Liminal Liberalism? Ivan Kats, the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and the Obor Foundation in Cold War Indonesia

The story of the Obor Foundation is important for several reasons. Firstly, it covers contribution an up-till-now largely overlooked Western philanthropic enterprise to promote a cohesive national cultural identity Indonesia in wake fall Sukarno. Secondly, was attempt move beyond previous Cold War efforts spread liberal ideas globally, most notably by Congress Cultural Freedom. To overcome critiques top-down Westernization and neocolonialism, sought establish local control over publishing process reciprocal arrangement shared responsibility. Thirdly, symbolic Ford Foundation, which had invested great deal modernisation (i.e. Westernization) Indonesian education, towards introducing greater level autonomy their operations from late 1960s onwards, expressing general confidence (and sufficient monitoring of) Western-trained and/or -oriented leadership.