AFTER A YEAR OF WRANGLING, REAGAN NAMES AMBASSADOR TO INDONESIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 14, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350002-0
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
14 October 1982
Af ter a year or wrangling, Reagan names
ambassador Indonesia STAT
Daniel Southerland
Staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
The appointment of a career diplomat to be America's
ambassador in Jakarta ends a controversy that for some
months now his disturbed US-Indonesian relations as well as
morale at the US Sate Department.
Because of the political wrangling over one ambassador-
,designate and controversy surrounding -another candidate,
the sensitive and important posting of ambassador to the
world's fi,t largest nation had been vacant for nearly a
year. President Reagan finally ended the dispute by naming
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Af-
fairs John H. Roldridge, a veteran, Chinese-speaking diplo-
mat.
Mr. Hold_-idpe's appointment drew almost universal
pry trorri =z :e Dartrnent officials a good num r o
whom were a^aered by earner re its that the post mi ht go {
to Kent B. Crane. Mr. Crane, president of an international
investtnen: and ccrsultif2 firm and ex-aide to former ice-
President S-niro T. Agnew, was re rted to have ties with a
leading Indon a businessman Crane has denied press re-_
po*ts that served with the La Central Ingelligence
A encv in i ,9er??ria stating instead that a was a )uruor
diplomat yr * ? , - o? ei~n Seritce. whatever Crane's
ground, back-
many .,reign Service ofncers were' convinced that
he did not have the sttahu needed for the Indonesia job. -
Prior to Crane and others, the White House had decided to
name Morton Abramowitz,.a former ambassador to Thai-
land. to head t f Jakarta embassy. But in part because of a
confidentwJ mernorandi:zT; circulated by some of Mr.
Abramowitz".- cpoonents, Indonesian officials decided that
they did not wan: him as ambassador to their country.
The confidential memorandum appeared to be strewn
with inaccn acres. but it ended up poisoning the atmosphere
for Abramowi=. It charged, for example, that under the Car-
ter administration, he had been the architect of plans for the
withdrawal of US troops from South Korea. when in fact
Abramowitz had in private administration councils opposed
the proposed withdrawal from Korea.
President Reagan announced Holdridge's.nomination at a
state dinner for visiting Indonesian President Suharto at the
White House on Oct. 12. Mr. Suharto seemed to be pleased
with the announcement. So did Holdridge.
. Some State Department officials saw the band of Secre-
tary of State George P. Shultz in all this. Some conservatives
have demanded that he agree to more political appointments
for State Department jobs. But Mr. Shultz has been relying
heavily on career diplomats for most key assigw,;ents.
But Holdridge's appointment does not end the State De-
partment's problems - one of which is the nomination of
Richard R. Burt as assistant secretary of state for European
affairs. That nomination has been held up for weeks by Sen.
Jesse A. Helms (R) of North Carolina. Senator Helms has
Charged that while working for the New York Times in 1979,
Mr. Burt wrote a story that disclosed classified information.
Democrats have retaliated by holding up the appointment of
a Helms protege, Richard T. McCormack. a former aide who
is to be assistant secretary of state for economic affairs.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201350002-0