RI hires Bob Dole as lobbyist in U.S
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government indicated on Friday that it had hired former U.S. Republican Senator Bob Dole as the country's official lobbyist to deal with the U.S. administration in Washington.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' director for North and Central America, Dino Patti Djalal, refused to confirm the appointment, but pointed out that Dole has been helping Indonesia to resolve "certain" issues for some time.
"Bob Dole is actively helping to promote and expand the network of Indonesian friends in Washington," Dino told The Jakarta Post when contacted by telephone from Bangkok.
Dino played down the appointment of Dole, saying that the Indonesian government had frequently used lobbyists in the past to further its interests in Washington.
Separately, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Post that the appointment of Bob Dole was related to a long drawn-out legal dispute between state-owned oil company Pertamina and a U.S.- Indonesian consortium that controls Karaha Bodas Company (KBC).
The consortium comprises Florida Power Energy LLC and Caithness Energy LLC, and PT Sumarah Daya Sakti as its local partner. The power plant operated by the consortium is located in Garut, West Java.
The legal dispute started in 1998, when then president Soeharto suspended some 27 mega power projects, including KBC, as part of a deal he had signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). After Soeharto's fall, allegations began to emerge that most of the projects had been characterized by collusion and markups.
In 2000, an arbitration panel in Switzerland ordered Pertamina to pay KBC US$261 million in compensation, with $160 million being awarded to compensate the company's loss of potential profits. Pertamina refused to accept the arbitration panel's ruling.
Dino refused to go into details as to whether Dole was playing an active role in the Karaha Bodas case, saying he was not authorized to reveal the facts to the public.
"Sorry, I cannot go into the details," he said.
News of Dole's appointment came to light in Indonesia only after a report from The Far eastern Economic Review disclosed that the senator has been hired by the Indonesian government to represent its interests in Washington.
The magazine, in the Feb. 5 edition, quoted a senior U.S. official as saying that Dole had the ear of both Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, and could exercise considerable influence on Capitol Hill.
Dole, who is now special counsel to a major Washington law firm, ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate against Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election.