INDONESIAN TREASURY

John F Kennedy , Indonesia, CIA & Freeport Sulphur What is Past is Prologue.

Inscribed on the National Archives, Washington, D.C. In Part One of this article (Probe, March-April, 1996) we talked about the early years of Freeport up through the Cuban takeover of their potentially lucrative mine at Moa Bay, as well as their run-in with President Kennedy over the issue of stockpiling. But the biggest conflict that Freeport Sulphur would face was over the country housing the world's single largest gold reserve and third largest copper reserve: Indonesia. To understand the recent (March, 1996) riots at the Freeport plant, we need to go to the roots of this venture to show how things might have been very different had Kennedy lived to implement his plans for Indonesia. Indonesia Backstory Indonesia had been discovered by the Dutch at the end of the 1500s.

During the early 1600s they were dominated by the Dutch East Indies Company, a private concern, for nearly 200 years. In 1798, authority over Indonesia was transferred to the Netherlands, which retained dominion over this fifth largest country in the world until 1941, at which time the Japanese moved in during the course of World War II. By 1945 Japan was defeated in Indonesia and Achmed Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta rose to become President and Vice President of the newly independent Indonesia. But within a month of the Sukarno/Hatta proclamation of independence, British army units began landing in Jakarta to help the Dutch restore colonial rule. Four years of fighting ensued. In 1949, the Dutch officially ceded sovereignty back to Indonesia, with the exception of one key area - that of a hotspot which is now known as Irian Jaya or, depending on who you talk to, West Papua.

Authors Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett, in their book Thy Will Be Done, explain the situation in what was then called Dutch New Guinea: To Westerners, New Guinea was like a gifted child pulled in opposite directions by covetous guardians. The Dutch clung to the western half as the sole remnant of their once-vast East Indies empire. Their longtime British allies, acting through Australia, controlled the eastern half. Neighboring Indonesians, on the other hand, thought that all New Guinea was part of their national territory, even if it was still colonized by Europeans. � purchase motilium without prescription � motilium c.o.d. Dutch New Guinea, or West Irian as the Indonesians called it, was populated by native tribes not far removed from a stone age culture, such as the Danis and the Amungme. When Indonesia fought to claim independence from the Dutch, West Irian became a symbol for both sides that neither wanted to relinquish. It would take the efforts of President Kennedy to eventually pass control of this area to the newly independent Indonesians, removing the last vestiges of Dutch colonialism.

 Indonesia experienced various types of government. When Sukarno first rose to power in 1945, foreigners pointed out that Sukarno's rule appeared "fascistic," since he held sole control over so much of the government. Bowing to foreign pressure to appear more democratic, Indonesia instituted a parliamentary system of rule and opened the government to a multiparty system. Sukarno related what followed to his biographer (now cable gossip show host) Cindy Adams: In a nation previously denied political activities, the results were immediate. Over 40 dissimilar parties sprang up. So terrified were we of being labeled "a Japanese-sponsored Fascistic dictatorship" that single individuals forming splinter organizations were tolerated as "mouthpieces of democracy." Political parties grew like weeds with shallow roots and interests top-heavy with petty selfishness and vote-catching. Internal strife grew. We faced disaster, endless conflicts, hair-raising confusion. Indonesians previously pulling together now pulled apart.

They were sectioned into religious and geographical boxes, just what I'd sweated all my life to get them out of. � generic for motilium pills � cost of motilium pills Sukarno related that nearly every six months, a cabinet fell, and a new government would start up, only to repeat the cycle. On October 17, 1952 things came to a head. Thousands of soldiers from the Indonesian army stormed the gates with signs saying "Dissolve Parliament." Sukarno faced the troops directly, firmly refusing to dissolve parliament due to military pressure, and the soldiers backed down. The result of this was a factionalized army. There were the "pro-17 October 1952 military" and the "anti-17 October 1952 military." In 1955, elections were held and parliamentary rule was ended by vote. The Communists, who had done the most for the people suffering the aftereffects of converting from colonial rule to independence, won many victories in 1955 and 1956. In 1955, Sukarno organized the Bandung Conference at which the famous Chinese Communist Chou En Lai was a featured guest.

