government about the report.<br /><br />He said Yudhoyono’s administration had been less truculent than<br />past governments that had canceled ministerial visits and even<br />closed access to shipping lanes in Indonesian waters because of<br />critical media reports.<br /><br />However, he said the president needed to provide a<br />clarification, backed by credible facts. The reports, he added,<br />“seem, to a certain degree, to be correct, because the<br />information came from his aide. If he wants to be angry, the one<br />he should go after is his aide, not The Age.”<br /><br />Burhanuddin Muhtadi, an analyst with the Indonesian Survey<br />Institute (LSI), said it was unlikely Indonesia-US ties would be<br />affected by the leaks, but that Yudhoyono might feel<br />disappointed because he had been trying to foster better<br />relations with the United States while its diplomats were busy<br />spying on him.<br /><br />“The president will also find problems concerning his good<br />image, which he is known to have been carefully building,” he<br />said.<br /><br />Burhanuddin also said the government’s knee-jerk response to the<br />leaks was only fueling speculation. State officials, he said,<br />should have remained calm and simply dismissed the cables as<br />“raw material.”<br /><br />Meanwhile, Airlangga Pribadi, a political analyst from<br />Surabaya’s Airlangga University, said both the State Palace and<br />government should be transparent in their probe of the<br />allegations.<br /><br />Failure to do that, he said, would only strengthen people’s<br />distrust of Yudhoyono, eventually compromising his popularity<br />and his policies.Kerry B. Collisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02939821793284561307noreply@blogger.com