Envoy Pascoe: Foodie with a mission

Envoy Pascoe: Foodie with a mission

Yenni Djahidin, Contributor, Washington D.C.

The State Department press officer was still talking about rules
for the interview when the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to
Indonesia entered the room.

B. Lynn Pascoe extended his right hand and introduced himself
with a broad smile. He seemed relaxed and friendly.

"I don't have an office here," Pascoe said. The interview was
carried out in a small, windowless room in the heavily fortified
State Department headquarters. With recent confirmation from the
U.S. Senate, he is now waiting to depart for his new post at the
U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

"We (he and his wife Diane) are looking forward to it very
much," Pascoe told The Jakarta Post. He said there was nowhere
more exciting in East Asia than Indonesia.

Pascoe and his wife have spent many years in Asia -- including
two-and-a-half years when he was ambassador to Malaysia -- but
they have never before been to Indonesia.

Confessing he was not very knowledgeable about Indonesia,
Pascoe said he was endeavoring to learn more about the country,
including its language.

"My wife and I worked at Bahasa Indonesia part-time for the
past month. So, at this point, I am very much a beginner," he
said. Pascoe also said he has been reading a lot about the
history, politics and culture of the country.

"I've read enough to know that I know very little, so I will
keep working on that when I get there." he said.

He said Indonesia has come along very well with reform. "I've
been in this business for a long time, and nothing is more
exciting than to see a country that is changing -- booming as
quickly as Indonesia," he said.

"We should always remind ourselves that it's only been six
years since (president) Soeharto was in power," he said.

Before his appointment as ambassador to Indonesia, B. Lynn
Pascoe worked as deputy assistant secretary for European and
Asian affairs.

In his 37 years with the US foreign service, he also served in
Thailand, Taiwan, and China.

Pascoe said the U.S. had every reason to have a good
relationship with Indonesia. Both countries are important to each
other, he noted. "It's important that we work together to produce
the kind of world that we all want to live in," he said.

The ambassador said he believed the U.S. and Indonesia would
continue to have a very close relationship, regardless of who won
the presidential election in the U.S." I see that there is a very
positive future," he said.

Among his top priorities are finding out what the new
Indonesian government and the Indonesian people want "and then
trying to figure out how we might be able to help."

He also said that he is interested in the development of the
Indonesian economy and the problems of terrorism.

Pascoe grew up in a small town on the Mississippi in the state
of Missouri. He added, "I always tell people I can quote Mark
Twain about my childhood.

Mark Twain always said, 'If you want to know anything about my
childhood, read Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.' And, I can
say, just as Mark Twain did, if you want to know anything about
my childhood, you can still read the same books because 100 years
later, it hasn't changed that much: It's still a small town in
Missouri."

The ambassador explained why he uses an initial in place of
his first name. He said his mother always called him by his
middle name, Lynn, instead of Burton.

Pascoe now has two grown daughters and two grandchildren. One
of his daughters also works for the State Department.

He likes to read nonfiction books and sees movies only
occasionally. "I don't watch television," he said.

However, he said, the Pascoes love to eat good food. He noted
that, as students in Taiwan many years ago, they used to go out
in search of good food. He said they often tried food sold by
street vendors.

"That's when we developed a taste for really good food, not
the served-to-foreigners kind of food," he said. "One of the
things that we're already looking forward to is the variety of
food," he said, with a loud laugh. He added that his wife is a
"mango fanatic."

The new ambassador said he plays golf once a week. "But I am a
bad golfer," he chuckled.