 During the 1955 elections, the CIA had given a million dollars to the Masjumi party-an opposition party to both Sukarno's Nationalist party and the Communist party in Indonesia (called the PKI)-in an attempt to gain political control of the country. But the Masjumi party failed to win the hearts and minds of the people. In 1957, an assassination attempt was made against Sukarno. Although the actual perpetrators were unknown at the time, both Sukarno and the CIA jumped to use this for propaganda purposes. The CIA was quick to blame the PKI. Sukarno, however, blamed the Dutch, and used this as the excuse to seize all former Dutch holdings, including shipping and flying lines. Sukarno vowed to drive the Dutch out of West Irian. He had already tried settling the long-standing dispute over that territory through the United Nations, but the vote fell shy of the needed two-thirds majority to set up a commission to force the Dutch to sit down with the Indonesians. The assassination attempt provided a much needed excuse for action. The victories of the Communists, infighting in the army, and the 1957 nationalization of former Dutch holdings, led to a situation of grave concern to American business interests, notably the oil and rubber industries.

 The CIA eagerly pitched in, helping to foment rebellion between the outer, resource rich, islands, and the central government based in Jakarta, Java. Rockefeller Interests in Indonesia Two prominent American-based oil companies doing business in Indonesia at this time were of the Rockefeller-controlled Standard Oil family: Stanvac (jointly held by Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony Mobil-Socony being Standard Oil of New York), and Caltex, (jointly held by Standard Oil of California and Texaco.) In Part I of this article we showed how heavily loaded the Freeport Sulphur board was with Rockefeller family and allies. Recall that Augustus C. Long was a board member of Freeport while serving as Chairman of Texaco for many years.

Long becomes more and more interesting as the story develops. 1958: CIA vs. Sukarno � buy fosinopril online without rx � order motilium without prescription "I think its time we held Sukarno's feet to the fire," said Frank Wisner, then Deputy Director of Plans for the CIA, in 1956. By 1958, having failed to buy the government through the election process, the CIA was fomenting a full-fledged operation in Indonesia. Operation Hike, as it was called, involved the arming and training of tens of thousands of Indonesians as well as "mercenaries" to launch attacks in the hope of bringing down Sukarno. Joseph Burkholder Smith was a former CIA officer involved with the Indonesian operations during this period. In his book, Portrait of a Cold Warrior, he described how the CIA took it upon themselves to make, not just to enact, policy in this area: � get a monopril without prescription � cheap fosinopril no rx before any direct action against Sukarno's position could be taken, we would have to have the approval of the Special Group-the small group of top National Security Council officials who approved covert action plans.

 Premature mention of such an idea might get it shot down ... So we began to feed the State Department and Defense departments intelligence ... When they had read enough alarming reports, we planned to spring the suggestion we should support the colonels' plan to reduce Sukarno's power. This was a method of operation which became the basis of many of the political action adventures of the 1960s and 1970s. In other words, the statement is false that CIA undertook to intervene in the affairs of countries like Chile only after being ordered to do so ... In many instances, we made the action programs up ourselves after we had collected enough intelligence to make them appear required by the circumstance. Our activity in Indonesia in 1957-1958 was one such instance.

 When the Ambassador to Indonesia wrote Washington of his explicit disagreements with the CIA's handling of the situation, Allen Dulles had his brother John Foster appoint a different Ambassador to Indonesia, one more accepting of the CIA's activities. In addition to the paramilitary activities, the CIA tried psychological warfare tricks to discredit Sukarno, such as passing rumors that he had been seduced by a Soviet stewardess. To that end, Sheffield Edwards, head of the CIA's Office of Security, enlisted the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department to help with a porno movie project the CIA was making to use against Sukarno, ostensibly showing Sukarno in the act. Others involved in these efforts were Robert Maheu, and Bing Crosby and his brother. The Agency tried to keep its coup participation covert, but one "mercenary" met misfortune early. Shot down and captured during a bombing run, Allen Lawrence Pope was carrying all kinds of ID on his person to indicate that he was an employee of the CIA. The U.S. Government, right up to President Eisenhower, tried to deny that the CIA was involved at all, but the Pope revelations made a mockery of this. Not cowed by the foment, as Arbenz had been in Guatemala, Sukarno marshalled those forces loyal to him and crushed the CIA-aided rebellion. Prior to the Bay of Pigs, this was the Agency's single largest failed operation. 1959: Copper Mountain At this point,

Freeport Sulphur entered the Indonesian picture. In July, 1959, Charles Wight, then President of Freeport-and reported to be fomenting anti-Castro plots and flying to Canada and/or Cuba with Clay Shaw (see Part I of this article)-was busy defending his company against House Committee accusations of overcharging the Government for the nickel ore processed at the Government-owned plant in Nicaro, Cuba.

