The East-West Center's Importance to Hawaii
Price of Paradise · Hawaii Public Radio · aired 1994-05-01
Guests: Michel Oksenberg (President, East-West Center); Bud Smyser (columnist, Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Duration: 00:30:36

[00:00:00] Randall Roth: I'm Randy Roth, host of the Price of Paradise radio show. My guests this week are Mike Oxenberg, President of the East West Center, and Bud Smizer, columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin, and longtime supporter of the East West Center. Well Mike in a nutshell, can you tell us what is the East West Center?

[00:00:15] Michel Oksenberg: Yes, under the Mutual Security Act of 1959, the East West Center was established to promote understanding among the governments and peoples of the Asia Pacific region including the United States, through cultural and technological exchanges.

[00:00:30] Randall Roth: But how did it come to be located in Hawaii?

[00:00:33] Michel Oksenberg: Well I've heard people say that the Center was born before it was conceived. And I can give you a story that might back that up, and that I understand, and I heard this from former delegate Jack Burns himself, later former governor, that he after the statehood bill passed Congress, and Jack was our delegate, he went by the office of Lyndon Johnson, the majority leader in the Senate, to say thank you. And Lyndon Johnson was out, but his famous assistant, Bobby Baker, was there in the office and said, "Is there anything else we can do for Hawaii?" And Jack was aware that there had been a lot of planning on University of Hawaii campus for some institution like this, and he said, "Yes, we would very much like to have an East West institution based on the University of Hawaii campus to fulfill the potential East West role we see for Hawaii, and and to help America in the Pacific."

[00:01:25] Michel Oksenberg: Bobby, uh Bobby Baker said, "I think the boss would like that." And lo and behold, the boss attached the proper legislation to the Mutual Security Act of 1959, and to some appropriation bill, and it came through without a single hearing in the Congress. So I think it may have been born before it was conceived.

[00:01:45] Randall Roth: Mike, how does that sound to you?

[00:01:47] Michel Oksenberg: Well I think that's right. The East West Center has gone through stages in its history. I think, uh, perhaps to oversimplify, it's gone through two stages is now entering its third. The first stage focused on education of students, and the original vision of the East West Center, as I understand it, was to bring between 2,000 and 4,000 students here to Hawaii, uh, from throughout the Asia Pacific region, and this was to be our response to the efforts of China and Russia to win the hearts and minds of the next generation of leaders in the region, meeting with their counterparts in the United States. Then in the 19, early 1970s, when the United States had difficulties in the Asia Pacific region, uh, certain people in the region were alienated by the American effort in Vietnam. The center got a new lease on life by establishing research institutes, which engaged in effect in assistance, uh, to the developing countries in the region in such areas as environmental protection, resource development, and above all, in family planning, population.

[00:02:51] Randall Roth: And that's the second phase. That's right. And uh where are we today?

[00:02:55] Michel Oksenberg: Well, I think that we're beginning a third phase that takes into account the enormous changes in this region. Uh, and it occurs at a time when American understanding of Asia lags behind the Asian understanding of America. And so we're going to place more emphasis on making sure that our country understands this region, play a role in that respect. And secondly, approach the region not in a benevolent and patronizing fashion, but with a recognition that the countries in the region have matured and deserve to be approached as partners as equals in all that we do.

[00:03:32] Randall Roth: But is it your sense that the Center has gone through these three states or is entering a third stage or or do you see it a little bit differently so far as the history of the Center is concerned?

[00:03:42] Bud Smyser: Oh, I see the Center as having changed quite a lot. Uh, actually, one of the Center programs that fascinated me most was run years ago by Baron Goto for Pacific Islanders. It had nothing to do with degrees, but it brought people from the Pacific Islands together here, sometimes with sanitation engineers, sometimes with customs inspectors, sometimes with radio announcers who had heard each other across the airwaves of the Pacific, but never met each other, and finally met up here at the East West Center. And that was a wonderfully lively program that [unintelligible — audio glitch] think contributed a lot to the uh to helping those islands and to improving the the image of the United States and incidentally, the image of Hawaii. And uh, [unintelligible — audio glitch] felt very sorry when that was discontinued. But there have been other transformations since.

