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Yudhoyono ‘abused power’
Cables accuse Indonesian
President of corruption
EXCLUSIVE
By PHILIP DORLING
SECRET US diplomatic cables
have implicated Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yud-
hoyono in substantial corrup-
tion and abuse of power,
puncturing his reputation as a
political cleanskin and reformer.
Gillard,
Rudd
at odds
on Libya
By MICHELLE GRATTAN
WASHINGTON
and JASON KOUTSOUKIS
JERUSALEM
A SPLIT has emerged between
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and
her foreign minister, Kevin
Rudd, over international inter-
vention in Libya.
Trying to play down the
embarrassing rift during her
visit to the United States, Ms
Gillard said the United Nations
Security Council should con-
sider a ‘‘full range’’ of options to
deal with dictator Muammar
Gaddafi, and made it clear Aus-
tralia had no intention of taking
an active part if a flight-
exclusion zone was imposed.
‘‘We are a long way from
Libya and what we’ve said is that
in the first instance NATO would
need to work through this ques-
tion of the no-fly zone,’’ said Ms
Gillard, who also discussed
Libya with UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon yesterday.
Mr Rudd has been cam-
paigning strongly for a flight-
exclusion zone, declaring this
week it was ‘‘very much the
lesser of two evils . . . a greater
evil is to simply stand back and
allow the innocent people of
Libya to be strafed and bombed
by Gaddafi’’.
Behind the scenes, Ms Gil-
lard’s office has been in despair
at Mr Rudd’s public comments,
saying his repeated interven-
tions on Libya have come with-
out the knowledge or approval
of the Prime Minister.
An adviser to Ms Gillard, who
asked not to be named, told The
Age that Mr Rudd’s freewheeling
approach was also causing con-
fusion at a diplomatic level.
‘‘He’s out of control,’’ the
adviser said. ‘‘He puts out one
press release after another, and
Continued PAGE 2
Daniel Flitton’s analysis PAGE 2
They want our oil: Gaddafi PAGE 14
All the way with the USA PAGE 19
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Yudhoyono’s former vice-
president reportedly paid mil-
lions of dollars to buy control of
Indonesia’s largest political
party, and accuse the President’s
wife and her family of seeking to
enrich themselves through their
The cables say Dr Yud-
hoyono has personally inter-
political connections.
vened to influence prosecutors
and judges to protect corrupt
political figures and pressure his
adversaries, while using the
Indonesian
Boediono visits Canberra today
for talks with acting Prime Min-
ister Wayne Swan and discus-
Indonesian intelligence service
to spy on political rivals and, at
least once, a senior minister in
sions with officials on adminis-
trative change to reform
Indonesia’s corrupt bureaucracy.
his own government.
They also detail how Dr
obtained by WikiLeaks and
Julia Gillard signs autographs after addressing a joint meeting of the United States Congress on Capitol Hill, and (below) during her address with the Speaker, John Boehner (rear left) wiping away a tear.
Congress laps it up as the Prime Minister lays it on thick
SIMON MANN
US CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON
TOWARDS the end of her 30-minute
address to Congress, Julia Gillard’s voice
wavered momentarily, straining under
the weight of occasion and as she
reprised her schoolgirl reaction to an
awe-inspiring moment in history.
Americans could do anything, she
had thought while watching the moon
landing as a student not yet eight years
of age. Palpable and personal, her emo-
tional recollection drew empathy from
her audience.
Speaker John Boehner, the chain-
smoking Republican from Ohio prone
to tears, sniffled behind her, as did sev-
eral of those assembled in front. ‘‘As I
stand before you in this, this cradle of
democracy, I see a nation that changed
the world, a nation that has known
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THE
WIKILEAKS
The revelations come as
FILES
Vice-President
provided exclusively to The Age
— say that soon after becoming
President in 2004, Dr Yud-
hoyono intervened in the case
of Taufik Kiemas, husband of
former president Megawati
The US diplomatic reports —
Sukarnoputri.
remarkable days,’’ Gillard said, faltering
a little. ‘‘I firmly believe you are the same
people who amazed me, when I was a
small girl, by landing on the moon.’’
At which point, her audience erup-
ted in applause, interrupting moment-
arily her emotional crescendo. ‘‘On that
great day, I believed Americans could do
anything,’’ Gillard continued. ‘‘I believe
that still. You can do anything.’’
To which they responded again, ris-
ing to their feet for the sixth time to offer
a sustained ovation, then handshakes,
as the Prime Minister — the fourth
Australian to address a joint meeting of
the House of Representatives and the
Senate — made her way out.
Gillard had laid it on with a trowel,
pledging undying loyalty to the US that
made ‘‘all the way with LBJ’’ look like a
cold shoulder. She poured it on, lavish-
ing praise on Americans, the American
dream and on Ronald Reagan as a
symbol of American optimism, of which
there was no greater symbol than
‘‘America itself’’.
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A YEAR AGO:
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I Malthouse back in the box
I Hird’s first big test
FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011
used his continuing control of
his wife’s Indonesian Demo-
cratic Party, then the second
largest party in Indonesia’s par-
liament, to broker protection
from prosecution for what the
US diplomats described as
‘‘legendary corruption during
his wife’s tenure’’.
In December 2004, the US
embassy in Jakarta reported that
one of its most valued political
informants, senior presidential
adviser T. B. Silalahi, had
advised that then assistant
attorney-general Hendarman
Mr Taufik reportedly had
Supandji, who was leading the
new government’s
ODD SPOT
Mary Tetley of Denbigh, Wales, was left $16,000 in her
mother’s will, with a letter telling her to ‘‘follow her dream’’.
