Tag Archives: US Embassy Jakarta

Indonesia’s Parliament Approves $32 Billion New Capital Nusantara in East Kalimantan

February 11, 2022 By in Realities of the FS, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , ,

 

The new US Embassy in Jakarata, Indonesia was completed in 2019. It was constructed by B.L. Harbert International of Birmingham, Alabama and designed by Davis Brody Bond Architects and Planners from New York. The $302 million design/build contract, awarded through best value determination was first announced in November 2012  by State/OBO.
“New diplomatic facilities totaling 47,000 square meters will be constructed on the existing embassy complex. The embassy is located in the historic center of Jakarta, surrounded by national government offices. When completed, the project will provide state-of-the-art workspace for approximately 1,300 embassy employees. The new complex will include a 10-story tower for consular and office space, with an attached residence for Marine security guards, as well as a multi-story parking garage.”
Last month, Indonesia’s Parliament approved the plan to moved its capital city from Jakarta to the island of Borneo; to be located in the East Kalimantan province. The new capital would be 1300 miles away from the current seat of government. The new capital Nusantara, which means “archipelago is to be built in stages through 2045. It will reportedly cover 2560 km2, about twice the area of New York City.
The United States will need a new embassy in Nusantara.

Pompeo Reads the Data Set Every Morning But Can’t Get @StateDept COVID-19 Casualty Details Right

April 1, 2020 By in Coronavirus, Huh? News, Leadership and Management, MEDical, Mike Pompeo, Realities of the FS, Secretary of State, Spectacular, State Department, Top Ranks, Trends, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , ,

 

On March 30, the number two official respectively from the Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Bureau of Medical Services held another joint Briefing on Updates On Health Impact and Assistance For American Citizens Abroad. When asked, “Are you aware of any deaths among the State Department staff due to coronavirus?”, MED’s Dr. William Walters responded:

So the department is aware of two locally employed staff – I don’t have locations and wouldn’t be able to provide further details – that have died overseas in their own country related to coronavirus.  I don’t have any further details that I can pass on.  There have been no deaths domestically or with any U.S. direct hires.  

Fast forward March 31, the Secretary Pompeo made remarks to the press, excerpt:

And lastly, you asked a question about disinformation in the moment here with the COVID-19 challenge.  I see it every day.  Every morning I get up and I read the data set from across the world, not only the tragedy that’s taking place here.  We’ve had a State Department official pass away as a result of this virus, one of our team members.  We now have 3,000 Americans who have been killed.  This is tragic.  My prayers go out to every American and every American family impacted by this.

This data set matters.  The ability to trust the data that you’re getting so that our scientists and doctors and experts at the World Health Organization and all across the world who are trying to figure out how to remediate this, how to find therapies, how to find – identify a solution which will ultimately be a vaccine, to determine whether the actions that we’re taking – the social distancing, all the things that we’re doing, limiting transportation, all those things we’re doing –  to figure out if they’re working so that we can save lives depends on the ability to have confidence and information about what has actually transpired.

This is the reason disinformation is dangerous.  It’s not because it’s bad politics.  It is because it puts lives at risk if we don’t have confidence in the information that’s coming from every country.  So I would urge every nation:  Do your best to collect the data.  Do your best to share that information.  We’re doing that.  We’re collecting, we’re sharing, and we’re making sure that we have good, sound basis upon which to make decisions about how to fight this infectious disease.  That’s the risk that comes when countries choose to engage in campaigns of disinformation across the world.

That made news, of course, but subsequently corrected, because as it turned out —  it was not accurate.
By afternoon, the State Department clarified that there were two employees killed by COVID-19, as revealed in the March 30 briefing. Both were local employees, one from Indonesia (on our list but until now unconfirmed), and another from Democratic Republic of Congo (we previously asked post and FSI about one DRC case, but both were mum as a clam in mud at low tide).
So the secretary of state told everyone at the briefing that “data set matters” and that every morning, he reads the data set from across the world.  Then he talked about one State Department official’s death — “one of our team members” — when THERE WASN’T ONE, and failed to mention during the briefing the death of TWO local employees from COVID-19, non-U.S. citizen members of the State Department family.
Uppercase voice used since he could not even get the casualty details right.
At the end of this story, Pompeo in a belated statement, cited the two local staffers from Jakarta and Kinshasa who died from COVID-19 and expressed “deepest sympathies and condolences.”

