Fulbright: An advocate and activist of world peace
Fulbright: An advocate and activist of world peace
By Amir Sidharta
JAKARTA (JP): Shortly after the United States bombed Hiroshima
and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, freshman Arkansas
Senator James William Fulbright called for the creation of an
international program for educational exchange. The program was
intended to help foster world peace by increasing mutual
understanding between the United States and other countries. In
August 1946, U.S. President Harry Truman signed what would later
become known as the Fulbright Act.
Interestingly, although intended for peace, the program was
initiated using military credit. The act stipulated that "foreign
credits earned overseas by the sales of U.S. wartime property
could be used to finance studies, research, instruction and other
educational activities of Americans in institutions of higher
learning abroad." However, funding for the scholarship later came
from other sources, such as universities in the States, foreign
governments, foreign and U.S. corporations, and individual
contributions.
Well before becoming a senator, Fulbright was known as an
ardent peace advocate. Supporting William Allen White's Committee
to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, he made efforts to stop
Nazi advances in Europe in 1940. In 1943, his first year in the
U.S. Congress, in the midst of World War II he fought
passionately for the approval of resolution that would lead to
the establishment of the United Nations.
From 1959 to 1974, Fulbright led the foreign relations
committee of the U.S. Senate. Personally he disapproved of the
presence of the United States in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Arrogance of Power (1967) -- his critique of U.S. foreign
policy -- was the main reason behind his country's insistence in
continuing the war in Southeast Asia.
For a long time, he opposed the United States government --
most of whom were Israel supporters -- on the way peace in the
Middle East should be achieved. Finally in 1973 he accused the
Senate as being dominated by Israeli interests. His critique cost
him the following year's elections. He asserted that
"Palestinians have as much right to a homeland as do the Jewish
people." In his last speech, he cautioned about the emergence of
war in the Middle East threatening the economic stability of the
West.
To date, approximately 200,000 scholars from 130 countries
around the world including the United States, have benefited from
the Fulbright scholarships. Many national leaders are
"Fulbrighters", including a former prime minister, a number of
ministers, as well as many university professors. Eleven are
Nobel Prize recipients.
In Indonesia, the Fulbright program has existed since 1952.
The scholarships have focused on select college graduates who are
interested in continuing their formal education in a U.S.
university. To date, the program has provided higher education
and academic experiences for around 700 scholars from a wide
range of fields, from the arts to the sciences.
The first Indonesian "Fulbrighter", Hassan Shadily, helped
foster mutual understanding through the English-Indonesian
dictionaries he co-authored with John Echols. In 1953, the late
Haj Agus Salim became lecturer of Islamic Studies at Cornell
University under the auspices of the Fulbright scholarship. With
the scholarship funds, the "Father" of Indonesian anthropology,
Koentjaraningrat, obtained his master's from Yale in 1954, then
returned to the States as a lecturer at Berkeley and a researcher
at Wisconsin.
Other Fulbrighters from Indonesia include towering literary
figures H.B. Jassin, Putu Wijaya, Subagio Sastrowardoyo, the late
film star Tuti Indra Malaon and political scientist Juwono
Soedarsono. In return, the program has also brought 300 American
scholars to Indonesia.
Last Thursday, Feb. 9, 1995, due to complications from a
stroke he suffered a few weeks before, former Senator Fulbright
passed away at the age of 89, leaving his wife Harriet, and two
daughters. In addition he also left behind thousands of
"Fulbrighters", alumni of his scholarship program. Through the
abilities they developed through the scholarships, Fulbrighters
have and will continue his plight for peace. UN Secretary General
Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali is a "Fulbrighter," as are Indonesian
Ambassador Hasyim Djalal, and Hamid Alhadad, a member of expert
staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Fulbright acknowledged that the scholarship program was
"designed to influence political matters through intelligent
leadership". As a result, mutual understanding in the
international world has advanced progressively, in which
Indonesia has played a significant role. Former Indonesian
minister of foreign affairs Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, a
"Fulbrighter," succeeded in getting his Wawasan Nusantara or the
nation's "archipelagic concept" of naval law ratified at the
United Nations, putting Indonesia on the map of international
law.
The program has also succeeded in developing education, as
most returning Fulbrighters become university lecturers. Directly
or indirectly, Fulbright has also played an important role in
fostering culture, the economy, industries, and technology in
Indonesia. As a result the nation has appeared as one of the most
rapidly advancing countries in the world.
However, within the nation, the Fulbright program has been
less successful in developing open and intelligent expression.
The thinking of certain Fulbrighters are still considered
unacceptable by the Indonesian government. Leading journalist
Aristides Katoppo accepted an offer to take on the Fulbright
scholarship in 1973 as an "exile" punishment for writings that
were considered undermining national stability. The Sinar Harapan
afternoon daily he led upon his return was later banned in 1978
and finally completely shut down in 1986. Similarly, the efforts
of "Fulbrighter" Arief Budiman to foster campus democracy at
Salatiga-based Universitas Satya Wacana was not supported by the
government. Instead, the noted scholar was expelled from the
institution where he taught.
The Fulbright scholarship program certainly has a lot of room
for improvement. Whereas it has managed "to stimulate the free
exchange of ideas between free nations" around the globe and
thereby nurturing peace, the program could improve mutual
understanding and an exchange of ideas among citizens of this
nation to a cooperative way of life in a democratic environment.