Visiting of U.S Congressional Mission in American Corner Gadjah Mada University: A Report

by Titisari Handayani

Place: American Corner UGM, 3rd floor, Main Library Building 
Time: 10:00 am 
Date: September 2, 2004

                                                                                                                         American Corner at Gadjah Mada University is visited by Congress Staffs from Washington D.C on September 2, 2004. They are Mr Mark E. Morrison, Mr Jacob Kurtzer, Mr Jonathan O'Neal Dilley, Mr David Morgenstern and Mr Don MacDonald. They are accompanied by representative from USINDO Jakarta and Ibu Roselani as a contact person of USINDO in Gadjah Mada University whom she is also a lecturer in Faculty of Cultural Sciences, English Department.The Visitors were at the American Corner from 3.30 pm to 4.00 pm after visiting Faculty of Cultural Sciences at Gadjah Mada University.

After we introduced each other they looked around from reading room, books, computers, internet, DVD room and posters. Some of them asked questions to pak Ida Fajar, Chief of Gadjah Mada University Libraries, asked to ibu Titisari and ibu Cahya and the others asked and talked to users of the American Corner whom one of them is an undergraduate student of the Faculty of Law GMU whom he had won in the English debate nationally and also had attended the international event. It seemed their discussion very interested when I saw them from away. The Questions which are asked from how many users visit everyday, who selected reference books, how many computers are available in the Corner, DVD, internet, web, do we charge internet for users, online journal, magazines, programs, our working hours, do we open for the public to the others American Corners in Indonesia.

We provided a folder with some information about Gadjah Mada University such as Gadjah Mada University booklet, American Corner brochure, information about Gadjah Mada University Libraries and some others information which are related with library activities to every Visitors. They left American Corner at 4:00 pm after some of the Visitors wrote their names in the Guest book. Here, I also enclosed the writing from the Faculty of Law student so that you can read what kind of discussion happened between them at that time from the student's perspective, as below:

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A Report on a U.S. Congressional Mission to the American Corner of UGM By: Heriyanto Yang
(Undergraduate Student, Law Faculty, Gadjah Mada University)

On September 2, 2004, an entourage of U.S. Congressional Staff paid a visit to the American Corner of UGM. They comprised of staff members of a number of U.S. senators and House members. There were, I reckon, about ten of them. I was studying in the Corner when they arrived; therefore I had the luxury of holding two of them for a brief conversation: Jonathan O'Neal Dilley and Jacob Kurtzer. Mr. Dilley was a Legislative Assistant to House Member (Rep.) Dan Burton, of the Fifth District of Indiana, while Mr. Kurtzer was a staff member of a Democratic House member. From our initial conversation, I learned that they had been to Jakarta days earlier and the purpose of the trip was to learn more, by the very first hand account, of Indonesia's current affairs & interest, especially vis a vis the U.S. After some sort of exchanging pleasantries, we chatted over some issues.

Mr. Dilley seemed to be particularly interested in how I, whom he might take as a representative, or a "sample", so to speak, of Indonesian youth, saw America. His first question was, "What do you think about America? What comes to your mind when your hear "United States"?" I answered that to me the States was the most dynamic & paradoxical country in the world: it might have things I like & admire the most, and at the same time might have things I disgust the most. I explained to him how, in my opinion, the U.S. had failed to proportionally, appropriately, understand the Islamic world and thereby had imposed wrong, and counterproductive to the American interest to a great extent, policies concerning the Islamic world, including Indonesia, the country with the heftiest Muslim population in the world; though I myself am not a Muslim. I also said "among others: the incumbent president and the way he puts his statements, his "reckless" throwaway remarks, as well as the neo-conservatives around him" in response to Mr. Dilley's question of, "What are the things that disgust you the most about America?". I told him I was strongly against the idea of Pan-Americanism, in the sense that everything American was inherently, by its very American nature, the best or superior to the non-American ones; simply because it was American and others were not. But the Americans were not at all completely responsible for such a commonplace trend; the Asians contributed a no less large part to it by embracing "Pan-American values". I went on that personally I did think that there are many things I like the most & admire the most about America, but simply because they were good, they had worth-of-admiration qualities, not because they were American (then they were inherently superior, or even perfect!). However, Mr. Dilley, Mr. Kurtzer, and I shared a common ground that both countries (Indonesia and the U.S.) were in fact very similar in their background, their founding history, population mapping, as well as the nature of the state, and these served as a basis to conclude that there was much more Indonesia could, and had to, learn from the U.S. as a more established democracy.

Upon learning that I was of Chinese descent and a buddhist, Mr. Kurtzer asked me on how it felt belonging to the minority, and even a double minority: ethnic-wise and religion-wise, in Indonesia. I responded by saying that it was not at all that easy to answer this with a simple and generalized explanation; what I could briefly explain was that yes, there were discrimination and anti-Chinese sentiment in certain places or communities, yes there were anti-Chinese riots every now and then, but yes, at the very same time I could take an active and significant part in anything in this country and felt no difference nor was I discriminated, to the extent that I, as a case in point, had ever been elected president of a national law students' association and had been the Indonesian chief delegate in an ASEAN law students' conference in Singapore.

By the end of the conversation Mr. Dilley asked me what I would do after graduation, to which my response was, "to land myself a scholarship to study in a well-reputed American law school. Would be very grateful if you can pave my way." We ended the conversation by exchanging contacts and e-mail accounts, after which Mr. Dilley asked if I had been to the States sometime before. I said, "Never." Mr. Dilley kindly asked me to feel free to spare him a call whenever I had the chance of visiting the States someday. I took it with pleasure and added that I would write him e-mails and keep him abreast of Indonesia's current affairs. I think it was a good, enriching conversation; so I would like to suggest that such a dialog be held more intensely and extensively. I believe it will be considerably fruitful as far as mutual understanding of both countries is concerned. By: Heriyanto Yang (Undergraduate Student, Law Faculty, Gadjah Mada University)