HOLDRIDGE HEADS FOR INDONESIA, LEAVES BEHIND BUREAUCRATIC WRANGLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 17, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STA1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350001-1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
17 October 1982
Holdridge Heads for Indonesia, Leaves Behind Bureaucratic Wrangle
AN, AP NEWS ANALYSIS, By Barry Schweid
WASHITGTON
Fc11 no one of the RcaGan adm;ini5trationIs not confusing and bruisinu
STAT
bureaucratic battles, John Holdridge has been named ambassador to Indonesia.
The cost is an important diplomatic assignment, since iroonesia is the fifth
nos t po-ulou.s nation in the world an, a major cif producer.
But some U.S. officials lament that the lengthy wrangling that led to
Holdridge'_ appointment also has had the effect of putting on hold the career of
one of the State Department's leading Asian experts, Morton I. Abramowitz.
And asses .ing holdridge's nomination clears the Senate, the 58-year-old career
diplomat leaves behind a big job, to be filled in the State Department and the
likelihood of a new debate over U.S. policy in the Far East, particularly China
and Taiwan.
Whoever is named to replace Hcldridge as assistant secretary of state for
East Asian 3,Ld Pacific Affairs probably will be sucked into the stormy debate,
in which Taiwan's supporters in Congress are expected to turn the nomination
hearinc into a forum; for attacking U.S. ties to Peking.
1:'i h Abramowitz cut of the running, the administration settled on a
k'a5hinctoln businessman, .:ent Crane, for Indonesia. According to some reports,
Crane was a former Central Intelligence Agency undercover agent with close
ties to PreZidEt.t Sui;;:rto.
':. State Dcuarln-in6 pro 47 iona~s were un1a y wi L`1 he .y. election, and
e li ~e Lieu=c dr~rr. id .I one amiu growing cost Lrover5y over his selection in
favor of Holdridge.
Ray C__ne, E former deputy director of the CIA who opposed Abramowitz, said
he hopes whoever is chosen will not overemphasise the importance of ties to
China.
"The idea that they are the 17th member of INATC is a crock," he said in an
interview. "They're not playing our game, they are playing their own."
Cline considers Japan and the other capitalist countries in Asia vital. We
do more trading with them than with all of Europe," he said.
Several candidates for Holdridge's job at the State Department have surfaced.
They include Gaston Sigur of the National Security Council and former Asia
scholar at George Washington University; Richard Ar L:litace, deputy secretary of
defense for international security affairs; and Eugene Douglas. the
r_
L: ~ f 1 fal l
- ~yG. for refugee 1 i rJ
~~.'r-:~ t .4
Provir.v how topsj'-turvy the bureaucracy can be, there are even reports the
o, t=.. -... f c A b r a. o w i t Z.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350001-1