Anindya Bakrie JP/PJ Leo
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a prestigious foreign policy think-tank organization based in Washington, launched its Southeast Asian studies on Monday with funding from widely-diversified Bakrie Group, one of Indonesia's largest business conglomerates.
"Southeast Asian nations are critical players in the international community and global economy," Endowment vice president Douglas Paal said in announcing the establishment of the Bakrie Chair for Southeast Asian Studies. "Understanding the political and economic development of the region is essential to policymakers around the world."
Carnegie's works in Asia have mostly focused on China and more recently India, with Paal its most prominent Asian expert. Billing itself as the first truly global think tank with offices in Moscow, Beijing, Beirut and Brussels as well as Washington, it welcomes the opportunity provided by Bakrie's "generous pledge" to look at Southeast Asia, Indonesia in particular, more closely.
The precise amount was not disclosed.
The chair is sponsored by the not-for-profit Bakrie Foundation Center, which is headed by Anindya Bakrie, one of the most prominent members from the third generation of the family that founded and still controls one of the country's largest business groups. The center also provides scholarships for Indonesians to pursue master or doctoral degrees at top universities in Indonesia and around the world.
Members of the clan turned up at the launching ceremony, including Aburizal Bakrie, the one-time CEO of the group and chairman of Golkar, Indonesia's second largest party.
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