The Northern Nevada International Center hosted international visitors from Indonesia on Jul 24 to Jul 28 2010. The international visitors were invited to Reno as part of the International Visitors Leadership Program of the US Department of State.
The Reno portion of their program focused upon
- How American municipal, county, and state governments interact, yet maintain their autonomy;
- How American municipal and state governments deal with issues such as transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption.
According to the US State Department Closing Report, “Overall our guests were impressed with the hospitability and friendliness of Americans, or as Mr. Abdullah Abu Bakar put it: “I’m a Muslim, but Americans are more Islamic than many Indonesians.” In Carson City, the delegation met with Ms. Sherry Rupert, the Executive Director of the Nevada Indian Commission. They learned about Native Americans, which almost all Indonesians find fascinating. Mr. Muhammad Kadir shared that as a Bugis, he is himself a member of an Indian tribe, although an Indonesian one. As Ms. Rupert’s responsibilities include acting as a liaison between the tribes and the state government agencies, she was an ideal person to show how modern Native Americans generally are, and the ways in which they integrate and interact with non-Native American people and institutions, while at the same time preserving their particular cultures and values.
PHOTO ATTACHED: Indonesian official chat with Ms. Heidi Smith of the Republican National Committee in her home in Reno NV. Heidi and Steve Smith hosted the visitors at their home for a home hospitality dinner. Ms. Adinda Muchtar. “I thought that Americans, being very capitalist and individualist, would be very closed. But people were so friendly here.”