Former President George H. W. Bush greets the Fulbright Tsunami Scholars of a question and answer session Monday. At his speech Monday evening, he emphasized the necessary role of community service in leading a successful life.
Other than making clear his contempt for broccoli, former President George H. W. Bush suggested that "every American is called to greatness" and encouraged everyone to "find some way to serve" when he spoke to students and members of the Fayetteville community Monday in Barnhill Arena.
"There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service," Bush said. "The lives you are able to touch are their own reward."
Bush, who has had a career built on public service, drew on many personal examples as he spoke to the nearly 4,000 members of the UA campus and surrounding area.
He recalled a time when he was the captain of his college soccer team and had called home to tell his mother about the three goals he scored in a single game.
The International Conference and Cultural Event on Aceh that was held by Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa and International Acehnesse graduate students was finally resulted to the signing of agreement to collaborate in educational exchange between local universities in Aceh and University of Hawaii at Manoa. Prior to the signing of the MoU, intensive seminar and graduate student papers were presented for two consecutive days. The cultural performances from the Aceh local University of Ar-Raniry Islamic State Institute and Balinese dance from one of Indonesian student at UHM made the conference more entertaining.
Among the presenters at the conference, there were three Acehnesse Fulbright scholars who are still studying in the U.S. and two other Acehnesse Fulbright alumni that also attended the conference; Muhammad Irham (Fulbright scholar at Texas A&M University), Teuku Andika Rama Putra (Fulbright scholar at Colorado School of Mines) and myself as the representative from Arkansas (University of Arkansas at Little Rock). The other two Fulbright alumni were Saiful Mahdi (Fulbright alumni from University of Vermont) and Fajran Zein (Fulbright alumni from Indiana University). Below are brief note of activities during the conference.
On December 26, 2004 a tsunami triggered by an earthquake at 8.9 on Richter scale claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in South-East Asia, many of those in Aceh province, Indonesia. The damage in Aceh was particularly devastating where nearly a quarter of its four million people was affected. More than 170,000 were dead or missing while 500,000 were displaced. In Banda Aceh, the capital of the province alone, from 264,618 of its population, some 61,065 vanished in the tsunami. Six of nine sub-districts in Banda Aceh are totally or partially damaged. Some 41 out of 89 its villages are totally wiped out by the wave (Banda Aceh Municipal Office, 2007).
The tsunami destroyed many educational resources. According to the Ministry of National Education (April 2005), more than 2,000 schools were destroyed or severely damaged by the tsunami, including approximately 1,500 primary schools.
The catastrophe, however unfortunate to people in Aceh and other regions, has opened many opportunities for the Acehnese. Rehabilitation and reconstructions have brought new infrastructures, better services, and opportunities. Hundreds of scholarships to study abroad, for example, have been made available by various countries, including those of Fulbright Scholarship. Sponsored by Clinton and Bush Foundation, "Fulbright Tsunami Relief Initiative Scholarship Program" was introduced in 2006.
Aceh’s Electricity: Crisis in the Middle of Abundant Energy Resources
By: Dian Rubianty Graduate Student in Master of Public Administration Program University of Arkansas E-mail:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Abstract:
Electricity crisis in Aceh is a phenomenal case. It is caused by shortage in electricity supply, and hindered by a long political conflict and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. As electricity sector is heavily regulated by government law and policy, this paper analyzes the role of government as provider and policy maker in electricity sector in Aceh to seek alternative policy that enables the province to solve its electricity crisis. Given the limitation of government public investment in electricity infrastructure on one hand, and the abundant renewable energy resource in Aceh on the other hand, I sketched the problem using a Diffuse and Specific Costs and Benefits Analysis. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that Aceh’s local government should focus its investment on micro-hydro power generation.
t 21 – 23, 2008
alone, from 264,618 of its population, some 61,065 vanished in the tsunami. Six of nine sub-districts in Banda Aceh are totally or partially damaged. Some 41 out of 89 its villages are totally wiped out by the wave (Banda Aceh Municipal Office, 2007).