~ EAST-WEST CENTER

Making aDifference:Pioneers in Interchange Between East and West

Welcome Remarks by

Dr. Charles E.MorrisonPresident,

East-West Center

To the

1960s Reunion

Honolulu, Hawai'i

November 14, 2003

The East- \Vest Center

provides a forum for

extended discussion ofmajor

issues affecting Asia, the

Pacific and the United States

by prominent researchers,

analysts andpolicymakers.

This publication series

extends these presentations to

a wider audience.

As 1960s alumni, you are the East-West Center'sfirst participants - "pioneers in interchange." Youare also the best measure of the East-West Center'svalue over the longer-term and our greatest asset. Weare proud of you. You - you collectively - have lednew countries to independence, you have createdbusinesses and NGOs, you have invented new cropsand pesticides, and you brought internationalverification of credit cards to the world. You haveserved as mayors, governors, legislators, and Cabinetministers. As journalists and educators, you havewritten thousands of books and articles and youhave educated tens of millions of others. As publicservants you have developed and maintained themodern infrastructure of government services,providing statistics, social services, financial services,and policy analysis. As diplomats you representedyour nations and negotiated agreements. In nationalgovernments and even in international organizations,such as the Asian Development Bank, you havesometimes been called "the Hawaii mafia." You havecreated great and enduring works of arts - buildings,sculptures and paintings, and literature. And youhave had families - children and grandchildren.Some - actually quite a few - of you marriedeach other, and some of you have sent a secondgeneration of participants to the EWe.

This is what you have done in forty years. Fortyyears - I hate to say it - but it is quite a long time.One generation. It was a very different world onegeneration ago when you first encountered theEast-West Center. It was the world of Kennedy,Johnson, and Nixon, and of Sukarno, Nehru, andMao. Long-distance telephone calls were beyond thebudgets of most students, and modern computersand e-mails would be long into the future.

It was also the world of the Beach Boys and theBeatles. There was the civil rights movement in theUnited States, and the Cultural Revolution inChina. Men first went to the moon, and the UnitedStates and Russia nearly went to nuclear war overCuba. There were wars - in Vietnam and betweenIndia and Pakistan - and there were internalupheavals - a huge one in Indonesia.

You were pioneers in a new State. Your fondestmemories of Hawaii are in the program brochure.They are of close friends, caring program officers, wiseteachers, and kind host families. Of distinguishedvisitors like the young Thai royal couple. Of thosemeaningful experiences then that helped you copewith homesickness and learn to appreciate othercultures. Of Don Ho and "Tiny Bubbles," the KuhioGrill, Charlie's Tavern and Queens Surf. Of partiesand weddings. One woman's fondest memoriesincluded living in the men's dorm. And despitemany complaints in our archives about food, someof you fondly remember Saga Food Service.

You thought then that the older generation hadit all wrong (although now you know better). Youthought you could change the world. And how theworld did change! Pacific island nations becameindependent. Women now hold the highest nationaloffice in Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh andSri Lanka. Tens of millions ofAsians have movedfrom poverty to middle and upper income liveli­hoods. Overall, people throughout the region arebetter educated and healthier. They live longer livesand enjoy more material goods. Many more of theregion's citizens live in democracies and enjoy rightsof political participation and cultural expressionunprecedented in their countries' histories. Therewas a growth of civil society and regional organization.You and the East-West Center were a part of the change.

For years it seemed that the only way the AsiaPacific region could go was up. Ten years ago in anera of almost continual double-digit growth rates,people talked confidently of the coming PacificCentury. In reality the change was more fragile thanit seemed. The Asia financial crisis hit this regionhard. South and Southeast Asia have both witnesseda rise in serious terrorist incidents since September11. North Korea's nuclear program and reprocessingactivities are a dangerous threat to regional andglobal stability. In some countries, economic growthhas been accompanied by growing income gaps.There is still much poverty. Modernization andurbanization have been accompanied by increasedenvironmental pollution. The new political and

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cultural values are empowering for most people. Butsome see these same values as menaces to traditionsand morality. In some countries, social tensions arerising, and prejudice, communalism, and separatismare serious and growing problems.

