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)