U.S.-Indonesia Society inaugurated in gala style

U.S.-Indonesia Society inaugurated in gala style

By Abdullah Balbed

WASHINGTON D.C. (JP): The United States-Indonesia Society was
officially inaugurated on Thursday evening with a reception at
the Mayflower Hotel.

Approximately 400 guests turned up at the reception, including
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, who was the guest of honor,
and Winston Lord, the U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and
Pacific Affairs, and Indonesia's ambassador to the United States
Arifin Siregar.

Former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia Edward Masters who is the
president of the society spoke at the beginning of the reception
to explain the aims of the organization.

He stressed Indonesia's importance to the United States and
that it is time for the U.S. to better understand Indonesia.

Secretary Brown in his brief remarks acknowledged that it is
time for the U.S. to pay more attention to Indonesia.

Brown mentioned that he and U.S. President Bill Clinton are
looking forward to visiting Indonesia in November for the
meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The Department of Commerce is giving a very high priority to
Indonesia because of its dynamic economic growth, he added.

Earlier in the day, the Board of Trustees of the society
convened its first meeting attended by Emil Salim (former
Indonesian state minister of population and the environment) and
Paul Wolfowitz (the former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia and
undersecretary of defense in the Bush administration). Emil and
Wolfowitz jointly chair the board.

Also attending were the other members of the board, including
Moh. Sadli (Indonesia's former minister of mines), Hasnan Habib
(former Indonesian ambassador to the U.S.). Former U.S. secretary
of state George Shultz sits on the honorary board of advisers.

Welcomed

The United States-Indonesia Society was formed in February
1994 as a private and nonprofit organization after a group of
Indonesians and Americans with first-hand experience in both
countries became concerned by what seemed to be growing problems
in the bilateral relationship and a lack of knowledge in the
United States about Indonesia's culture, history, popular
aspirations and governmental system.

The group which is convinced that sound U.S.-Indonesia ties
are of growing importance in today's complex world, felt the need
for an organization to focus on this relationship and help foster
better understanding of Indonesia in the United States and the
relationship between the two countries.

In an interview, Ambassador Arifin warmly welcomed the
society.

Through the continuous efforts of the embassy, Indonesia has
become better known, particularly among American officials,
congressmen and senators, the business community and the educated
circles, Arifin said.

To reach the general public, however, a lot more work needs to
be done and the ambassador expressed his confidence that the
society will be of great help to achieving this goal.

The results will be that the American general public will
learn more and gain a better understanding about Indonesia, not
only in the fields of government and economy, but also in other
fields such as culture and the social life of its people.