Jay Chen Selected As a Delegate by American Council of Young Political Leaders
HACIENDA HEIGHTS – Last year, Hacienda-La Puente school board member Jay Chen got a lesson in what he called xenophobia when community members became enraged over a Chinese language and culture program being offered by the school district.
This year he got a lesson in international relations instead.
Chen was chosen as one of seven delegates to Indonesia and Malaysia for an annual trip sponsored by American Council of Young Political Leaders.
The exchange program started in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on July 15 and returned home Friday. While overseas, the delegates met with political leaders, dignitaries and members of human rights groups.
The group hit the ground running.
“Just before we arrived in Malaysia there were protests, rallies for clean elections,” Chen said. “The opposition believed the ruling party hadn’t engaged in fair election practices.”
Chen said he also got to witness governments in Indonesia and Malaysia actively develop policies.
“It was very interesting for me to see them working through their system,” Chen said. “In Indonesia they can still tinker with their constitution.”
The American Council of Young Political Leaders sponsors about 30 groups every year. They visit countries all over the world, including groups from other countries who visit the United States, said Griffin Greenberg of ACYPL.
“We want to introduce young leaders that are going to go on and become national leaders at some point in their career to a sense of their counterparts in other countries,” Greenberg said. “Our goal is to give them a sense of what’s going on in other parts of the world.”
The trips are funded by the U.S. State Department and private donations, said Libby Rosenbaum, director of outreach and development for ACYPL.
The groups sent overseas are bipartisan, she said. Chen’s group consisted of three Democrats and four Republicans.
The delegates are selected by nomination, she said.
“We look for people that are moving up in the world and believe in international relations and affairs,” Rosenbaum said.
Chen, who has traveled to 40 countries and speaks fluent English, Spanish and Mandarin was nominated by the Asian Pacific American Council.
Last year Chen and the school board found themselves in the national spotlight after coming under fire from residents who thought the China-funded Confucius Classroom might be a ruse for Communist indoctrination of children.
Chen insisted the program was nothing more than a language and cultural learning experience.
The controversy caught the attention of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which featured a dead-pan interview of Chen by the program’s “correspondent,” Aasif Mandvi.
Chen is up for re-election in November.
Chen said he wants to encourage young people to travel in an effort to build bridges with other countries.
“When the whole Confucius Classroom controversy erupted it was very surprising because I didn’t think that kind of xenophobia existed in the diverse communities of Hacienda Heights and La Puente,” he said. “I always encourage students, as a school board member, to take some time off and study abroad – it will really help them in their lifetime.”
SGV – Tribune