US Mission Indonesia Now on Ordered Departure For All Family Members Under 21

March 26, 2020 By in Americans Abroad, Coronavirus, Evacuations, MEDical, Realities of the FS, State Department, Trends, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

 

On March 26, the State Department issued a new Travel Advisory for Indonesia, a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory “due to the Global Health Advisory and Embassy Jakarta’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens.
It also announced the mandatory evacuation of all family members under 21 for US Mission Indonesia, including the US mission to ASEAN:

On March 25, the Department of State allowed for the Ordered Departure of all eligible family members (EFMs) under age 21 from Embassy Jakarta, Consulates Medan and Surabaya, and the U.S. Mission to ASEAN.

Commercial flight options may become limited, as well as decreased medical evacuation options from Indonesia. Indonesia’s health system has limited capacity to test for the virus causing COVID-19. Travelers should consider these factors and their health before traveling to Indonesia and follow the Centers for Disease Control’s guidelines for the prevention of coronavirus if they decide to travel.

Read the full advisory here.
Post’s March 20 Health Alert notes : “We understand that Indonesia’s health system has limited capacity to test for COVID-19 and to manage treatment of persons with COVID-19.[…] The government of Indonesia has implemented enhanced screening and quarantine measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19.  Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice. As of March 20, 2020, Indonesia has suspended entry for foreigners using visa exemption and visa on arrival.
Post’s March 17 Health Alert said, “The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Consulate General in Surabaya, and Consular Agency in Bali have implemented social distancing measures but remain open for Consular Services.” On March 20, it said, “The U.S. Mission in Indonesia has suspended routine consular services.”

2019 Holiday Greetings From Foreign Service Posts Around the World

December 24, 2019 By in Foreign Service, Holidays and Celebrations, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

U.S. Embassy Manila’s Amb. Sung Y. Kim to be the Next U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia

July 22, 2019 By in Ambassadors, FSOs, Nominations, Trump Tags: , , , ,

 

On July 10, the WH announced the president’s intent to nominate the current U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Y. Kim to be the next ambassador to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. The WH released the following brief bio:
Sung Y. Kim of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Indonesia.
Sung Y. Kim is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Career Minister, and currently serves as Ambassador to the Philippines.  Ambassador Kim’s extensive history of public service at the Department of State, including as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Special Envoy for the Six Party Talks, Director of the Office of Korean Affairs, Special Representative for North Korea Policy, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.  Earlier in his career, Ambassador Kim served as a Political Officer at the Embassies in Seoul, Republic of Korea, Tokyo, Japan, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Ambassador Kim earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, J.D. from Loyola University Law School, and Masters of Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.  Ambassador Kim received the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award in 2018, and he speaks Korean and Japanese.
If confirmed, Ambassador Kim would succeed Ambassador Robert Donovan, Jr. who was appointed to Jakarta on October 3, 2016 and has served as COM since  January 12, 2017.

Ambassador Sung Kim, US Embassy Manila (Via Twitter)

 

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@StateDept Dedicates the New U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia @usembassyjkt

March 20, 2019 By in Ambassadors, EAP|East Asia, Functional Bureaus, New Embassy, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , ,

 

Via State Department: 03/19/19 The Department of State Dedicates the New U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia

As a display of our enduring friendship and important partnerships with Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Joseph R. Donovan Jr., Chargé d’affaires for the U.S. Mission to ASEAN Jane Bocklage, and Director of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) Addison D. “Tad” Davis IV, along with Indonesian Government officials, dedicated the new U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia today.

The new complex provides a secure, modern, sustainable, and resilient platform for U.S. diplomacy in Indonesia and the ASEAN region.

Davis Brody Bond Architects and Planners of New York, New York is the design architect for the project and Page of Washington, D.C. is the architect of record. B.L. Harbert International of Birmingham, Alabama constructed the facility.

Since 1999, as part of the Department’s Capital Security Construction Program, OBO has completed 154 new diplomatic facilities and has an additional 49 projects in design or under construction.

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Ambassador Donovan notes that “This celebration comes at a very opportune time, as this year we are also celebrating 70 years of diplomatic ties between the United States and Indonesia. The United States was one of the first countries to recognize Indonesia’s independence, establishing our first embassy on December 28, 1949. When President Truman appointed the first U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, H. Merle Cochran, he reaffirmed U.S. support welcoming Indonesia into the “community of free nations.”

He added that architects and designers took into consideration Jakarta’s climate and that the building uses the latest in environmental sustainability features that reduces energy consumption. The covered walkways are topped with solar panels  and the exterior metal sunshades limit sun exposure and reduce the demand for air conditioning. The building’s design reportedly also incorporates water conservation strategies to irrigate the green landscaped areas by collecting and re-using storm run-off.

