The United States - Indonesia Society was founded in 1994 by Indonesians and Americans who agreed on the need for an organization to focus on expanding mutual understanding. The first sentence of its set of basic principles clearly states: "The United States - Indonesia Society is dedicated to expanding understanding of Indonesia and to the importance of the United States - Indonesia relationship".
Ed and Allene Masters who were fully involved from the initial days of USINDO are finally saying farewell to their active roles. Their years of selfless dedication, and deep commitment to forge USINDO into an effective instrument that could enhance understanding and closer cooperation between Indonesians and Americans, are demonstrated by the completion of so many educational projects in various parts of Indonesia. Allene Masters personally has guided and patiently tutored so many groups of young Americans during their summer visits to various parts of Indonesia.
We are not dealing here with the usual case of former diplomats who like to return to the country of their former posting and spend the remaining years of their lives doing something good in order to feel good themselves.
It is true Ed Masters served as Political Counselor, Deputy Chief of Mission and Ambassador at the US Embassy in Jakarta. Precisely because of those years from the mid-1960s onward, when the Masters experienced the ups and down of modern Indonesian history, they came to the conclusion that Americans and the United States should be more engaged with this large archipelagic state in Southeast Asia.
It is indeed a political miracle that given the grave crises the bilateral relationship experienced in the late 1950s, a bellicose Republic of Indonesia that was fiercely anti-American did not emerge in Southeast Asia. In September 1957, the White House National Security Council chaired by president Dwight Eisenhower endorsed a number of policy recommendations to break up Indonesia, including a possible regime change in Jakarta.
It was precisely a former US ambassador, Hugh S. Cumming, who had served in Indonesia and in his new senior position at the State Department had the ears of Secretary of State John Fosters Dulles, who became alarmist of Java becoming communist (so Sumatra, with its oilfields, had to be saved) and president Sukarno going "leftist" that was instrumental in formulating the NSC decisions on Indonesia.
Why the massive US intervention, spearheaded by the Central Intelligence Agency, in Indonesia in the late 1950s failed so abysmally is indeed an interesting story that reveals the resilience of Indonesian nationhood.
More important, however, is to point out how Indonesia and the United States virtually rediscovered each other after a new geopolitical map appeared in Southeast Asia, after the failure and the demise of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in its clumsy attempt for power in late 1965.
It is not easy to build a sturdy structure of bilateral relations between peoples with such contrasting cultural backgrounds and differing historical experiences as between Indonesians and Americans.
It is thanks to the good friends of Indonesia who have worked so hard, such as Ed and Allene Masters, that gradually, an increasing number of decision makers in Washington DC and at corporate headquarters throughout the United States are acquiring a better understanding of the dynamics of Indonesian social, cultural and political affairs. And thanks to the dedication of Ed and Allene Masters, we in Indonesia, become aware that the positive potential of the United States when channeled effectively is indeed impressive.
Selamat Jalan!
