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Govt denies paying lobbyist for US visit
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has denied a report that the government had to get assistance from a US-based consulting firm in order to prepare for the visit of President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo to the US late last month
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oreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has denied a report that the government had to get assistance from a US-based consulting firm in order to prepare for the visit of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to the US late last month.
'I'd like to emphasize that all preparations ahead of President Jokowi's visit to the US were made formally or through official channels and that the Foreign Ministry coordinated the plan for the visit with other relevant government institutions,' she told reporters on Saturday.
Retno said the preparations for the President's working visit had been the full responsibility of the Foreign Ministry, which started preparing for the trip after US President Barrack Obama sent an official invitation to Jokowi through then-National Security Council senior director of Asian affairs, Evan Medeiros, in March.
Quoting official correspondence between Jokowi and Obama on the issue, Retno said the President had specifically appointed her to lead 'substantive and concrete' efforts to prepare for the visit.
She then proceeded to chart the government's activities since the invitation, right up to her bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sept. 22, during which both foreign ministers announced that Jokowi would leave for the US on Oct. 26.
Among the various initiatives, the Indonesian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC, facilitated visits by US business delegates and members of the US Congress to Indonesia.
'The data that I just showed you should automatically disprove the unfounded rumors that are currently circulating. The Foreign Ministry never resorted to the use of paid lobbyists in preparation for President Jokowi's visit to the US,' Retno said.
On Friday, an online article uploaded on the asiapacific.anu.edu.au website offered proof that the Indonesian government had outsourced lobbying services to Las Vegas-based R&R Partners, Inc. through a Singaporean consultancy firm Pereira International PTE Ltd. on June 8.
The piece's author, Michael Buehler, who is a Southeast Asia scholar from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London described Jokowi's visit to the US as something 'ill-conceived and poorly-executed' on account of the government's lack of coordination on the foreign policy agenda.
According to the article, titled 'Waiting in the White House Lobby', coordination of President Jokowi's visit allegedly fell apart following repeated intervention from Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan in preparing for the visit earlier in the year.
Luhut ' who held the position of presidential chief of staff at the time ' allegedly traveled to the US in March to prepare for Jokowi's meeting with Obama.
A copy of the full contract between R&R and Pereira International, uploaded in tandem with Buehler's piece, revealed that the lobbyists were paid US$80,000 to arrange and attend meetings 'with key policymakers' and 'secure an opportunity to address a joint session of Congress during President Widodo's visit to the US.'
Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir lambasted Buehler's report as 'grossly inaccurate' and said that some of the issues mentioned were 'borderline fiction.'
'We don't need to respond to comments that aren't based on accurate facts,' he said. 'The Foreign Ministry did not use any state funds [to] contract a lobbyist in preparation for the US visit ' the article is incorrect.'
He also denied any knowledge of whether any other officials outside his ministry had been involved in preparing for the trip.
Indonesian Ambassador to the US Budi Bowoleksono also rebutted the allegation of the use of lobbyists.
'Even though lobbyists have always been a reality in US politics, the Indonesian government has not used them since the October 2014 inauguration,' he said in a statement.
In preparation for Jokowi's visit in October, Budi said he had always consulted with Minister Retno and Coordinating Minister Luhut to ensure that the visit would produce concrete deliverables.
Budi confirmed that Luhut's March trip to the US in his capacity as presidential chief of staff was part of efforts to gain momentum ahead of Jokowi's arrival, but that it was also one of many visits by Indonesian public officials in preparation for the meeting with Obama.
Luhut also dismissed allegations that the government had paid lobbyists to ensure the success of the visit, while also acknowledging that such practices were common everywhere.
'Lobbyists are accepted and almost every country has them. In Asia, only Indonesia and Myanmar don't have lobbyists, [but] every country lobbies for their own gains,' he said.
'You have to distinguish between [outsourced] lobbying and [preparations for] a state visit; they are two entirely different things. Indonesian businesses might acquire the services of lobbyists, but not for an official state visit,' he added.
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