The primary building is finished but the State Department is also constructing a heritage building on the site used by a Republic of Indonesia delegation during negotiations for Indonesia’s independence with the Dutch in 1949. It is estimated that the completion of that building as well as a consular pavilion will occur by the end of 2019.

Related post:

Officially In: Joseph R. Donovan, Jr. — From AIT/DC to the Republic of Indonesia

July 14, 2016 By in EAP|East Asia, Foreign Service, FSOs, Nominations, Obama, Officially In Tags: , , ,

Posted: 3:02 am ET
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On July 13, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Joseph R. Donovan, Jr., to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia. The WH released the following brief bio:

Joseph R. Donovan Jr., a career member of the Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, is Managing Director of the Washington Office of the American Institute in Taiwan, a position he has held since 2014. Previously, Mr. Donovan served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon from 2012 to 2014, Associate Professor at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. from 2011 to 2012, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State from 2009 to 2011. He was the U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong from 2008 to 2009, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan from 2005 to 2008, and Director of the Department of State’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs from 2003 to 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Donovan was Political Section Chief at the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan from 2000 to 2003 and Political/Military Unit Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan from 1997 to 2000.Earlier assignments in the Foreign Service include posts in Taiwan, China, South Korea and Qatar.Before joining the Foreign Service, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Seoul, South Korea.

Mr. Donovan received a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an M.A. from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

Joseph Donovan, the Managing Director of AIT’s Washington office, met with President Ma Ying-jeou at the Presidential Office on February 10, 2015. (Photo by AIT/Flickr)

Joseph Donovan, the Managing Director of AIT’s Washington office, met with President Ma Ying-jeou at the Presidential Office on February 10, 2015. (Photo by AIT/Flickr)

If confirmed, Mr. Donovan would succeed career diplomat, Robert O. Blake, Jr. who was appointed ambassador to Jakarta on July 30, 2013.

 

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Ambassador Robert Blake Visits North Maluku and Papua (Photos)

March 17, 2016 By in Ambassadors, EAP|East Asia, Foreign Service, FSOs, Photo of the Day, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Posted: 12:42 am EDT
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The U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake visited Papua and the North Maluku early this year with stops in Ternate, Manokwari, Nabire and Jayapura.

We saw the photos and we recognize that this is Indonesia but have to idea where exactly these places are located. According to Wikipedia:  The Maluku Islands formed a single province since Indonesian independence until 1999, when it was split into two provinces. A new province, North Maluku, incorporates the area between Morotai and Sula, with the arc of islands from Buru and Seram to Wetar remaining within the existing Maluku Province. North Maluku is predominantly Muslim and its capital is Sofifi on Halmahera island. Maluku province has a larger Christian population and its capital is Ambon.  Between 1999 and 2002, conflict between Muslims and Christians killed thousands and displaced half a million people.

On the first leg of his trip Ambassador Blake visited with local officials on the island of Ternate where he toured the city’s port and visited a local tuna processing plant. Hey, that tuna is almost as big as the guy holding it!  All photos via US Embassy Jakarta/Flickr:

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Here are some more photos from the rest of that trip.

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US Embassy Jakarta: Shelter In Place On After Explosions Rock Indonesia’s Capital

January 14, 2016 By in Americans Abroad, Consular Work, EAP|East Asia, Foreign Service, Realities of the FS, Security, Social Media, Terrorism, Trends, U.S. Missions Tags: , ,

Posted: 2:20 am EDT
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Holiday Greetings From U.S. Embassies and Consulates Around the World – 2015

December 23, 2015 By in Foreign Service, Holidays and Celebrations, U.S. Missions, USAID, Video of the Week Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted: 12:58 am EDT
Updated: 12/23/15 @ 10:31 pm PDT
Updated 8:34 pm PDT
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For the rest of the holiday videos from U.S. embassies and consulates, please check out those from US Embassy Phnom Penh, US Embassy Bishkek, US Embassy Rome, US Consulate General Naples, US Consulate General Jerusalem, and US Embassy Helsinki.

U.S. Embassy Podgorica

 

U.S. Embassy Seoul

 

U.S. Embassy Vienna

 

U.S. Embassy Oslo

 

USCG Mumbai

 

U.S. Embassy Jakarta

 

U.S. Embassy Prague

 

U.S. Embassy Port Moresby

 

Happy Holidays From USAID

 

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