[00:04:27] Michel Oksenberg: But as you know, we're now back into that. I think one of the one of the changes that I'm particularly pleased about is that in some respects our educational program is returning to the originally envisioned program. So we now once again are bri- bringing people from throughout the Pacific islands for training in precisely those topics, subjects that the islands deem particularly important. So really for the first time in many years, we have Pacific Islanders who are studying not at the Manoa campus, but at the Hilo campus in tropical agriculture.

[00:05:10] Randall Roth: There was even a young man at one of these things, his name is Ratu Mara, and Baron Goto said, "Keep your eye on him. He's going to go somewhere."

[00:05:16] Michel Oksenberg: If I had to predict, by the way, I would guess that in the coming year or two, we will see a significant expansion in the number of Pacific Islanders that we are training. But these are not degree-seeking students. It depends, uh some of them are, some of them aren't. Um our desire, uh and when I say our, this is a board decision and the administration's decision and many in our staff, seek to serve the needs of the countries involved. Um our objective here, uh is not to design a program that serves the institutional needs as much as it is to serve our broader purposes, which is to assist all of the countries that are involved in this great East-West Center, I call experiment.

[00:06:12] Randall Roth: Well, as I understand it, uh the people who are critical of the current direction of the East-West Center, in part are saying that there's less emphasis on the students. In fact, I think there was a uh an editorial in the advertiser recently that uh that supported that approach. What's your reaction to that?

[00:06:40] Michel Oksenberg: Well, I think first of all, it's inaccurate uh on the funding side. In June of 1992, my first year here, the Board made a decision that our funding for students would remain at the same level that it was at the time that I arrived, and we have adhered to that commitment meticulously. Uh, further with inflation, doesn't that mean fewer students? It inescapably means fewer students, as it also means with inflation and budget cuts, fewer researchers. Uh, we are under budgetary constraints, but uh in terms of what we do, we give equal weight to education in an environment of shrinking resources. Now, there is another thing to be said that to me is absolutely essential. Education is a complex business, as we all know, and one cannot have a quality educational program in which students are well-educated, unless the researchers and faculty are at the forefronts of their fields and are able to stimulate the students and bring them to the frontiers of knowledge, holding before the students the highest, most rigorous standards of scholarship around. And certainly one of the key aspects of my administration has been to make sure that quality comes first.

[00:08:02] Randall Roth: And and that's different than it's been in the past and and other words in terms of emphasis. Yes. Uh I would have to say that we have tried to do four things uh as uh during with the administration in the Board. The first is to open the Center to different ideas and to different constituencies, a more open center. Secondly, we have sought to raise quality by introducing tougher standards, peer review. Our researchers now do not have automatic access to research money as they did in the past. They have to go through a committee evaluative process when they are promoted. Their record goes to outside people. Third thing that we have tried to do is enhance our relevance and the impact of the Center and fourth, we have uh tried to broaden our funding base.

[00:08:51] Randall Roth: You're listening to the Price of Paradise Radio Show. I'm Randy Roth and my guests this week are East-West President Mike Oxenberg and Star-Bulletin columnist Bud Smiser. Well, Mike, I'm reading from a letter to the editor from a couple of weeks ago. One of the senior fellows at the East West Center wrote this: "Let us continue to devote ourselves to the original mission of the Center and leave the conduct of war games and study of weaponry to our respected military institutions." And I guess that's reflective of of a group of people who feel that the East West Center is getting into military matters. What's your response to that?

[00:09:39] Michel Oksenberg: Well, I think those couple sentences are a little purple prose, frankly, because we aren't exactly getting into weapons research. Uh, but we are, more seriously, uh broadening our research agenda. One of we live in a new era in the Asia Pacific region in which for the first time in a century, none of the great powers in the region is an enemy of the others, those great powers being Russia, China, United States, Japan, and India. Uh there are also newly risen middle powers, Korea, the ASEAN states and so on. There is a unique opportunity to build a framework for peace, security and stability in the region by bringing all the countries together to talk about issues that encompass the political military side of affairs, but extend to environment, energy, population. The East West Center is poised to play a central role in the formation of a Pacific community. It is poised to play a key role in avoiding arms races in the region. If we do not inject ourselves into the center of those processes, we will guarantee that we will be irrelevant. So, of course, we're going to deal with political military issues, but we're not going to make those issues central to our research agenda. It will be a important part of our research agenda.

