Bonum Certa Men Certa

Cablegate: Bill Gates Uses AIDS to Bring Microsoft Windows to Indonesia at Expense of Linux-based OLPC (Updated)

Cablegate



Summary: HIV/AIDS and avian influenza a back-door Trojan for a computer deal with Microsoft deal written all over it

USING malaria to attack GNU/Linux is not uncommon. Gates loves using "health" as an excuse to lobby politicians and then have them commit to Microsoft Windows at the same time. It's a clever trick. If someone berates Gates for suppressing GNU/Linux adoption, then his PR people will accuse the critics of leading to deaths of people.



In what initially seems like another Cablegate cable about AIDS (see these two cables), there is actually a part which says that "The Ambassador requested a meeting with Bakrie after learning of his proposed February 5 visit to the Gates Foundation through a Microsoft contact."

Notice how the Gates Foundation and Microsoft remain inseparable. Then it says: "Bakrie hopes that Microsoft can help Indonesia expand access to computers in schools and throughout the country. [...] software for one million computers. Bakrie also hopes Microsoft will use its contacts to help persuade other information technology companies to provide hardware. The Ambassador noted that Nicholas Negroponte leads One Laptop per Child and offered to help make contact."

Well, we all know what Microsoft did to OLPC.

Here is the cable from 2008:








VZCZCXRO7588 RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM DE RUEHJA #0126/01 0220921 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 220921Z JAN 08 FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7703 RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J07/CATMED/CAT// RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 8296 RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1899 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1075 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 7717 UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000126

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, G/AIAG AND OES USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/ABHAT/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO, AMED, CASC, EAGR, AMGT, PGOV, ID, SUBJECT: BAKRIE DESCRIBES GATES FOUNDATION AGENDA

REF: Jakarta 68

1.(SBU) Summary. Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie told the Ambassador on January 21 that a five-member delegation planned to visit the Gates Foundation in Seattle on February 5 to discuss health concerns and Indonesia's interest in expanding access to computers. Bakrie noted that the Indonesian delegation would make presentations to the Foundation's Global Health Program on HIV/AIDS and avian influenza and may also discuss tuberculosis. The Ambassador described growing concerns about Indonesia's handling of avian influenza, noting that the Foundation may be more receptive to other health collaboration. Bakrie expressed interest in joining the delegation if the Foundation could change the date. End Summary.

Proposed Visit to Gates Foundation ----------------------------------

2. (SBU) The Ambassador requested a meeting with Bakrie after learning of his proposed February 5 visit to the Gates Foundation through a Microsoft contact. Bakrie told the Ambassador that the Indonesia government had exchanged letters with Dr. Tadataka Yamada, President of Global Health Program, and planned to send a five-member delegation to visit the Foundation on February 5. Bakrie explained that Indonesia is seeking programmatic support from both Microsoft and the Gates Foundation on computer and health concerns.

Increasing Access to Computers ------------------------------

3. (SBU) Bakrie hopes that Microsoft can help Indonesia expand access to computers in schools and throughout the country. Indonesia currently has one computer for every 1,000 people. With a goal of providing one computer for every 20 people, Indonesia will seek Microsoft assistance in providing software for one million computers. Bakrie also hopes Microsoft will use its contacts to help persuade other information technology companies to provide hardware. The Ambassador noted that Nicholas Negroponte leads One Laptop per Child and offered to help make contact.

Health Challenges of AI, HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis --------------------------------------------- ------

4. (SBU) Bakrie described Indonesia's planned presentations to the Foundation on both avian influenza and HIV/AIDS. The Ambassador noted that Indonesia and the Gates Foundation could benefit from a friendly but frank discussion of health issues. The Ambassador cautioned that the Gates Foundation may not be receptive to proposed collaboration on AI, noting growing international concerns about Indonesia's continued refusal to share samples while its avian influenza fatality rate is increasing and cases continue to occur in Tangerang, the district adjacent to the international airport. Bakrie noted that sample sharing would need to be worked out in accordance with Geneva talks and dismissed the severity of the AI problem, stating that tuberculosis is really the bigger crisis that continues to be ignored. The Ambassador encouraged Bakrie to raise tuberculosis concerns with the Foundation.