So Mary, 45, went on a three-month solo tour of Europe’s
chocolate hot-spots, including Belgium, Switzerland and
France, blew the lot and put on more than 15 kilograms.
NAB CUP PREVIEW SPORT
corruption campaign, had gath-
ered ‘‘sufficient evidence of the
corruption of former first
gentleman Taufik Kiemas to
warrant Taufik’s arrest’’.
But Mr Silalahi, one of Dr
Yudhoyono’s closest political
confidants, told the US embassy
the President ‘‘had personally
instructed Hendarman not to
pursue a case against Taufik’’.
No legal proceedings were
brought against Mr Taufik, an
influential political figure who is
now Speaker of the People’s
Consultative Assembly, a largely
anti-
ceremonial body.
The US embassy also repor-
‘‘You have a true friend Down
Under,’’ she assured those present. ‘‘You
have an ally in Australia, an ally for war
and peace, an ally for hardship and
prosperity, an ally for the 60 years
past . . . an ally for all the years to come.’’
‘‘True friends’’, ‘‘real mates [who] talk
straight’’, ‘‘together in the hardest
times’’ . . . standing firm.
Without any sense of irony, she said:
‘‘Those of you who have spent time with
Australians know that we are not given
to overstatement.’’
But this was, er, well, not to beat
around the bush, a case of ‘‘blowin’
smoke . . . ’’, capping a string of picture
opportunities during a three-day orien-
tation of the capital and Capitol.
Here was the climax, an address to
Congress to commemorate the 60th
anniversary of ANZUS.
Mastering the autocue that is the
ubiquitous accessory of modern state-
craft, Gillard stood out in a smart orange
jacket that played splendidly against the
deep blue of the chamber’s carpet, the
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ted that then vice-president
Jusuf Kalla allegedly paid
‘‘enormous bribes’’ to win the
chairmanship of Golkar, Indone-
sia’s largest party, during a
December 2004 party congress.
The President’s wife and rel-
atives feature prominently in
the US embassy’s political
reporting, with American diplo-
mats highlighting efforts of the
President’s family ‘‘particularly
first lady Kristiani Herawati . . .
to profit financially from its
political position’’. As early as
Continued PAGE 4
FOCUS
Bambang thank you ma’am PAGE 17
PICTURES: GARY RAMAGE
diplomatic mis-en-scene completed by
front-row attendants, the Republicans’
John McCain, a jolly Richard Lugar and
a grim-faced Mitch McConnell along-
side Democrat heavyweights Harry
Reid, as well as foreign specialists John
Kerry and Dick Durbin.
While barely a couple of hundred of
the 535 elected representatives and sen-
ators showed up, officials avoided
embarrassment by back-filling with
staffers and interns and even a few rows
of schoolchildren.
Their welcome was genuinely warm,
even if it also reflected the weight of
Australia’s worldly standing. When the
Prime Minister entered the chamber at
11.05am, they stood and turned towards
her, applauding dutifully, some juggling
BlackBerries and iPhones that would
keep them in touch discreetly with
matters of state du jour — federal
budget cuts and Libyan no-fly zones.
They were on their feet again five
minutes later when Gillard touched on
Continued PAGE 2
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$1.50 GST
Quizzed: Ricky Nixon in a police
car yesterday. PICTURE: CHANNEL NINE
Nixon
quizzed,
Fevola
lapses
By MARIS BECK
and JON PIERIK
AFL player manager Ricky Nixon
was questioned by police yester-
day, just days after standing
down from his role to seek treat-
ment for substance abuse.
It is believed police asked
Nixon about allegations made by
the 17-year-old at the centre of
the St Kilda nude photo scandal.
The teenager claims she has had
a sexual relationship with Nixon
and made covert recordings that
included audio of Nixon snort-
ing cocaine.
Police would not confirm
whether Nixon had been inter-
viewed, but Channel Nine
filmed him leaving the Victoria
Police Centre in a police car.
Nixon is also being investig-
ated by David Galbally, QC, for
the AFL Players Association and
could lose his accreditation as a
player manager.
Nixon, who did not return
calls last night, has admitted to
‘‘inappropriate dealings’’ with
the teenager, but repeatedly
denied taking drugs in her pres-
ence or having sex with her.
As the AFL struggles with the
Nixon fallout, the controversy
over Brendan Fevola took a turn
for the worse when he was spot-
ted playing poker at Crown
Casino.
The lapse came less than a
week after the wayward player
completed a 66-day stint in a
rehabilitation clinic for gam-
bling and alcohol addiction and
depression.
Last night, Fevola revealed in
a paid interview on The Footy
Show that he had attempted sui-
cide and may have lost $1 mil-
lion through gambling. He said
he once lost $365,000 in a day.
He said that he attempted to
harm himself following an argu-
ment last year with estranged
wife Alex.
‘‘I started to drink some red
wine and ended up drinking
about three or four bottles and
tried to harm myself,’’ he said.
‘‘My mum found me lying on the
floor when she came over. They
put me in the [Brisbane] clinic.’’
Yesterday’s visit to Crown has
put at risk his comeback with
VFL side Casey Scorpions, after
he was dumped by Brisbane.
For help or information visit beyon-
dblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Vic-
toria on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on
131 114.
Fev’s final hand? SPORT
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