Ateneo de Manila University Archīum Ateneo Sociology & Anthropology Department Faculty Publications Sociology & Anthropology Department 2007 In Search of Common Icons for the East Asian Union Fernando N. Zialcita Follow this and additional works at: https://archium.ateneo.edu/sa-faculty-pubs Part of the Sociology Commons C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Towards an East Asia Community: Beyond Cross-Cultural Diversity Inter-cultural, Inter-societal, Inter-faith Dialogue December 10 – 18, 2007 Edited by Yasushi Kikuchi The Japan Foundation Ministry of Foreign Aairs of Japan Waseda University Institute of Asia-Pacic Studies Towards an East Asia Community: Beyond Cross-Cultural Diversity Inter-cultural, Inter-societal, Inter-faith Dialogue Published by The Japan Foundation Date of publication June 2008 ©The Japan Foundation 2008 4-4-1 Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan 160-0004 Tel: +81-3-5369-6051 Fax: +81-3-5369-6031 URL: www.jpf.go.jp/e/ Layout & design faro inc. Editorial assistant Motomichi Hiwatashi Photographs Atsuko Takagi (pp12-17, 106-107, 114-197) ISBN: 978-4-87540-096-7 Printed in Japan Contents Preface 6 Overview 7 Part 1: Public Symposium Profiles of Coordinators and Keynote Speaker 11 Profiles of Coordinators 12 Profile of Speaker 17 Presentation Papers 19 Trade, Community and Security in East Asia 20 WANG, Gungwu A Vision towards the East Asia Union: Possible or not? —Social Anthropological Aspect— 29 Yasushi KIKUCHI Harmonizing Strategic Interests and Cross-Cultural Diversity: Requisite for Building an East Asian Community 44 Wilfrido V. VILLACORTA In Search of Common Icons for the East Asian Union 48 Fernando Nakpil ZIALCITA There will not be an East Asian Community Without Human Solidarity —An Agenda for Inter- and Intra- Societal Dialogue— 67 Surichai WUN’GAEO Inter-faith Dialogue of East Asian Identities: Is It Possible? 72 Hanneman SAMUEL Report on the Public Symposium 81 Part 2: Program and Participants Program of Activities 102 Position Papers from Participants 111 Moving towards and East Asia community – perspectives of a “true believer” 112 Patricia GIANNOTTO Some Aspects of Popular and Consumer Cultures in Brunei 115 Nani Suryani Haji Abu Bakar Contents The English Language as a Bridge To Realise Effective Tourism 118 Mohd Nasroul Hizam Bin Souyono A rapid overview on ethnic “Kouy” in Indochina 121 Kong VIREAK Media’s Role in Religious Harmony 124 Nguon SERATH Regional Identity Building in East Asia 128 LU Ke Bridge Cultural Divisions through Friendships 130 LI Fan The Language of Inclusion 133 Jhimli BASAK Bridging the gaps from the past to the present: Creating a shared space 136 Shikha MAKAN East Asia: The Next Superpower 139 Poempida Hidayatulloh Knowledge System and Human Future 143 Nirwan Ahmad Arsuka The national development and Problems of Socio-Economic Divide at South Korea 147 Kaeunghun YOON Living Cultural Heritage Site in Southeast Asia Towards Integrated and Sustainable Development Approach 149 Soukanh CHITHPANYA Country Paper 154 Beeya CHIEBRIEKAO Understanding Islam, Bridging Inter-faith Dialogue 158 Jacqueline Ann SURIN Culture, Commerce & ‘Morality’ in Malaysia 162 Azmyl Yunor Inter-faith Dialogue 165 Hnin Myat Thu Inter-societal Dialogue 167 Ni Ni Lwin Inter-societal Dialogue and the Value of the Concept of “Universals” 171 Charlotte BOYER Inter-faith Dialogue: Across the Divide 174 Rehanna Maria Yasina ALI An artist at a time of war 177 Gutierrez M. MANGANSAKAN II Contents The Condition of Human Rights in the Philippines: Challenges and Prospects 181 Sarah Jane S. RAYMUNDO Inter-societal Dialogue: Harmony Centre’s Perspective 185 Tengku Suhailah Binte Tengku Kamarudin Globalizing the Struggle: Globalization from Below in Asian Context 188 Bencharat SAE CHUA Integrating an East Asian Community – a point from cultural aspect 191 Chalongkwan TAVARAYUTH Intercultural dialogue: A solid foundation of a brighter future 195 HOANG Huu Anh Part 3: Discussions among Participants Report on the Intensive Discussions 201 Review of Group Discussion by Coordinators 231 Cultural Linkages between East Asians: An Overview of the Workshop (Group A) 232 Fernando Nakpil ZIALCITA Observations and Comments of Group B:Inter-societal and Intra-societal exchange 235 Surichai WUN’GAEO Report of Group Discussion C: Inter-faith Dialogue 237 Hanneman SAMUEL Preface The Japan Foundation, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Waseda University Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, organized International Forum “Towards an East Asia Community: Beyond Cross- Cultural Diversity: Inter-cultural, Inter-societal, Inter-faith Dialogue” in Tokyo in December 2007. Funded by the JENESYS (Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths) Programme, this forum aims to