Delegation Members ------------------

5. (SBU) Bakrie expressed interest in joining the GOI delegation if the Foundation could change the date. Current members of the delegation include:

-- Dr. Nafsiah Mboi, Secretary to the National AIDS Commission

-- Dr. Broto Wasisto, Head of the Ministry of Health Committee on Drug Control

-- Tantri Yuliandini, National AIDS Resource Center Coordinator

-- Bayu Krisnamurthi, Executive Secretary, National Committee on Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness

JAKARTA 00000126 002 OF 002

-- Dr. Heru Setijanto, Secretary, National Committee on Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness.

HUME







Notice how Microsoft and AIDS somehow make it into the same cable. Is it about helping people or just corporations with patents (including those who sell very expensive drugs, not just Windows)?

Update: Also see the following cable from around the same time. The subject is "Bill Gates Visits Indonesia for Global Leadership Forum".








VZCZCXRO1698 PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM DE RUEHJA #0927 1330653 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 120653Z MAY 08 ZFR FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8966 RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC RUEAWJB/DOJ WASHDC RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 7778 UNCLAS JAKARTA 000927

SIPDIS SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, G/AIAG, L/DL, EAP/EX, EB/CIP AND OES/IHA USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN USDA/FAS/OSTA BRANT, ROSENBLUM USDA/APHIS ANNELLI

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO, EAGR, KFLU, ECPS, AMGT, PGOV, ID SUBJECT: Bill Gates Visits Indonesia for Global Leadership Forum

//////////////////ZFR/////////////ZFR//////// /ZFR PLEASE ZFR THE ABOVE JAKARTA MRN 927 IMI PLEASE ZFR THE ABOVE JAKARTA MRN 927 AND BLANK ALL ASSOCIATED MCN'S. MESSAGE WAS CANCELLED PER DRAFTER. MESSAGE WAS SENT IN ERROR. WE ZOB. //////////ZFR////////////////ZFR//////////ZFR

HEFFERN







Here is another cable of interest. "Government Leaders Forum Asia" includes Bill Gates, even though he is not a government leader (or maybe he is a de facto one). Once again we see how HIV/AIDS and avian influenza are being used to help Microsoft.








VZCZCXRO1610 PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM DE RUEHJA #0932 1330854 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 120854Z MAY 08 FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8969 RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC RUEAWJB/DOJ WASHDC RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 7779 UNCLAS JAKARTA 000932

SIPDIS SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, G/AIAG, L/DL, EAP/EX, EB/CIP AND OES/IHA USAID FOR ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL DEPT ALSO PASS TO HHS/WSTEIGER/MSTLOUIS AND HHS/NIH GENEVA FOR WHO/HOHMAN USDA/FAS/OSTA BRANT, ROSENBLUM USDA/APHIS ANNELLI

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO, EAGR, KFLU, ECPS, AMGT, PGOV, ID SUBJECT: Bill Gates Attends Government Leaders Forum Asia

1. (U) During the May 8-9 Microsoft Government Leaders Forum (GLF) in Jakarta, Bill Gates praised President Yudhoyono for personally leading Indonesia's national committee on information technology and for setting ambitious goals. Gates said that while not all of Indonesia's goals in information technology will likely be achievable in current timeframes, having lofty goals in itself is a best practice as it serves as a driver towards achievement. Yudhoyono highlighted the USAID/MCC-supported E-Procurement system as an example of Indonesia's effort to promote electronic governance in order to streamline processes and improve transparency. Over 200 government leaders and private sector participants from other Asian countries attended the forum that focused on education, health and economic development.

2. (SBU) During the forum, Microsoft President Director for Indonesia Tony Chen told Embassy staff that hosting the GLF Conference in Jakarta was a boon to both Microsoft Indonesia and to the Indonesian government. He thanked Embassy staff for assistance, emphasizing the important role Ambassador Hume played in allaying Microsoft leadership's security concerns. Hume's trip to Redmond, Washington was one of the important factors in Microsoft's decision to hold the forum in Jakarta.

3.(SBU) On the sides of the forum, a Gates Foundation official queried Embassy staff on latest developments in avian influenza sample sharing and on recent Ministry of Health actions barring NAMRU-2 from receiving samples. He noted that Indonesian media had mischaracterized the Gates Foundation's interest in avian influenza assistance to Indonesia. The Gates Foundation was interested in working on new vaccine development technologies that would ultimately eliminate chronic global vaccine shortages years from now. The Foundation was not planning on specific assistance to Indonesia to develop an avian influenza vaccine.