The mission is one of In this challenging world, the work of the East-West Center is as important as ever - I would say

building understanding, even more important. Over the years, you havecarried out the mission of the Center in your hearts

relations, and a sense of and in your work. The mission is one of buildingunderstanding, relations, and a sense of community

community - that is, - that is, of building the human bonds that unitepeople of different countries, different religions and

ofbuilding the human different walks of life into a shared sense of civilization.I don't mean a Western civilization or an Eastern

bonds that unite people civilization, but a shared civilization based on respectfor those universal aspirations, perhaps best articulated

ofdifferent countries, as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," byThomas Jefferson, after whom this building is named.

different religions and The Asia Pacific community has still a long wayto go before it looks something more like the Atlantic

different walks oflife community - that is a group of free, prosperoussocieties among which military conflict has become

into a shared sense of unthinkable. Asia and the Pacific continue to needin larger numbers women and men who have broad

civilization . .. based on knowledge of the region as a whole as well as theirown specialties. It needs future national leaders with

respect ftr those regional and global awareness. And the Centerstudent degree and leadership programs are almost

universal aspirations, alone in responding to these needs.As you return to the East-West Center, you

perhaps best articulated notice changes - this building has become aninternational conference center, the cafeteria is gone,

as "life, liberty, and the and on the Diamond Head side of Hale Manoa liesa new hub of student life - an activity building, a

pursuit ofhappiness, " by garden of native Hawaiian plants, and a friendshipcircle. The students are a little older. The carp no longer

Thomas jefferson, after mysteriously disappear from the Japanese garden.But the garden, the Thai pavilion, and Hale Manoa

whom this building is and Hale Kuahine - you called them "the high rise"and "the low rise" - remain virtually the same.

named. Most importantly, the spirit of the Centerremains the same. It is a unique regional educational

For more information contact:

~ EAST-WEST CENTER

Office of External Affairs, 1601 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawai'i 96848-1601Phone: (808) 944-7111Fax: (808) 944-7376E-mail: ewcinfo@EastWestCenter.orgWorld Wide Web:http://www.EastWestCenter.org

institution in a unique state where peoples havecome together from the Pacific, from Asia, fromAmerica and live in a harmonious society. It is aplace for culture learning, where education andresearch are pursued not just for their own sakebut as vehicles to mutual understanding andrelations. Where people feel a sense of stewardshiptoward each other and toward humanity. Whereno one feels foreign. Where people do care aboutand respect other cultures and countries, nomatter how small. For you, as for me, it is aspecial place.

And this is why we must continue to carryforward its work. I close by thanking you for yourcontributions to the endowment for East-WestCenter scholarships. You have been pioneers ininterchange, and now you are pioneers in buildingthe foundation of an endowment for futureEast-West Center scholarships. We are just at thebeginning of this effort. Your model of giving willbe inspirational for our later alumni. The Centerwas once almost entirely a government-supportedprogram. Today it is a public-private partnership,with about half of its funding coming from anappropriation from the U.S. government. Wemust continue to seek funding for needy studentsand our other activities. Your own contributionsand your many indirect contributions are deeplyappreciated. Mahalo.

At the East- west Center for 23 years, CharlesMorrison assumed the position ofpresident onAugust 1, 1338. He has had extensive involvementin the conceptualization, organization andfundingofpolicy-oriented educational research and dialogue

projects in both Japan and the United States, and haslong been involved in promoting the concept ofAsiaPacific Community. He is the author ofa wide rangeofbooks, papers and analyses and is widely quoted bymajor news media in the region on issues ofregional

cooperation, Us. Asia policy and trade policies,us. -Japan relations, and Asian economic issues.

The East- west Center is an education andresearch organization established by theus. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relationsand understanding among the nationsofAsia, the Pacific, and the United States.The Center promotes the development ofastable, prosperous, andpeaceful Asia Pacificcommunity through cooperative study, training,and research. Fundingftr the Center comes fromthe us. government, with additional supportprovided by private agencies, individuals,corporations, andAsian and Pacific governments.