Specifically, the center is targeting young people; we can see this in most aspects of the center: the fact that is in a mall a place young Indonesians (or at least rich ones)  love to come (they claim), the ubiquity, once inside, of up-to-date technology such as a swathe of iPads that visitors to the center are free to use.

Lastly, we can point to the name which, whilst it would have been more up-to-date circa 1996, is nevertheless an obvious appeal to a younger demographic. It is the technology, though, that takes center stage here.

Opened  to some degree of fanfare by American undersecretary of state, Judith McHale, the center is described as “the world’s first high-tech American cultural center”.

What, though, is its purpose. Mchale, in her openning address,  stated that the opening of the center formed part of President Obama’s vision for people-to-people engagement.

It is intended to act as a neutral area for young Indonesians and young Americans to come together. It is the belief of the embassy staff who are responsible for bringing this vision into reality that in order to facilitate this, they must find a way to bring the Embassy “out from behind the embassy walls”.

There is something very comforting about seeing an America clearly desperate to have some kind of dialogue with Indonesian young people.

So keen are young Indonesians on social media and emerging technologies it is doubtless that this venture is a positive one.

Globally, too, an America more engaged with the world is a very positive step. Not only is it good PR for the Americans, but it is important to be seen to be listening and interacting with people, where the reverse has been the image of the world’s preeminent superpower for so long.

When one eventually passes security and through the iron doors, one is greeted by digital projections of their first theme (there will be a new one each month): oceans.

Giant digital sharks and starfish drift by on walls as the visitor makes their way to one of numerous touch-screen computers.

Tech savvy: Young visitors browse through their e-guides at the @america center. JP/Ricky Yudhistira Here they find some games and the odd quiz on American culture and history.

Once the visitor has learned the number of Indonesians studying in the US each year, they may feel like playing around on the giant projection of Google Earth with a games controller, or taking a photo in the digital photo booth.

There is also a wifi bar where iPads can be used at leisure and a lecture theater where lectures may take place or bands could perform. Even the odd piece of theater may be staged.

The children from a local high school who were invited to the event were taken by all of these things, particularly the iPads.

They played around with great enthusiasm and loved (perhaps even more) the opportunity it afforded them to speak English to the various English-speaking staff (dressed in ghastly American-themed outfits).

Embassy staff, too, chatted with school kids and played on games in a display of relaxed and good-humored fun.

The risk with so hi-tech a facility is that it becomes rapidly out-of-date. It is certainly a costly venture and will no doubt be costly to continue running.

However, if the Americans want to continue to shape this into something of real importance (and the presence of the under-secretary of state last Thursday would suggest they believe it to be particularly important), then they will need to continue to sink money into it to ensure it doesn’t become a sad, old and run-down place.

However, with the partnerships they have formed with Google, Microsoft and Cisco (the latter of whom provides video link-up technology to enable Indonesian students to speak with their American counterparts), three of the most technologically advanced organizations in the world, @america stands the best chance possible of staying up to the minute.

Crawling over Jakarta: A man looks at several buildings of Jakarta on display across several large screens. JP/Ricky Yudhistira Despite the slick and empassioned performance by embassy staff, no matter what they said, the moment questions were opened up to the media throng, the questions were all about the wikileaks cables which have so embarrassed the American government in the past two weeks.

Despite the questions, however, no interesting answers were given, perhaps unsurprisingly.  

The questions were met with a degree of exasperation by the attendant staff,  clearly annoyed at the timing of the bad press when they had such a good story to tell.

A nice story it is. With luck, young Indonesians will come to know it and will (as is intended) drop in during their weekend visit to the mall with their friends.

One suspects this may take some time and for the most time it will remain school groups who frequent @america initially.