4. (SBU) On May 9, Bill Gates spoke to 2,000 assembled government officials and students at a Presidential Lecture organized by the Kadin Secretariat. During the event, Gates recognized a student group from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) as the national of a Microsoft sponsored innovation competition and also announced that Universitas Pelita Harapan has been named the fifth Indonesian university that will host a Microsoft innovation center.

HEFFERN





Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Apple is the Company of Dictators and Worse
Apple is just another greedy corporation in search of sweatshops and even pedophiles (especially the high-profile ones)
Counting Unhatched Eggs Is Not Counting Chickens
Everything here will persist as normal
The "Infinite Bread"
The biblical story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 has software parallels
In Many Cases and in Many Different Ways, Technology Became Less Durable and Less Reliable Over Time
The "modern" things are more complex. And complexity is a foe or reliability and repair-ability.
Microsoft's LinkedIn is Losing Money, Traffic, and Hope; Now It Wants to Sell Its Users' Lifeblood (and Data)
Let this be a reminder of what social control media really is about
Microsoft Lunduke: Freedom of Speech Means Spreading What I Have to Say and Banning People I Disagree With
4Chan is one he aims for and he is siccing 4Chan trolls at people he doesn't like
Richard Stallman Back at the "Rudolf-Diesel" Hörsal "MW 2001" in About 40 Hours
He spoke there before; there's a very high seating capacity there
 
