Fifty years in the life of a student, an institution and a nation

Fifty years in the life of a student, an institution and a nation

Wimar Witoelar
Jakarta

Fifty years ago he was nine going on ten, growing up in Jakarta.
It was hot and humid as it is now, without air conditioning, but
also without traffic congestion except on bad days in Jakarta
Kota. Freedom was in the air even for this boy. Newspapers spread
diverse viewpoints, cinemas played foreign movies and the radio
incessantly played fifties songs that were not oldies then.

The boy did not understand much politics. He did know
President Sukarno, everybody's hero. He heard people making
speeches and arguing passionately. He saw posters with symbols
that he learned represented political parties preparing for
elections. The boy never found out who won the elections. Sukarno
stayed on as a president.

Four years later, newspaper stories and pictures turned hard.
The 14-year-old boy turned his attention to soccer. But the
politics were serious; stadium tickets printed slogans like
Bubarkan Konstituante! Kembali ke UUD 45! ("Abolish the
Parliament! Return to the Constitution of 1945!") Eventually they
did go back to the 1945 constitution, whatever that meant.
Anyway, Sukarno became a dictator. By the time our boy entered
the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1963, Indonesia had become
a place of negatives. No western movies, and no western music. No
tight jeans and no upturned James Dean collars. Newspapers closed
down and political leaders shut their months. Communists and
Nationalists competed for attention and the Army seemed to be
everywhere.

In September 1965 the sky fell down on Indonesia. Coup d'etat
and countercoup were announced on the radio. The young student
listened in fascination. Inspired by Maj. Gen. Soeharto, he
became a student leader demanding democracy. But after Sukarno
fell, Soeharto and the army started to devour all political
space. Years of politics followed, and student activists hung
around campus.

In his seventh year at ITB, our student was invited to the
United States. The tour opened up tantalizing vistas of academic
freedom and endless freedom. He also met a girl on the tour, a
medical graduate from Thailand, and they promised to spend the
rest of their life together. They both knew the student was
committed to Indonesia, but felt they should have a stay in
America. Where else to prepare for life than in America, the land
of opportunity?

In reckless disregard of conventions, he went to companies and
institutions and presented his case for a scholarship to the
United States. Foundation after foundation was visited; they
asked him to come back after he obtained his Sarjana degree. It
became a chicken and egg situation, for he needed to break away
from Indonesia to get a degree.

Finally he meets a gentle supportive man named John Sutter. He
represented the Asia Foundation that had started in Indonesia in
1955, at the time this story started. The student managed to
attract John Sutter's trust to the point where the Asia
Foundation was willing to give him a chance. It was difficult
because the foundation did not actually focus on this kind of
individual support, concentrating instead on the supply of books
to universities and other places.

However, they would consider a scholarship only under certain
conditions, most importantly, taking academic tests such as the
TOEFL, SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and GRE (Graduate Record
Examination). The student loved taking these kinds of tests,
knowing he would do well. And he did.

To make a long story short, The Asia Foundation finally
provided a scholarship covering full tuition and books. The grant
did not cover living expenses, but it allowed part-time
employment subject to Foundation approval. A minimum grade
requirement had to be met.

Everything was easy after that. The student married the
doctor, and they both went to the George Washington University in
Washington DC. The student got A grades, in sharp contrast to his
mediocre grades in Indonesia. John Sutter had moved back to
Foundation headquarters in San Francisco. He contacted the
student from time to time and approved extension after extension.

By 1975 the dropout from ITB had completed three degrees, two
at the graduate level. He was able to expand his field from
Electrical Engineering and Systems Analysis to an MBA in Finance
and Investment. His wife ended her stay as Chief Resident in
Neurology at the GWU Hospital.

The experience in Washington sharpened his ideals. His success
in getting the trust of the Asia Foundation assured him that even
for an engineering student, a passion for politics and society
were not a waste of time. The academic degree gave him legitimacy
and knowledge.

But the real benefit of his American experience was to round
out concepts of democracy and public empowerment. The oppression
of the Soeharto years firmed up his belief in free expression,
and he developed simple concepts of freedom. His values were not
appreciated in the political space provided for university
lecturers, so he moved to the private sector.

While political tension and corruption built up, civil society
was consolidating itself under the surface. By coincidence, our
student found himself hosting a television talk show. The show
got a cult audience and the grantee turned into a media
personality. He was even recruited to be a presidential
spokesperson.

He met the current representative of the Asia Foundation,
Douglas Ramage, on many occasions. As they talked about old
times, the Asia Foundation grantee was asked to host the awards
ceremony at the 50th anniversary of the TAF. It was a wonderful
sensation read citations to the heroes of democratic development,
education reform, economic freedom, legal reform, media reform
and women's rights.

The boy of 1955 marveled at the changes that have occurred in
50 years, but also the constancy. Civil society heroes are now
respected and given public awards. He is happy to share the 50
years of the foundation, very proud to write this article. The
nation has worked its way to a vibrant hope for a peaceful,
prosperous and open society. Change is happening because common
goals have been shared for 50 years.

The writer is founder of InterMatrix Communications and is a
1971-1975 student grantee of The Asia Foundation.