Appointment by 24th SEAMEC, Melaka, 1989 for three years starting 29 August 1988.

Professor Dr Isman was born on 6 February 1933 in Sungaipenuh, Kerinci, Indonesia.  He is married to (Mrs) Sarmeini and the couple is blessed with three children: S Indriani (daughter), 28; Budi Satria (son), 26; and S Madiarti (daughter), 25.

The academic credentials of Professor Dr Isman are as follows:

Master of Arts in Linguistics, 1956 - 1958

PhD in Education and Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), 1970 - 1973

All earned at the University of Indiana, Bloomington, U S A

His background in higher education management is as follows:

Rector, Teachers College, Padang, Indonesia, 13 November 1973 to 13 November 1982, after which he was appointed as Director, Second Indonesia - IBRD Teacher Training Project, Jakarta, Indonesia, from 1 April 1982 to 31 March 1985.

During his tenure at the Teachers College and IBRD Teacher Training Project, he represnted his country in international conferences on higher education that were convened ouside of Indonesia.  and he was also a member of several government committees on higher education.

Diplomatic career

Professor Dr Isman's diplomatic career began on 7 april 1985 when he was appointed as Head, Education and Cultural Division of the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D C.  for more than three years, up to 9 September 1988, he took care of the academic, and sometimes personal, interests of some 10,000 Indonesian higher education students in the United States, and at the same time, promoted the Indonesian culture and arts all over the Continental U S A.
(Ref.:  SEAMEO Quarterly Vol. 11, No. 3, July - September 1988, Page 19)

Prior to his fund-raising mission in the U S A, in early December, Professor Dr Jakub Isman, SEAMEO Secretariat Director, called on USAID (Thailand) to arrange his calls on high officials of the American agency in Washington D C on 18 November 1988, he called on Mr Willie Baum (left photo), and on 25 November, on Mr Lawrence Irvin (right photo), Director of Human Resource and Director of ASEAN Affairs, USAID (Thailand) respectively.