Resources
About the hosts and panelists on the East-West Connection: An International Town Meeting with Indonesia’s Metro TV.
Panelists from Washington, DC:
Carl Gershman is President of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, congressionally supported grant-making institution with the mission to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts.
In addition to presiding over the Endowment's grants program in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Latin America, he has overseen the creation of the quarterly Journal of Democracy, International Forum for Democratic Studies, and the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program. He also took the lead in launching in New Delhi in 1999 the World Movement for Democracy, which is a global network of democracy practitioners and scholars. Mr. Gershman is currently encouraging other democracies to establish their own foundations devoted to the promotion of democratic institutions in the world.
Prior to assuming the position with the Endowment, Mr. Gershman was Senior Counselor to the United States Representative to the United Nations, in which capacity he served as the U.S. Representative to the U.N.'s Third Committee that deals with human rights issues, and also as Alternate Representative of the U.S. to the U.N. Security Council. While at the U.S. Mission to the U.N., Mr. Gershman also served as lead consultant to the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, and helped draft the final report. Prior to his assignment at the United States Mission to the United Nations, Mr. Gershman was a Resident Scholar at Freedom House and Executive Director of Social Democrats, USA.
Karl Jackson is the Director of the Asian Studies and Southeast Asia Studies programs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and the C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asia Studies.
He is also the Advisor to the President of the World Bank, and the Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation. He joined the SAIS faculty in 1996.
Previously, Professor Jackson taught for 19 years at University of California, Berkeley. He served as the National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States from 1991-1993, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council, 1989-91, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia 1986-1989. In the business world, Dr. Jackson has held positions as Managing Director, International Foreign Exchange Concepts, New York, N.Y., 1993-96, Senior Advisor at Cerberus Capital Partners, New York, N.Y., 2000-2004, and President of the U.S.-Thailand Business Council, 1994-2005.
Professor Jackson received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his BA from Princeton University.
Panelists from Jakarta, Indonesia:
Azyumardi Azra is a professor of history at Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN or State Islamic University), in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Born in West Sumatra, he graduated from the Faculty of Tarbiyah (Islamic Education), IAIN (State Institute for Islamic Studies) in Jakarta in 1982. In 1986 he won a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue his advanced studies at Columbia University in New York City, and got his MA from the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. After winning the Columbia President Fellowship, he moved to Department of History at Columbia University, where he got another MA and a PhD with a dissertation on “The Transmission of Islamic Reformism to Indonesia: Networks of Middle Eastern and Malay-Indonesian `Ulama in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”.
Upon his return to Jakarta in 1993, he founded Studia Islamika; Indonesian Journal for Islamic Studies, where he currently holds the position of editor-in-chief of the journal. He is also on the board of editors of Journal of Qur’anic Studies in London. In 1994/1995 he was a visiting fellow of Southeast Asian Studies at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University, during which time he also lectured at St. Anthony College. He was also visiting professor at University of Philippines, Diliman (1997), and Universiti Malaya (1997). In addition, he was a member of Selection Committee of SEASREP (Southeast Asian Regional Exchange Program), organized by the Toyota Foundation and the Japan Center, Tokyo, Japan (1997-1999).
Amien Rais was the chairman of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 1999-2004. Rais is a prominent Indonesian politician who led and inspired the reform movement that forced the resignation of the authoritarian ruler, President Suharto, in 1998. Amien Rais is the former leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim political parties in Indonesia, from 1995 - 2000. Rais previously worked in Surakarta's religion affairs office, and was a member of Muhammadiyah's Board of Education.
Panelists from Washington, DC:
Carl Gershman is President of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, congressionally supported grant-making institution with the mission to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts.
In addition to presiding over the Endowment's grants program in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Latin America, he has overseen the creation of the quarterly Journal of Democracy, International Forum for Democratic Studies, and the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program. He also took the lead in launching in New Delhi in 1999 the World Movement for Democracy, which is a global network of democracy practitioners and scholars. Mr. Gershman is currently encouraging other democracies to establish their own foundations devoted to the promotion of democratic institutions in the world.
Prior to assuming the position with the Endowment, Mr. Gershman was Senior Counselor to the United States Representative to the United Nations, in which capacity he served as the U.S. Representative to the U.N.'s Third Committee that deals with human rights issues, and also as Alternate Representative of the U.S. to the U.N. Security Council. While at the U.S. Mission to the U.N., Mr. Gershman also served as lead consultant to the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, and helped draft the final report. Prior to his assignment at the United States Mission to the United Nations, Mr. Gershman was a Resident Scholar at Freedom House and Executive Director of Social Democrats, USA.
Karl Jackson is the Director of the Asian Studies and Southeast Asia Studies programs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and the C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asia Studies.
He is also the Advisor to the President of the World Bank, and the Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation. He joined the SAIS faculty in 1996.
Previously, Professor Jackson taught for 19 years at University of California, Berkeley. He served as the National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States from 1991-1993, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council, 1989-91, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia 1986-1989. In the business world, Dr. Jackson has held positions as Managing Director, International Foreign Exchange Concepts, New York, N.Y., 1993-96, Senior Advisor at Cerberus Capital Partners, New York, N.Y., 2000-2004, and President of the U.S.-Thailand Business Council, 1994-2005.
Professor Jackson received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his BA from Princeton University.
Panelists from Jakarta, Indonesia:
Azyumardi Azra is a professor of history at Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN or State Islamic University), in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Born in West Sumatra, he graduated from the Faculty of Tarbiyah (Islamic Education), IAIN (State Institute for Islamic Studies) in Jakarta in 1982. In 1986 he won a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue his advanced studies at Columbia University in New York City, and got his MA from the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. After winning the Columbia President Fellowship, he moved to Department of History at Columbia University, where he got another MA and a PhD with a dissertation on “The Transmission of Islamic Reformism to Indonesia: Networks of Middle Eastern and Malay-Indonesian `Ulama in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”.
Upon his return to Jakarta in 1993, he founded Studia Islamika; Indonesian Journal for Islamic Studies, where he currently holds the position of editor-in-chief of the journal. He is also on the board of editors of Journal of Qur’anic Studies in London. In 1994/1995 he was a visiting fellow of Southeast Asian Studies at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University, during which time he also lectured at St. Anthony College. He was also visiting professor at University of Philippines, Diliman (1997), and Universiti Malaya (1997). In addition, he was a member of Selection Committee of SEASREP (Southeast Asian Regional Exchange Program), organized by the Toyota Foundation and the Japan Center, Tokyo, Japan (1997-1999).
Amien Rais was the chairman of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 1999-2004. Rais is a prominent Indonesian politician who led and inspired the reform movement that forced the resignation of the authoritarian ruler, President Suharto, in 1998. Amien Rais is the former leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim political parties in Indonesia, from 1995 - 2000. Rais previously worked in Surakarta's religion affairs office, and was a member of Muhammadiyah's Board of Education.