Richard Stallman to Give Another Talk Today in Bavaria (Bavarian Academy of Science)
Tomorrow at 6 PM he speaks in Munich
Barry Kauler Explains That Puppy Linux and EasyOS Exclude Systemd to Keep Things Simple
Barry Kauler's Puppy Linux is in the community's hands. He now focuses on EasyOS and more.
Half a Year After Brian Fagioli Got Kicked Out of BetaNews for Slop He's Still Doing LLM Slop and Slop Images Targeting 'Linux' (Plagiarising Original Works)
If the Web gets polluted or flooded by slopfarms such as these, and Slashdot then sends traffic so these slopfarms (Slashdot probably doesn't do this intentionally), then real writers with real knowledge of GNU/Linux will lose the spark for publishing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 19, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 19, 2025
Campaign of FUD Against Framework Laptops and GNU/Linux (Using Microsoft's Attack on Linux, 'Secure Boot')
Ritual Defamation Cult has turned its attention over to Framework
Liberation From 'The Feed'
They rank things based on the editor's choice/ideology (he or she knows the sponsors, hence the masters)
Microsoft's Killing of Vista 10 Seems to Have Resulted in More Articles About GNU/Linux (But Also FUD)
We not only saw a rise in traffic, we also saw a remarkable rise in the number of articles
Today (a Day Before Richard Stallman Talk at TUM) There's a Patent Propaganda Event at TUM
Perhaps an opportunity for Dr. Stallman to rebut this "invention to patent" nonsense/fantasy (conflating monopolies with innovation)
OpenSource or "Open Source" as a Brand is Dying, Let's Get Back to Talking About Software Freedom
Those of us who actually want to reform the industry and put users in control of their systems/devices will recognise that "Open Source" was selling a lie or got-co-opted by liars
19 Years in Numbers: Techrights' Anniversary Countdown and Retrospective
In 2019 we began improving our workflows and, accordingly/predictably, we became a lot more productive
Slop Turns People Off (LLMs Lack Intelligence, They're Just Plagiarism Powerhouses That Fail to Deliver Any Real, Measurable Value)
"More" (or "MOAR") isn't always better
IBM Red Hat Has Re-calibrated or Adjusted to Bubble Economics, False Promises, and Slop/Plagiarism
This won't end well
Fake Numbers, Fake Claims, Fake Economy, and Media Grifters That Prop Up Fraud
Grifters like The Register MS won't be looked upon kindly after the bubble implodes
For Some, the GNU Web Site is Not Accessible This Week
They seem to have gone into some kind of lock-down mode
Symptoms of Upcoming Microsoft Layoffs in XBox
A crashing franchise
Psychiatrist confession: Germanwings crash & Debian toxic culture recognized before suicides
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/10/2025: Scentjacking 101, Slop Hype Boosters, and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Slopwatch: The Serial Slopper, LinuxSecurity, and Google News
Let's hope slopfarms die as soon as possible
Links 19/10/2025: Cambodia Scam Centres, Slop Hurting Wikipedia Traffic
Links for the day
As Economies Crumble Free as in Beer Will Matter, Not Just Free as in Freedom/Libre (Libertad)
French regions choosing to embrace Software Freedom
25 Years Ago, an Explanation of How Reducing Free Software to 'Apps' Would Interfere With Freedom Goals
there's nothing unreasonable about it
A List of 63 Known Gemini Clients (Software to Browse Geminispace Content With Gemini Protocol)
Not counting browser plugins for Web browsers
Gemini Links 19/10/2025: "Firma Odin Is Transforming" and Bot Attacks While "AFK"
Links for the day
US Government: 6.1% of Site Visitors Use GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has a considerable share and it is growing
LLM Slop Could Not Rise to Prominence Without Media Complicity and Artificial Hype
Inane garbage disguised as "journalism"
Why the FSF No Longer Recommends Debian, as Explained by Richard Stallman This Month
some weeks ago
All the Latest Half Dozen Articles by Mehedi Hasan (UbuntuPIT) Only Admit at the End That He's Using LLM Slop
Disclosure is OK, but the practice of using slop is not
The 'Modern' Web of Fake Security and Easy Censorship of Whole Domains
Each year it gets worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 18, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 18, 2025
The Term "AI" is Not New and What Today's Media Calls "AI" Isn't Even AI
Only the hype was new... and totally artificial
Gemini Links 18/10/2025: "Planetary Rings", Steam, and PSU Replacement
Links for the day
Defeating LLM Abuse (State-of-the-Art Plagiarism) in the Area of Linux and GNU, Free Software, BSD, Security and So On
The aim is to get them to stop using LLMs to rip off other people's work
Links 18/10/2025: Russell Vought in Charge, US Government Leans to Russia Again
Links for the day
Credit Where It's Due: LinuxConfig.org Quit Doing LLM Slop, Back to Original and Real Articles
We waited for a while to say this, now it seems conclusive
Of Note: UbuntuPIT Aware of Critics of Slop, Adds Disclosure of Use of LLMs
We appreciate the honesty
Links 18/10/2025: Madagascar's President Flees and ICE Arrests Protest Comedian Robby Roadsteamer
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Near the European Patent Office (EPO) in 3 Days From Now
It'll be a good opportunity for patent examiners to listen, ask questions, and maybe greet him in person
From Scholar to Booster of Slop (and Even Slop in His Own Blog)
We're going to keep an eye on future posts of his
End of Vista 10 Also Good News for the BSDs
There are many news sites that recommend trying GNU/Linux this month
What's Wrong With Liking Parrots or Birds as Pets?
They'd demonise people for speaking about freedom, no matter what they say or do
Digital Sanitation Good Practices
leave behind Microsoftism
10 Days Ago Richard Stallman Gave a Long Interview in French (linuxfr.org)
English translation
Science, Not Fast Food/Junk Food
The commercial exploitation of users won't stop until users exercise full control over their software or - more broadly - their computing (including data)
The Free Software Foundation, Which Has Appointed a 43-Year-Old President, is Looking to Add Another Board Member (or Treasurer)
expect the FSF to add more people
Richard Stallman Confirms Next Week's Talk at Technical University of Munich, We Urge EPO Staff to Attend
That's probably late enough for EPO staff to attend after work
Gemini Links 18/10/2025: Notifications and Geminaut
Links for the day
Many Red Hat People Are Leaving, But It'll Be Framed Publicly as Leaving IBM
Similarly, IBM layoffs (or "RAs" as they're called) include Red Hat layoffs
Expect More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs This Month (at Least Two Rounds Confirmed Already)
From what we can gather, assuming the recent rumours about XBox are true, there will be at least 3 waves of Microsoft layoffs this month alone
Security Issues in Cisco and Jenkins Passed Off as "Linux" Problems
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) tactics
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 17, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 17, 2025