There is lots of wrangling with numerous last minute changes before Albright is finally allowed to meet with East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao. She has to meet with pro-Indonesian Timorese before they agree to let her meet Gusmao. Her 26-hour visit keeps 60 US embassy staff busy for weeks. I only spend about 30 minutes actually interpreting, though I am present for most meetings in the event a non-English speaking participant should speak. During the time I sit quietly in these many meetings, I focus on sending love to these leaders and inviting them to open to what is best for all of us. In a meeting with (future president) Megawati, Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth asks me to speak louder, but also highly compliments my work stating, "Albright wants to hire you." These two women leaders thoroughly enjoy their brief conversation. Because of the long travel times involved, I receive payment for six days of work at over $400/day.
April 2000 – Armandina Gusmao and other East Timor (Timor Leste) Leaders
During a one-month study tour of the US, the future East Timorese President's sister, Armandina, shares with me a number of incredibly inspiring stories of narrow escapes and spiritual protection she received while under arrest. She was under threat of murder and rape several times. She told of being friends with the wife of East Timor's Indonesian governor, all the while sending important information she received from the governor's wife and others to her brother's secret rebel base. During one meeting, a top former UN official describes corruption at the highest levels of the UN East Timorese mission, which is preventing a truly representative democracy from being established there. He lost his job for exposing what he found.
Sept. 18 – 21, 2001 – Indonesian President Megawati's visit to White House, more
Only a week after the 9/11 attacks, Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri meets with US President Bush in the Oval office. She also meets Vice President Dick Cheney, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the House International Relations Committee, women senators Boxer, Feinstein, and Carnahan, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, World Bank Director James Wolfenson, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, IMF Managing Director Horst Kohler, and Henry Kissinger.
Before our first meeting, President Megawati's main interpreter asks me to take his place and interpret for him. I tell him that this is strictly against protocol. After pressuring me several other times with no success, he finally exclaims with exasperation, "Megawati doesn't like me." In the end I agree, and end up interpreting for both sides in many meetings. Megawati always speaks in Indonesian at these meetings. Though she can speak and understand English fairly well, she sometimes misunderstands, which can lead to embarrassing situations. Her personal friend Karen Brooks, the Director for Asian Affairs of the National Security Council (NSC), convinces Megawati to allow me to whisper simultaneously into her ear, so that whenever she misses something in English, she can catch what was said in my interpretation. This works beautifully throughout the three-day visit.
Oval Office meeting between presidents. I am given the talking points the previous day by NSC Asian Affairs Director Karen Brooks. As this is only one week after the 9/11 attacks, terrorism accounts for about half of the topics to be discussed. However, the other topics include long, detailed information on Indonesia. I ask Karen how President Bush will be able to discuss such detailed information on Indonesia, to which she responds, "I don't know." At the meeting itself, President Bush uses no notes or prompting during their 90-minute conversation, yet covers all topics very well! This is highly unusual. I could not have done it. Did he possibly use an earpiece? (for more on this, click here) As we prepare to bid farewell after a short stroll through the White House, President Bush makes eye contact with me, expresses his gratitude, shakes my hand, and comments "Good job." I sense a sincere warmth. During a photo-op before the Oval Office meeting, a White House official insists I stand in the wrong position, yet this ends up putting me on national television that evening.
Pre-banquet private meeting. 40 top US industry CEOs talk for about two minutes each. Each of them lectures President Megawati on what they think she should do to stimulate investment in her country. Yet amazingly, Megawati is given absolutely no time to respond! This is culturally very inappropriate, tantamount to an insult.
World Bank President James Wolfenson. At one point in this meeting, Wolfenson states, "My assistants won't support me in this, but I recommend you focus on small and medium-size domestic industry."
Special flight to New York City to meet with Kissinger. President Megawati meets only with the top echelon of leaders in her three-day visit to the US. Yet the government arranges to have her make a special flight to New York for a one-hour meeting with Henry Kissinger. Very strange. I am not included in this one. He is obviously still very powerful.
C St. House. This is a place in Washington DC about which few people know, where all members of Congress are invited to set aside party differences, and to connect in a deeper, non-political way in an unofficial context. The saying used here is "We are all the same before God." This common ground was established in 1942 at a time of global crisis. On her visit here, Megawati is invited to create a similar place for the Indonesian Parliament. After this inspiring meeting, one congressman comments to me, "I wish I could communicate with my wife the way you do with Megawati." As we near the conclusion of Megawati's US visit, one Indonesian minister in the delegation invites me to his home. Another offers vital information, and a couple Indonesian officials even suggest the possibility of hiring me to interpret for Megawati in future.
Sept. 16, 2002 – Secret Meeting with President Megawati in her home
I receive a call on Friday asking if I can take a flight the next day to interpret at a secret meeting in Indonesia. Present at the meeting are US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce, NSC expert Karen Brooks, and a CIA agent presented as a "Special Assistant to the President." They pressure Megawati to "render" (secretly capture and turn over) Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is accused by the US of being the mastermind behind Jemaah Islamiah, which is suspected to be a sister organization to Al Qaeda. The "Special Assistant" states that through the confessions of Omar al-Faruq, who Indonesia previously rendered to the US, they now have proof Ba'asyir attempted to assassinate Megawati twice.
Megawati responds that she can't fulfill their request as Ba'asyir is too well known (he's something like a Muslim version of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson in US). After the US team puts further pressure on her, she states that she could do this "only if public support of him were to change." The special assistant responds with an apparent threat, "There will be problems if Ba'asyir is not rendered by the APEC meeting," which will take place in six weeks. President Megawati's response: "I hope this doesn't lead to a severing of the good relations between our two countries." The US team is quite surprised by this response. They later ask me to confirm that this is what she actually said.
The intelligence shared with Megawati in this meeting and much more is leaked to Time, who puts the story on the front page of their Sept. 23rd issue. Karen Brooks thinks Indonesian intelligence leaked this classified information, as they were also briefed. I witness the many layers of secrecy in the US embassy. Heavy barricades around the embassy show just how defensive the US government has become.
Funny story. In my hurry to pack and leave for this meeting, for the first time I forgot to pack my dress shirts on this trip. As I had a day in Indonesia before the scheduled meeting, I ran out and bought new shirts, but hadn't yet ironed them. While working in casual clothes at the embassy, I was told there had been a sudden plan change, that we were going to have the meeting "now!" instead of next day. When I told an embassy official that my clothes weren't ready, he looked at me, asked the size of my neck, waist, chest, inseam… I ended up wearing his suit to the meeting, which amazingly was a perfect fit!!! This is quite a miracle for someone who is six feet four inches tall!
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