deepen understanding of the different facets of the Japanese society including politics, diplomacy, economics and culture and to form the basis of future vision and construct firm solidarity among Asian countries which will promote mutual understanding of the future generation of the East Asia Community. In the 10-day program, including seminars on Japan and intensive discussion, twenty nine young Asian intellectuals and professionals such as journalists, social workers, scholars, artists, NGO workers, administrative officers, and business people have been discussing common issues and concerns in East Asia from the inter-cultural, inter-societal and inter-faith viewpoints, with advices by the five coordinators from Japan and ASEAN countries. To share the result of intensive discussions with general public, the public symposium was held in Waseda University on December 17, 2007. This publication consists of three parts. The first part is the report of the public symposium including Keynote speech, presentations by coordinators, and summary of floor discussion. The second part comprises the program details and short papers from the participants along with their personal profiles, which is followed by the last part, the summary and reviews of two- day group discussions. The organizers hope that the real cross-cultural dialogue among the participants would be handed on to the society through this proceeding, and believe that the forum contributes to create a sense of an East Asia Community in the future. The Japan Foundation Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Waseda University Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies Overview “Is the Creation of Sense of Identity Possible in East Asia?” After the International Forum, “Towards an East Asia Community: Beyond Cross-Cultural Diversity, Inter-cultural, Inter-societal, Inter-faith Dialogue.” Yasushi KIKUCHI Professor, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University On December 17, 2007, the international symposium “Towards an East Asia Community”, in which about 200 audience attended, was conducted at Waseda Ono Auditorium, by the three organizers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Waseda University Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, and the Japan Foundation. As a moderator of the symposium, my primary concern was how to set the theme. Although we have seen the increase of symposiums which are based on a concept of “East Asia Community” or conferences of the similar themes in the past 2-3 years, the content of these symposiums and conferences uniformly focuses on the regional integration in the sphere of the economic activity. This concept of economic integration does not only widely spread among specialists of political and business arena, but also has gained the attention from the academics in politics and economics, and has become a kind of fashionable theme. Here, as a moderator, I thought this international symposium should be slightly different in content and become another driving force to forward the East Asian Community Building. That is to say, I wanted to use this opportunity to raise a question on how to share with the people from different regions, the different value and social principles which I have cultivated through the experiences of field survey as a social-anthropologist. At the public symposium, held as apart of the JENESYS (Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths) Programme, we have invited 29 young intellectuals from the total of 16 countries which participated in East Asian Summit (EAS), 10 from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. The participants spent 10 days together to discuss and deepen their thoughts about the possibility of creating common sense of identity in culturally and ethnically Overview diverse East Asian region. During the intensive discussion which lasted for 2 days in the middle of the program, we separated the participants into 3 different groups - focusing on either culture or society or faith - , to discuss the topic of their group and share each and unique problem participants’ representing countries have. The discussion took place not only among the participants themselves, but also with 4 other experts who represent ASEAN. In other words, all who participated the forum have experienced the sense of identity and the cultural diversity through their own skins. The biggest accomplishment, I felt, was to have created the common space where each participant shared the sense of identity beyond their attributes and value. As the fruit of my 40-year experience of field research as a social- anthropologist, I have known that people can discover a tool for mutual understanding by extracting the differences rather than similarities in value and principles