Saturday, September 10, 2005
World Youth Video Conference Series #1
What: Video conference between youths of participating countries to promote dialogue and cross-cultural understanding hosted by the World Bank Singapore
Participants: Japan (represented by Tokyo and Hiroshima), Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papa New Guinea and Singapore
Topic: Peace and Conflict: Lessons from the past
Given the conflicts present in these participating countries' histories at one time or the other, there were plenty of fodder for discussion. The heat was mostly on Thailand in the beginning stages, partly because they were the last to present and partly because they presented on the insurgency in the southern part of their country, something which I think a lot of us know remarkably little about, from its origins to current situation. Never knew that area was historically a Muslim sultanate, or that the situation there was exacerbated by high handed administrative officials. The Thais are such a friendly race in general that it is hard to attribute any roughness or rudeness to them. But the reality is that a group of militants is causing a lot of trouble there. Again, I don't really profess to understand the politics of the situation but it is heartening to see the youths in Thailand taking an active interest.
Of more interest to me were the people from Timor Leste. I still have a soft spot for that country given my experiences there. There was a sweet moment were participants from Indonesia and Timor proclaimed each other as brothers. From what I can tell, the Timorese youths I've encountered genuinely want to put the past behind them and find a way to move on. I guess this is partly due to the prevalence of the Catholic faith and culture of forgiveness it promotes. The country have been through a lot in the last twenty years, and they have every right to be bitter and angry. But they are not, and that is something a lot of people could learn from this small country.
N.B. I saw Julianna online! She's one of the students on the business team for the internet cafe. Too bad she didn't recognise me, even when I waved at her. Darn.
After the conference, I went with the other participants for lunch. Met N from Ngee Ann Poly, who's interested in the projects I'm kinda trying to start up in Timor Leste. Even gave me a couple of contacts that I can try to get sponsorship from. Talk about manna from heaven... Now I really don't have any excuse to continue working on bringing Arte Morris over. Maybe I'll be able to alleviate some of the guilt then. ¶ 10:16:00 am
Participants: Japan (represented by Tokyo and Hiroshima), Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papa New Guinea and Singapore
Topic: Peace and Conflict: Lessons from the past
Given the conflicts present in these participating countries' histories at one time or the other, there were plenty of fodder for discussion. The heat was mostly on Thailand in the beginning stages, partly because they were the last to present and partly because they presented on the insurgency in the southern part of their country, something which I think a lot of us know remarkably little about, from its origins to current situation. Never knew that area was historically a Muslim sultanate, or that the situation there was exacerbated by high handed administrative officials. The Thais are such a friendly race in general that it is hard to attribute any roughness or rudeness to them. But the reality is that a group of militants is causing a lot of trouble there. Again, I don't really profess to understand the politics of the situation but it is heartening to see the youths in Thailand taking an active interest.
Of more interest to me were the people from Timor Leste. I still have a soft spot for that country given my experiences there. There was a sweet moment were participants from Indonesia and Timor proclaimed each other as brothers. From what I can tell, the Timorese youths I've encountered genuinely want to put the past behind them and find a way to move on. I guess this is partly due to the prevalence of the Catholic faith and culture of forgiveness it promotes. The country have been through a lot in the last twenty years, and they have every right to be bitter and angry. But they are not, and that is something a lot of people could learn from this small country.
N.B. I saw Julianna online! She's one of the students on the business team for the internet cafe. Too bad she didn't recognise me, even when I waved at her. Darn.
After the conference, I went with the other participants for lunch. Met N from Ngee Ann Poly, who's interested in the projects I'm kinda trying to start up in Timor Leste. Even gave me a couple of contacts that I can try to get sponsorship from. Talk about manna from heaven... Now I really don't have any excuse to continue working on bringing Arte Morris over. Maybe I'll be able to alleviate some of the guilt then. ¶ 10:16:00 am