 The Committee recommended that the Justice Department pursue an investigation. Freeport's Moa Bay Mining Company had only just opened, and already the future in Cuba looked bleak. In August, 1959, Freeport Director and top engineer Forbes Wilson met with Jan van Gruisen, managing director of the East Borneo Company, a mining concern. Gruisen had just stumbled upon a dusty report first made in 1936 regarding a mountain called the "Ertsberg" ("Copper Mountain") in Dutch New Guinea, by Jean Jacques Dozy. Hidden away for years in a Netherlands library during Nazi attacks, the report had only recently resurfaced. Dozy reported a mountain heavy with copper ore. If true, this could justify a new Freeport diversification effort into copper. Wilson cabled Freeport's New York headquarters asking for permission and money to make a joint exploration effort with the East Borneo Company.

The contract was signed February 1, 1960. With the aid of a native guide, Wilson spent the next several months amidst the near-stone age natives as he forged through near impassable places on his way to the Ertsberg. Wilson wrote a book about this journey, called The Conquest of Copper Mountain. When he finally arrived, he was excited at what he found: � cost of monopril pills � purchase fosinopril online an unusually high degree of mineralization ... The Ertsberg turned out to be 40% to 50% iron ... and 3% copper ... Three percent is quite rich for a deposit of copper ... The Ertsberg also contains certain amounts of even more rare silver and gold. � where can i buy monopril without a prescription � monopril generic drug He cabled back a message in prearranged code to the soon-to-be President of Freeport, Bob Hills in New York: ... thirteen acres rock above ground additional 14 acres each 100 meter depth sampling progressive color appears dark access egress formidable all hands well advise Sextant regards. "Thirteen acres" meant 13 million tons of ore above ground. "Color appears dark" meant that the grade of ore was good. "Sextant" was code for the East Borneo Company. The expedition was over in July of 1960. Freeport's board was not eager to go ahead with a new and predictably costly venture on the heels of the expropriation of their mining facilities in Cuba. But the board decided to at least press ahead with the next phase of exploration: a more detailed investigation of the ore samples and commercial potential.

Wilson described the results of this effort: � order moduretic online � low cost moduretic now [M]ining consultants confirmed our estimates of 13 million tons of ore above ground and another 14 million below ground for each 100 meters of depth. Other consultants estimated that the cost of a plant to process 5,000 tons of ore a day would be around $60 million and that the cost of producing copper would be 16� a pound after credit for small amounts of gold and silver associated with the copper. At the time, copper was selling in world markets for around 35� a pound. From these data, Freeport's financial department calculated that the company could recover its investment in three years and then begin earning an attractive profit. � discount prices on moduretic � where can i buy moduretic without a prescription The operation proved technically difficult, involving newly invented helicopters and diamond drills.

Complicating the situation was the outbreak of a near-war between the Dutch-who were still occupying West Irian-and Sukarno's forces which landed there to reclaim the land as their own. Fighting even broke out near the access road to Freeport's venture. By mid-1961, Freeport's engineers strongly felt that the project should be pursued. But by that time, John F. Kennedy had taken over the office of President.

And he was pursuing a far different course than the previous administration. Kennedy and Sukarno � order moduretic without prescription � how much does amiloride cost "No wonder Sukarno doesn't like us very much. He has to sit down with people who tried to overthrow him." - President Kennedy, 1961 Up until Kennedy's time, the aid predominantly offered to Indonesia from this country came mostly in the form of military support. Kennedy had other ideas.

After a positive 1961 meeting with Sukarno in the United States, Kennedy appointed a team of economists to study ways that economic aid could help Indonesia develop in constructive ways. Kennedy understood that Sukarno took aid and arms from the Soviets and the Chinese because he needed the help, not because he was eager to fall under communist rule. American aid would prevent Sukarno from becoming dependent on Communist supplies. And Sukarno had already put down a communist rebellion in 1948.

Even the State Department in the United States conceded that Sukarno was more nationalist than Communist. But the pressing problem during Kennedy's short term was the issue of West Irian. The Dutch had taken an ever more aggressive stance, and Sukarno was assuming a military posture. America, as allies to both, was caught in the middle. Kennedy asked Ellsworth Bunker to attempt to mediate an agreement between the Dutch and Indonesian governments. "The role of the mediator," said Kennedy, "is not a happy one; we are prepared to have everybody mad if it makes some progress." It did make everybody mad. But it did make progress. Ultimately, the U.S. pressured the Dutch behind the scenes to yield to Indonesia.