[00:10:37] Randall Roth: And you won't be an arm of the CIA.

[00:10:39] Michel Oksenberg: Never. Those I have made abundantly clear, the board has made abundantly clear, the Center has no room for connections with the intelligence apparatus. Uh, the paper, the local people here, perhaps sometimes don't fully understand the distinction between intelligence and dealing with military issues. Intelligence, no, dealing with political military issues as part, again, I want to stress, part of the research agenda, absolutely.

[00:11:24] Randall Roth: But do you think that the community understands that or has a different impression of what's going on in in the East West Center right now?

[00:11:39] Bud Smyser: Well, I don't want to be disloyal to my journalistic brethren, but the coverage of the East West Center is pretty episodic and I'm afraid it focuses sometimes on controversy, and a lot of good solid things just don't make news, they don't about a lot of other things. I mean, the newspaper job is pouring a gallon into one pint jar every day and it's very hard. But uh in any event, I think that the headlines have been grabbed by the fact that Mike is shaking up the status quo, and uh the whenever you shake up the status quo, you're going to get people alarmed and worked up and the the question is whether they do it well or not. I I remember very well, and the community will remember all the controversy at Bishop Museum a few years ago. But that's shaking down now, and the Bishop Museum is a much stronger institution than it was. I'm not predicting that for East West Center, but I'm hoping for it for the East West Center.

[00:12:12] Randall Roth: Mike, other than what you've said, what are some goals that you have for the East West Center, whether it's short-term or long-term and and how does Mike Oxenberg fit into all of that?

[00:12:35] Michel Oksenberg: Well, I want us, as I've said earlier, to be a premier institution illuminating and helping solve the the underlying dynamics of change in the Asia Pacific region. And to me, those include population issues, broadly defined to extend to uh public health, uh family change, aging, gender issues, environmental issues, particularly focusing on deforestation, uh desertification, management of toxic waste, uh energy issues, uh with all of the dimensions of that. We're also bringing on good researchers in the areas of telecommunications, aviation, uh and we want to make sure that our program in international politics and economics remains strong, as well as political. So I want, I have broad ambitions for the East West Center, and those ambitions are that it must be a premier research institute illuminating the most dynamic region in the world, stretching all the way from India to the Russian Far East. Might say one of the changes I've included is to make Russia part of our domain, it was not before I got here.

[00:13:35] Randall Roth: How does one measure that? What are the yardsticks that one would use to determine whether that's been accomplished or not?

[00:13:48] Michel Oksenberg: Well, it's very hard for a research institution. I think it's the um the amount of money that we generate from foundations and in the marketplace of ideas is one indicator, the quality of people who apply to come out here, not only the volume, but the quality of our research and the way it is reviewed, and the quality of the journals in which our researchers publish, and the extent to which we can discern an impact on public policy. Now, influence is one of the hardest things as political scientists know, to measure. And then finally, and absolutely central to the Center's task, is education. Uh and one way of measuring it is the number of applications that we have and the quality of students that we attract.

[00:14:48] Randall Roth: Mike, about a year ago, London Economist rated Hoover Institution at Stanford as the outstanding think tank in the world. Uh would you would you would you compare the East West Center as you visualize it with that outstanding think tank? Looks as though you may not consider that outstanding thinking. I don't remember the economist, but frankly we'd have to go back and read the article. I don't use the Hoover as one of my yardsticks, but that's a quibble. I would, I think that we are an international institution among other things and I like to put us in some of the same league as maybe Brookings, uh and then some of the rising institutions in the Asia Pacific region, uh including institutions in Japan, Australia, Singapore, also and several of which have a somewhat comparable research agenda to ours.

[00:16:03] Randall Roth: I'm reading from a column of Bud Smiser, it says, "The fate of the East-West Center is terribly important to Hawaii." Bud, why?

