Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat

Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat (Sudjadnan) is a former Indonesian diplomat, who served under the Department of Foreign Affairs for over two decades, before being convicted of corruption and imprisoned in 2011. Sudjadnan has held a number of high-profile positions within the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Indonesian government, including Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2002 to 2006), Indonesian Ambassador to Australia (2001 to 2002) and later to the United States (2006 to 2009).^[1]

Personal

Sudjadnan was born on 21 October 1952 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is married with three children.

Education

Sudjadnan graduated from the Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 1978 with a degree in International Relations. He then completed several courses with the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs and in 1997 undertook the Master of International Affairs (MIA) Programme at Columbia University, New York City, USA Jakarta.^[2]

Career

Sudjadnan has held a number of portfolios in Indonesia’s Foreign Service, since he began working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981.

From 1982 to 1984, Sudjadnan served as attaché to the Indonesian Permanent Mission to Geneva; from 1984 to 1986, as Second Secretary to the Indonesian Permanent Mission in Vienna; from 1986 to 1988, as Head of Disarmament Section, Department of Foreign Affairs in Jakarta; and, from 1989 to 1992, Sudjadnan was the First Secretary in the Indonesian Permanent Mission to Geneva. In 1993, he returned to Jakarta where was appointed Head of Sub-Directorate Politics and Security in the Department of Foreign Affairs.^[2]

From 1996 until 1998, Sudjadnan served as Minister Counsellor at Indonesia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City; in 1999 as the Secretary for the Task Force on the Implementation of the East Timor Referendum; from 1999 until 2001 as Director for International Organisations; and from 2001 to 2002 as Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia and Vanuatu.^[1]

From 2002 to 2006, Sudjadnan spent four years as the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, serving as senior official meeting leader for both the Asia Africa Summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In addition, he chaired the Third Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee meeting during the treaty’s 2005 review and spoke at the Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference in April 2009.^[3]

On 13 January 2006, Sudjadnan was appointed Indonesian ambassador to the United States.^[4]

Arrests and Controversies

Bribery Conviction

In 2011, the Anti-Corruption Court in Jakarta found Sudjadnan guilty of having unlawfully disbursed funds to Indonesia’s embassy in Singapore in 2003 when he was Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[5]

Sudjadnan was accused by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of receiving US$200,000 in bribes from the-then Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore, Mochamad Slamet Hidayat, in 2003 to ensure that the Ministry office approved additional funds for the renovation of Indonesian Employee housing in Singapore.

In a January 2011 court hearing, Sudjadnan did not deny the payment, but said the amount his office received in April and months later in 2004 was in fact US$112,000..- and apologised for his involvement in corruption. He claimed as "..nothing went into my pocket" as he defended before the court and that "...the fund I received was used to finance the Ministry's non-budgeted activities which I was told was common practices in government institution during that day". He denied causing any losses to the State.^[6] Sudjadnan was sentenced to 20 months in prison and paid some US$11,000,- penalty although the Court noted that prior to the hearing he had paid some US$150,000.- compensation to the government with his own money. Slamet Hidayat had previously received a three year prison sentence following his confession in 2008.^[7] {edited in May 2012}.

Sudjadnan was released sooner than expected, in January 2012. However, weeks after his release, in February 2012, the KPK named him a suspect in a different case.^[5]

Misappropriation of Government Budget

The KPK allege that Sudjadnan was responsible for “budget misappropriations” linked to 16 international seminars and conferences organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004 and 2005, causing losses to the state of approximately US$2 million.^[5]

The KPK summoned several ministry officials and politicians for questioning, including Indonesia’s ambassador to Canada, Dienne Hardianti Moehario.^[8] Sudjadnan’s defense is that, following the Bali bombings, President Megawati gave instruction to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and himself as Secretary General of the Ministry that to improve the country’s image, Indonesia should host as many international conferences as possible. Sudjadnan took pride in putting together 16 international conferences in just two years, stating “In truth, the benefits Indonesia gained from the conferences are worth more than the amount of money the KPK alleges I misappropriated… Altogether, the conferences may have cost the state at least Rp 81 billion, but in return the country got more than that.” Sources in the Indonesian MFA testify that in February 2004 he was assigned to involve actively in the conference on anti terrorism held in Nusa Dua Bali, which had resulted in the Australian donation of A$38.3 million (approx. Rp 270 Billion) to the Indonesian government for international cooperation in combating terrorism. In prompt to the December 2004 Tsunami disaster in Aceh he was appointed by President SBY as Chairman of Tsunami Summit Organizing Committee, Jakarta 5–6 January 2005. Despite 8 days preparation the Summit he proudly organized was attended by UN Secretary General, 17 Head of States or Governments and 10 Special Envoys generated over US$4.2 Billion (approx. Rp. 36 Trillion) assistance. Much more over the pledged amount was finally delivered for various rehabilitation and reconstruction programs recovering Aceh from the Earthquake and Tsunami disaster. He also took the initiative to reform and streamline the administration units of the Ministry and all of Indonesia overseas posts 2002 - 2005. The reform process that took effect since January 2006 has saved the Indonesian Government budget approximately US $3.4 million per year from overhead costs omission.{edited in May 2012}

According to Sudjadnan, financing for all 16 conferences was approved by the Ministry of Finance.^[5]

References