Indonesian government honors American diplomats
Indonesian government honors American diplomats
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government has presented awards
for meritorious services to two American diplomats, Philip Jessup
and Charton Ogburn, for their invaluable contribution to
Indonesian diplomacy during the early years of independence.
Jessup, who was chairman of the United Nations Security
Council in 1948, was awarded the Bintang Jasa Utama, while
Ogburn, who was a member of the UN Commission of Good Offices for
Indonesia in 1947-48, received the Bintang Jasa Pratama, Antara
reported from New York.
Neither men were present to accept the awards from Indonesia's
Ambassador to the United States Arifin Siregar in Washington on
Monday.
It was still a high-powered ceremony nevertheless, attended by
five former American ambassadors to Indonesia -- Marshall Green,
Edward Masters, John Holdridge, John Monjo and Robert Barry --
the U.S. ambassador designate to Indonesia J. Stapleton Roy and
Winston Lord, the U.S. undersecretary of state for Asia-Pacific.
Jessup, who passed away in 1986, was represented by his son
Philip C Jessup Jr, while Masters accepted the award for Ogburn,
who now lived in Beaufort, South Carolina, Antara said quoting
embassy spokesman Hupudio Supardi.
As chairman of the UN Security Council, Jessup was pivotal in
the peace mediation between Indonesia, which proclaimed its
independence immediately after the end of World War II in 1945,
and the Netherlands, which sought to reimpose colonial rule.
Jessup's hard work led to the establishment of the UN's Good
Offices Commission for Indonesia, which was staffed by the United
States, Australia and Belgium. The commission paved the way for
the Round Table Talks in The Hague that ended the conflict and
led to Dutch recognition of Indonesia's sovereignty in late 1949.
Born in 1897 in New York, Jessup was an international law
expert and an avid writer. One of his works, The Birth of Nations
reviewed seven newly independent countries, including Indonesia,
that emerged after the World War II.
Ogburn was deputy of the United States Delegation to the UN
Good Offices Commission whose blunt reports about the idealism
and fighting spirit of the Indonesian independence struggle
contrasted with the report filed by other U.S. agencies.
His report was crucial in changing Washington's position into
support for Indonesia, a move that paved the way for recognition
of Indonesia's independence by the international community.
A Georgian born in 1911, Ogburn is married to Vera Weidman
whom he met at the U.S. Consulate in Jakarta. (emb)