By
Abdullah Balbed, December 2006
On March 2, 1952 a group of Indonesian, mainly the local employees of the Embassy of Indonesia in Washington, DC, gathered at the basement room at the Embassy, located at 2020 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., and came to a unanimous decision to form a social & cultural non-profit organization. The participants, among others, were Ardy Sutono, Mas Soekoro, Prahasto, Eddy Suroyo sastro and Pandji Surya.
After a little debate, they agreed to name it ‘Ikatan Keluarga Indonesia – IKI’, the literal ‘Indonesian Family Association’. However, a better translation that would capture the spirit of the idea would be ‘Indonesian Community Association’.
Initially, Ambassador Ali Sastroamidjojo was rather reluctant to give his blessing because of his mistaken believe that it would constitute some kind of a labor union that would be in an adversarial position toward the Embassy. But after he realized of what it was all about, he gave his full support and blessings.
The aim was to strengthen the bonds of friendship among Indonesian living in the Washington, DC area who at that time comprised mainly of those working at the Embassy (diplomats as well as local staff), the Voice of America, the World Bank/IMF and a few students.
They voted for an Executive Committee with a chairman, vice chairman, secretary and treasurer. Ardy Sutono, who is now living in retirement in Mexico, was voted as the chairman. The Executive Committee was to be replaced every year. Nowadays, it is every two (2) years.
They drew up a by-law. Financing came mainly from the monthly membership dues. The organization grew steadily as and more Indonesians came to the Washington, DC area.
The activities were numerous: social, cultural and sport. It helped newly arrived Indonesian found suitable housing, jobs, how to obtain social security card and driver’s license; held farewell parties for those leaving the area; directed those who wanted to learn more English to go to ‘Americanization School’ which was located on 19th Street N.W.; visited those who were sick or in distress; helped with wedding arrangements; organized cultural as well as religious activities.
In the late 1950th, they started organizing an annual sporting-event and get-together between members of the Indonesian community in Washington, DC area and New York that was called ‘Pekan Olah Raga Masyarakat Indonesia – PORAMI (Indonesian Community’s Sport Week). Usually, it took place during the long Labor Day weekend. If in this year the Washington group would go to New York, the next year the New York group would come to Washington, DC. This thing was discontinued about 14 years ago because of several reasons, including financial.
From time to time IKI published monthly bulletin that featured mainly family stories and activities of the organization as well as what’s going in the community.
Among the prominent chairman were Ali Alatas, nana Sutresna, General Kharis Suhud, General Soesilo Sudarman and General Nicklany Soedardjo.
All these years IKI worked closely together with the Indonesian Embassy, and successive Indonesian Ambassadors had given their blessings. Many of its activities were carried out either at the Embassy or the Ambassador’s residence.
