In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

As I pack my bags for Book Expo America, where I will meet with publishers whose generous donations are improving the lives of millions, I am struck by the high level of participation by the publishing industry and the general public. About 25,000 people will gather in Los Angeles for three days to discuss the latest trends, hear talks from bestselling authors, and get up-to-speed on this year’s must-read titles. Moreover, we are there to celebrate the importance of books and learning.

No matter where you live, education is a key factor in development; and everywhere teachers, parents, and educators face enormous challenges. We are all familiar with schools and libraries that lack materials, supplies, or the budget to improve their collections. While there are clear needs for improvements in education in the U.S., the situation we see on the ground in Asia is far more dire.

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Ten years ago, in May 1998, rioters thronged the streets of Jakarta, activists occupied the parliament building, students were shot and killed, stores were looted and burned, and attacks and rapes of ethnic Chinese took place. Eventually, then-President Soeharto stepped down from the post he had held for over 32 years, and Indonesia began the momentous transition to a democracy.

Against that backdrop, and the 30 years of authoritarian rule that preceded it, it is nothing short of remarkable that, today, Indonesia is recognized as the most vibrant and stable democracy in the region. Last week, Indonesians paused to remember the dramatic events of ten years ago, and to take stock of how far their nation has come since then.

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It has been 10 years since Indonesia turned a new page in its history and entered the post-Soeharto Reformasi era. The women’s movement was at the very center of the Reformasi movement when a group of women, who called themselves “Concerned Mothers,” became the first mass of people to enter the streets of Jakarta to protest increased milk prices. After 10 years of Reformasi and four presidents, it is an ideal time to reflect on a number of important reform milestones in the area of women’s rights. Two reform efforts should be highlighted as achievements of the Indonesian women’s movement in demanding equal status and protection of women’s rights: the protection of women’s rights through institutional reform within the government; and the legal reform spearheaded by women activists and their counterparts in the national parliament to promote equal status of women.

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In March, I traveled to Quetta and Peshawar to oversee the distribution of 15,000 books to the University of Balochistan and the University of Peshawar.

Books can annihilate a sense of distance, whether between people or places. In Pakistan, donations from Books for Asia (BFA) ” amounting to 2.5 million books since 1954 — have traditionally concentrated on Pakistan’s major cities, offering great benefit to public schools and universities, libraries, and nongovernmental organizations. Now there is an effort underway to expand the program in Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In March, a large donation reached Quetta, in Balochistan, and Peshawar, in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), helping to ensure that more Pakistani students can access information.

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The Asia Foundation’s president, Doug Bereuter, addresses NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin. To access his speeches on Afghanistan, click here.

The Asia Foundation’s China Representative, Jonathan Stromseth, to Participate in Emergency China Donor Briefing. For more information, click here.

Books for Asia Director, Melody Zavala, to Attend Book Expo America in Los Angeles. For interviews, please contact Debbie Felix at dfelix@asiafound.org.

Barnett Baron, Executive Vice President of the Asia Foundation, led a workshop on governance, internal management and funding of nonprofits for Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) in Hanoi on May 26. Along with experts from India, Philippines, and the U.S., he covered international experience with nonprofit boards, certification systems, rating, and self-monitoring mechanisms in the three countries. The program was part of a Foundation grant to VUSTA, under which it is preparing a guidebook for Vietnamese NGOs on nonprofit governance, management, evaluation, and funding.

In the April 17th edition of the Christian Science Monitor, Michael Armacost, The Asia Foundation’s Board of Trustees’ Chairman and Stanford’s Shorenstein APARC Distinguished Fellow ” also formerly the President of the Brookings Institution and U.S. Ambassador to both Korea and Japan — discusses U.S.-South Korea ties and points out challenges ahead. “From free trade to North Korea’s nuclear threat,” writes Armacost, “both sides must move past years of missteps.”

You can read it by clicking here.

Rangoon, May 20. I am staying in a house without electricity, and at night I write by candlelight, the battery on my laptop dwindling, draining. In the mornings, I go to one of the city’s high-end hotels for the Internet connection. I want reliable information about the ravaged fishing villages and rice farming communities in the Delta. I seek people out for their stories”executives, aid workers, doctors.

A businessman who has just returned from the worst-hit south-western part of the Delta in a private boat loaded with supplies, shows me film footage of villages that are nothing more than piles of water-logged timber. Shocked survivors huddle under make-shift shelters, with no access to relief supplies or medicine. Pointing to villages further south, in areas not yet reached by any aid two weeks after the storm, they say blankly into the camera, “Down there, it is even worse.”

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The security situation in Timor-Leste seems to be improving. Since the February 11th attacks on President Ramos-Horta and Prime Minster Xanana Gusmao, Dili has been remarkably quiet. With the April 27 surrender of Gastao Salsinha and the remaining rebel hold-outs, the government has shown that it can use negotiation to resolve an ongoing security threat. Growing military and police cooperation indicates that the dangerous rivalry between the two has diminished. To the occasional visitor, the country seems a very different place from 2006 when street violence was a daily occurrence.

The relative calm, however, may be misleading, as many of the challenges from 2006 remain.

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You might ask why Timor-Leste, at the very bottom of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) rankings at 202 of all countries, is likely to be a future talent factory for football. I see three promising factors.

First, Timorese possess an inexhaustible fighting spirit. Not 10 years ago, during the Indonesian occupation, Timor-Leste’s isolation was almost complete. Possessing a radio was a punishable crime; speaking a foreign language other than Indonesian led to detention and imprisonment. An estimated 180,000 Timorese were killed during the occupation. The Indonesian withdrawal left over 80 percent of Timor- Leste’s infrastructure destroyed. Now it’s rising from the ashes.

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The first trip out is Singapore, January 8. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies organized its annual conference, “East Asian Outlook.” Then it was meeting the ASEAN Cultures Minister in Myanmar and after that the ASEAN Tourism Minister. Then the ASEAN senior officials meeting, and then, before I could return for a fresh set of clothes in either Jakarta or Bangkok, the ASEAN Standing Committee retreat in Brunei.

The World Economic Forum in Switzerland came before I could regain my composure from all the flying and airline meals. The leaders of ASEAN, led by the current Chair, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, brought ASEAN to the world stage, high in the Swiss Alps. It was a swift operation. We swooped into the Davos Conference Center, put on our show, drove down the slippery slopes of the High Alps to Zurich, and flew off to our separate destinations. I think we left a very strong impression among the snow-bound power players of the world.

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