OUR MAN IN MEDAN.(Paul Berg, United States consul-general in Medan, Indonesia)(Interview)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 07-MAR-05

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2005 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Jalan Wali Kota is a fashionable street in what had been until the past couple of months a rather unfashionable city: Medan, Indonesia. It may be the biggest city on Sumatra and home to two and a half million people, but, aside from the Palace of the Sultan of Deli and a first-rate orangutan preserve three hours away, Medan has never been much of a draw, and the American diplomatic office on Jalan Wali Kota has been the quintessence of a sleepy outpost. Until, that is, the biggest natural disaster in living memory struck Sumatra's western coast and Medan became the headquarters of the international relief effort. Suddenly, Paul Berg, the rather startled American representative, finds himself one of the world's premier go-to guys.

Berg had a visitor to dinner the other night in...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.