Farah Anwar Pandith, Obama's Special Representative to the Muslim Communities
On December 16th, 2009, IA-P2P had a roundtable discussion with Farah Anwar Pandith, US Special Representative to Muslim Communities, at Paramadina University, Jakarta.
Joining this discussion, among others, are Abdillah Toha (founder of IA-P2P), Makarim Wibisono (Indonesia’s senior diplomat), Anies Baswedan (Rector of Paramadina University), and several persons from the US Embassy.
Farah Pandith –a Kashmir born lady who in her position reports directly to the US’ Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton– is interested in the progress of education in Indonesia, sees opportunity for US – Indonesia in promoting more intensive cooperation in tertiary and pesantren (Islamic-boarding school) level. This, among others, is in line with what Anis Bawesdan’s, who was also present at the meeting, current endeavor in bridging the gap in educational opportunity between the haves and the poor.
Ms Pandith first visit to Indonesia hopefully would bring home better perception of the US Administration on Indonesia’s real need as well as how the Muslim community here looks at ways to contribute toward world peace through mutual trust and long term interests of both countries.
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