On the economy, 62 percent of respondents agreed that China’s growing economy was good, while 25 percent disagreed, and 37 percent agreed that a growing US economy was good, while 53 percent disagreed. Somewhat similar results were recorded by a 2008 survey on soft power conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCOGA).

Even as ASEAN prepares to declare itself as a community in 2015...Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on ASEAN to look beyond 2015. A sense of ownership has been missing among the people that ASEAN represents. The Indonesian president encouraged more interactions so that people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds are more connected.

The two cities reached an agreement for arts and cultural cooperation and exchange in December 2009. Last May, Seoul invited a team of Cia-Cia traditional performers to a local festival. It is considering hosting Cia-Cia teachers for language training in South Korea.

It’s quite difficult, to be honest, for the government to do that [control] because many of these soft power tools are not things that we have direct control over. Even if we did try to influence them, that would be — to use the English phrase — the kiss of death, because the fact that the government was doing it would actually detract from the effectiveness of those soft power tools.

On Dec. 26, 2004, a massive earthquake shook Aceh, Indonesia, sending tsunamis racing across the Indian Ocean to shatter communities as far away as Somalia. Many of the countries struck by the destructive waves were embroiled in major, often-violent, political conflicts at the time...

Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) Coordinator Dawn L. McCall travels this week to Seoul, South Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia to meet with social media researchers and senior Embassy officials to discuss social media trends, public opinion of the United States, and public diplomacy programs.

The United States has increased its funding for the binational Fulbright Program to $8.5 million per year, making it one of the largest Fulbright programs in the world. The U.S. government has committed $15 million for a new five year Fulbright Indonesia Research, Science, and Technology Program – or FIRST Program - to support American and Indonesian students and scholars.

First outlined by President Obama during his “New Beginnings” speech in 2009, the Global Entrepreneurship Program supports entrepreneurs in Muslim majority emerging economies by linking them with mentors and access to financing. Indonesia is the second country after Egypt to implement the pilot, which officials say supports stable democracy by creating jobs and growing local economies.