[00:16:16] Bud Smyser: Well, I've uh I did some work at the East-West Center a few years ago on Hawaii's potential in in international role, which I think is one of these stabilizing elements of our economy that would very much help us in a downturn like this, that all also would add an element of vitality and excitement to the community that we very much need. And I think it's a wonderful thing to have here. I I think its value to the community is inestimable, uh but for it to stay here, it has to be a value to the United States government too, since the United States is its principal funding source. And I don't mean as an arm of the CIA, but as a way to make friends and influence people all across Asia and the Pacific.

[00:17:15] Randall Roth: Mike, what do you think about the importance of the East-West Center to the state of Hawaii?

[00:17:21] Michel Oksenberg: I think that it has a, as yet, I would have to be frank to admit, unrealized potential to be a an essential ingredient to the quality of education and research in this state. I've been very struck in my brief time here by the extent to which the future of Hawaii depends upon the quality of its human beings, how bright they are, how well-trained they are, how involved they are in world affairs and the extent to which they meet international professional standards in medicine, in environmental protection issues, in oceanographic issues. In many of these areas, the University of Hawaii has already attained a position of international excellence. I would like to see the East-West Center join and play an essential role in indicating to the populace of Hawaii what true quality is in education and research. And that quality will accrue to the benefit of the state, of our country, and indeed of the whole region.

[00:18:20] Randall Roth: May I ask you about the interaction of the East-West Center, the University of Hawaii, and those very well-informed people who are out there at Camp Smith in Aiea, who study the Pacific for the Commander-in-Chief Pacific. Uh, seems to me the the combination of these three is is tremendously important to Hawaii. How do you react?

[00:18:41] Michel Oksenberg: I think it's uh, we have the makings of a very powerful intellectual community here by combining the resources at the University, at East-West Center, at the Pacific Forum and some of the other satellite institutions in town. The cooperation among these institutions could be enhanced, but the makings are there for something truly powerful, and we should not neglect the strengths of the University of Hawaii, particularly in such areas as Hawaiian and Asian-Pacific studies. That school there is as great potential. I'm delighted that the new President of the University of Hawaii, Ken Mortimer, and I have begun of what I hope will be a very fruitful relationship, uh, in which we enhance our cooperation. The University and the East-West Center have never jointly designed and operated an educational program. Here to four, we have given fellowships to students who simultaneously are in the East-West Center and at the university as students there. But they have not pursued an integrated program. I am hopeful that out of a process of uh community building, reappraisal, mutual consultations, we will develop a genuinely integrated

[00:19:00] Randall Roth: program which will build upon our respective and considerable strengths. You're listening to the Price of Paradise Radio Show. I'm Randy Roth, and my guests this week are East-West Center President, Mike Oxenberg, and Star-Bulletin Columnist, Bud Smizer. Well, Mike, what in your opinion is the greatest threat to the East-West Center in general, and to keeping it in Hawaii, in particular?

[00:19:22] Michel Oksenberg: Well, I think there's no threat to keeping the East-West Center in Hawaii. The threat would be that our funding from the federal government would be cut. We do not have as broad-based support within the Congress as I would like to see us have. Uh, our, we have been lucky. In my time here thus far, we secured a budget increase in one of my years, we now are suffering a budget cut of about 1.5 million, and if one adds inflation to that, 2 million or nearly a 10% cut. We still are fortunate that the cut is that little because our funding agency, the USIA, is having to cut 1/3 of its staff in Washington this year.

[00:20:09] Michel Oksenberg: So we've been partially exempted, but we still face a very severe funding crunch as the federal government budget tightens. We therefore have been developing a strategy of raising our visibility in Washington, of trying to, uh, develop and deliver a quality product that meets the needs of our funders, the Congress, particularly the executive branch, and I'm delighted to say that we're making some progress in that regard. Um, it is, when I a couple years ago, uh, I learned there were about four to 500 people who came through Sinkpack who came from Congress. Uh, very few came to the East-West Center. We've tripled the number of people who come to the East-West Center when they come to Hawaii in connection with visits to Sinkpack.

[00:20:58] Bud Smyser: Mike, about a week ago, the East-West Center staff members were called together and told, I think, that they should all find a way to cut the budget that everybody could agree on. Now, tell me, how can they do that?

[00:21:09] Michel Oksenberg: Well, we, I think that there are a lot of ways that we can strengthen our sense of community at the East-West Center. We've begun a process of consultation. Obviously, I'm going to have to make some tough decisions in conjunction with the board. But uh I think we're going into this process with high morale.