Bobby Kennedy was enlisted in this effort, visiting both Sukarno in Indonesia and the Dutch at the Hague. Said Roger Hilsman in To Move a Nation: Sukarno came to recognize in Robert Kennedy the same tough integrity and loyalty that he had seen in his brother, the President, combined with a true understanding of what the new nationalisms were really all about.

 So with preliminary overtures having been made to Sukarno and the Hague, Bunker took over the nitty gritty of getting each side to talk to each other. The Dutch, unwilling to concede the last vestige of their once-great empire to their foe, pressed instead for West Irian to become an independent country. But Sukarno knew it was a symbol to his people of final independence from the Dutch. And all knew that the Papuan natives there had no hope of forming any kind of functioning government, having only just recently been pushed from a primitive existence into the modern world.

The United Nations voted to cede West Irian fully to Indonesia, with the provision that, by 1969, the people of West Irian would be granted an opportunity to vote whether to remain with or secede from Indonesia. Kennedy seized the moment, issuing National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 179, dated August 16, 1962: � buy ovral in the uk � discount prices on norplant With the peaceful settlement of the West Irian dispute now in prospect, I would like to see us capitalize on the U.S. role in promoting this settlement to move toward a new and better relationship with Indonesia.

 I gather that with this issue resolved the Indonesians too would like to move in this direction and will be presenting us with numerous requests. � low cost norplant now � purchase ovral without prescription To seize this opportunity, will all agencies concerned please review their programs for Indonesia and assess what further measures might be useful. I have in mind the possibility of expanded civic action, military aid, and economic stabilization and development programs as well as diplomatic initiatives

. Roger Hilsman elaborated on what Kennedy meant by civic action: "rehabilitating canals, draining swampland to create new rice paddies, building bridges and roads, and so on." Freeport and West Irian Kennedy's aid in brokering Indonesian sovereignty over West Irian could only have come as a blow to Freeport Sulphur's board. Freeport already had a positive relationship with the Dutch, who had authorized the initial exploratory missions there. During the negotiation period, Freeport approached the U.N., but the U.N. said Freeport would have to discuss their plans with the Indonesian officials. When Freeport went to the Indonesian embassy in Washington, they received no response.

Lamented Forbes Wilson: Not long after Indonesia obtained control over Western New Guinea in 1963, then-President Sukarno, who had consolidated his executive power, made a series of moves which would have discouraged even the most eager prospective Western investor.

He expropriated nearly all foreign investments in Indonesia. He ordered American agencies, including the Agency for International Development, to leave the country. He cultivated close ties with Communist China and with Indonesia's Communist Party, known as the PKI. � buy ortho evra in the uk � lo ovral 1962 had been a difficult year for Freeport. They were under attack on the stockpiling issue. Freeport was still reeling from having their lucrative facilities expropriated in Cuba. And now they sat, staring at a potential fortune in Indonesia. But with Kennedy giving tacit support to Sukarno, their hopes looked bleak indeed. Reversal of Fortunes Kennedy stepped up the aid package to Indonesia, offering $11 million.

 In addition, he planned a personal visit there in early 1964. While Kennedy was trying to support Sukarno, other forces were countering their efforts. Public dissent in the Senate brewed over continuing to aid Indonesia while the Communist party there remained strong. Kennedy persisted. He approved this particular aid package on November 19, 1963. Three days later, Sukarno lost his best ally in the west. Shortly, he would lose the aid package too.

 Sukarno was much shaken by the news of Kennedy's death. Bobby made the trip the President had originally planned to take, in January, 1964. Cindy Adams asked Sukarno what he thought of Bobby, and got more than she asked for: Sukarno's face lit up. "Bob is very warm. He is like his brother. I loved his brother. He understood me. I designed and built a special guest house on the palace grounds for John F. Kennedy, who promised me he'd come here and be the first American President ever to pay a state visit to this country." He fell silent. "Now he'll never come." Sukarno was perspiring freely. He repeatedly mopped his brow and chest. "Tell me, why did they kill Kennedy?" Sukarno noted with irony that the very day Kennedy was assassinated, his Chief of Bodyguards was in Washington to study how to protect a president. Looking to the future, he was not optimistic: