Harvard, Trisakti seminar begins

Harvard, Trisakti seminar begins

JAKARTA (JP): More than 100 students from 13 countries are
expected to gather here beginning today to discuss development
issues and to strengthen mutual understanding under the Harvard
Project for Asian and International Relations.

The conference, which Harvard University jointly organized
with Trisakti University, will try to avoid "sensitive" and
"political" issues, said Mark Wu, Chairman of the organizing
committee from Harvard University.

The three-day conference will carry the theme Sustaining the
Miracle: Challenges Facing Asian Development and will consist
mainly of commission workshops discussing economic development
strategies, foreign aid and infrastructure development, legal and
institutional development, the environment, women and development
and population and health issues.

Lectures which will be conducted by various government
officials and academic experts will also discuss the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum as well as deregulation and
development policies.

Wu, accompanied by the committee's President David Feldman,
said that although the issues discussed would be focused on
cooperation and mutual understanding, he was aware that
"political" and "sensitive" issues would be unavoidable.

"The conference is not intended to promote a certain ideology,
or to dictate a concept, but we feel it is important for students
to be open to others' ideology...Our view is not to determine
whether this is right or wrong, but to find out why there are
different opinions," he said.

The focus on cooperation, he said, is needed "to make sure
that we don't make the same fall as our leaders when we become
leaders in the future".

Indonesia was chosen as host country -- outdoing South Korea's
bid -- because holding the conference in a developing country
would ensure that delegates received first-hand information, he
said.

Feldman said that the conference does not aim at producing a
formal resolution since the topics discussed would not allow the
delegates to consider whether a development policy was "right" or
"wrong" or whether something else was better.

This is the fourth conference of its kind, with the first held
in 1992 in Japan. Participants who have confirmed their
attendance are from Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the
United States, the Netherlands and Austria. (pwn)