[00:21:25] Bud Smyser: And everybody agreeing on it?

[00:21:27] Michel Oksenberg: No, not everyone's going to agree, but uh but uh I'm going to try to be as generally and consultative as possible. And as I say, I think we enter that process with morale high because I think that people take great pride in the enormous number of accomplishments our community has made over the past two plus years. New publication program, higher visibility in Washington, uh enhanced funding from some of the governments that give money to us, plus, um, uh corporate sponsors for the first time, contracts for research with corporations for the first time, certainly a more visible presence here, and the development of several new research areas that are at the cutting edge of issues in Asia.

[00:22:12] Michel Oksenberg: The most important I'll end on is that we now have a good cluster working on problems of AIDS in Asia and I'm very proud of having developed that.

[00:22:20] Bud Smyser: Well, Mike, the people who are associated with the East-West Center, who are writing letters to the editor and are, are critical of the way things are going now, is there simply a difference of opinion as to what the emphasis should be, or do they not completely understand your, your program as you've described it, uh, or, or is it a matter of, of management style that they don't like, or is this a natural consequence of budget cuts? How, how do you explain all the controversy?

[00:22:44] Michel Oksenberg: I guess all of the above. Uh, with different mixes for different people involved. Um, I think, um, people in any institution that had grown accustomed to one way of working, find it hard to adjust, and some of our people are eager and responsive and have done a great job, and there are others who, uh, did feel very comfortable with the old way of doing things. But as I've indicated, I thought that old way of doing things at the core was patronizing toward Asians, uh, and entailed the cultivation of patron client networks. We now are, in effect, no longer funding those networks as easily. Uh, and that's tough for the former patrons.

[00:23:28] Bud Smyser: Bud, we've got just a few seconds left. Uh, any words of wisdom? I have a quick question here. Aren't you essentially carrying out the programs that Victor Lee had had hoped would be carried out?

[00:23:37] Michel Oksenberg: I've talked to Victor as you know before I got out here. Uh, I think that he, uh, is an outstanding citizen of this community. He was a friend of mine before I got here. Uh, and he should speak for himself on that matter. But I like to think that I'm, uh, not departing from the traditions that any of my predecessors set, not only Victor, but, uh, going back to all of my predecessors. They were interested in having a pre, premier institution serving the enlightened interests of the United States and of the governments and peoples of the region. We're doing it.

[00:24:14] Bud Smyser: Mike, we've got about 10 seconds. Uh, what are the chances of having Mike Oxenberg for a full five years, the, the length of your original contract?

[00:24:22] Michel Oksenberg: Well, I see, I have every intention of fulfilling my obligations.

[00:24:27] Bud Smyser: Thank you, gentlemen. My guests this week were Mike Oxenberg, President of the East-West Center, and Bud Smizer, columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. This week's show was produced by Suzy Roth with technical assistance from Mark Wagner. Beginning next week, our show our show will air only on KHPR 88.1 and KKUA 90.7. It will be live from 7:30 to 8:30 each Sunday morning. This new format will enable listeners to participate by phone.

[00:24:51] Randall Roth: listeners to participate by phone. Next week, we'll take a close look at media coverage of political campaigns. My guests will be Kent Baker, director of KHON Channel 2 News; Ann Harpham, managing editor of the Honolulu Advertiser; and Chuck Friedman, former communications director for Governor Waihee, and a longtime critic of the media's role in political campaigns. I hope you'll join us for what promises to be a lively and informative conversation. You've been listening to the Price of Paradise radio show. I'm Randy Roth. Aloha. This program is produced by the Consortium of 72 Price of Paradise authors in cooperation with Hawaii Public Radio. The Price of Paradise is a best-selling two-volume book series that has become a must-read for every concerned citizen of Hawaii.

[00:25:43] Randall Roth: Please tune in next week when Randall Roth and his guests will take on another question of importance to listeners in Hawaii. Cassette copies of this program are available from Hawaii Public Radio for $10 by calling 955-8821. For a listing of past shows and guests, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Price of Paradise Radio Show, Hawaii Public Radio, 738 Kaheka Street, Honolulu, 96814.