Asia Leadership Fellow Program
2009 PROGRAM REPORT

Action in Dialogue
Towards a Responsible SocietyInternational House of Japan
Japan Foundation

Action in Dialogue: Towards a Responsible Society
Published byInternational House of Japan and Japan Foundation
Copyright © 2010
International House of Japan
5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku, TokyoJapan 106-0032
Telephone: +81.3.3470 3211
Fax: +81.3.3470 3170
Email: alfp@i-house.or.jp
URL: www.i-house.or.jp
Edited by
Editage (a division of Cactus Communications Pvt. Ltd.)
URL: www.editage.jp
Cover and book design by
Cactus Japan K.K.
URL: www.cactus.co.jp
Printed in Japan

Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ALFP 2009 Fellows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ALFP 2009 Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1. Papers of the Fellows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1-1. Youth Apathy and the Search for Political Engagement in Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Iqbal Haider Butt
1-2. Multi-stakeholder Processes for a Responsible Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Kuroda Kaori
1-3. Sustainable Urbanism and Its Challenges to Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Marco Kusumawijaya
1-4. Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Implementation of Corporate Code of
Conduct and Improvement of Labor Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Ma Jifang
1-5. Problematics of Cultural Activism in Building a Humane Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Tanvir Mokammel
1-6. Gun Proliferation in Asia: Limits to Dialogue, Challenges to Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Jennifer Santiago Oreta
1-7. Education: Forming Persons in a Dialogue of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Andrew K.L. Soh
ALFP Activities 2009
2.

Country Reports by the Fellows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2-1. Pakistan: A Country Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Iqbal Haider Butt
2-2. Current Issues Facing Japanese NPOs/NGOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Kuroda Kaori
2-3. Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Marco Kusumawijaya
2-4. Hukou System in China and Its Impacts on Rural Migrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Ma Jifang
2-5. Bangladesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Tanvir Mokammel
2-6. Domestic Realities and Global Engagements: Dynamic Tensions Confronting the Philippines . . . . 65
Jennifer Santiago Oreta
2-7. A Wanderer’s Thoughts on Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Andrew K.L. Soh

3Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

3.

Seminars by Resource Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3-1. Kabuki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Nakamura Kyozo
3-2. Sun-based Economy Changes the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Yamazaki Yasuyo
3-3. Cultural Activism in the Democratization of Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Tanvir Mokammel
3-4. The Reality of the Poverty Problem in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Yuasa Makoto
3-5. The Role of Education in Forming a Humane Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Andrew K.L. Soh
3-6. Urban Sustainability: Governmental and Artistic Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Marco Kusumawijaya and Horiuchi Masahiro
3-7. Third Wave in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Fujiwara Kiichi
3-8. Dialogues for Peace and Youth Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Iqbal Haider Butt
3-9. Social Responsibility in (Realizing) a Humane Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Kuroda Kaori, Ma Jifang and Allen Choate
3-10. Security Perceptions: Obscuring Visions for Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Jennifer Santiago Oreta
3-11. Introduction to CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Imata Katsuji

4.

Retreat and Day Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Weekend Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

5.

Field Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5-1. Field Trip to Yamagata and Aomori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5-2. Trip to Takahata Town,Yamagata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5-3. Trip to Hakushu Town,Yamanashi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

6.

Public Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Public Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

4
Page

Preface

In 1996, the International House of Japan and the Japan Foundation jointly created the Asia Leadership Fellow
Program (ALFP). The ALFP provides selected public intellectuals in the Asian region with the opportunity toreside for two months in Tokyo and to engage in collaborative exchange activities on common subjects that are
pertinent to the region. Through such intellectual dialogue, the program seeks to create a close, personal, andprofessional network of public intellectuals in Asia, who are deeply rooted in and have a strong sense of commitment to civil society that extends beyond their own cultural, disciplinary, and geopolitical backgrounds.
Since its inception in 1996, the program has had nearly ninety fellows, who have come from diverse professional backgrounds, including academia, journalism, publishing, law, education, the arts, nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs), and nonprofit organizations (NPOs).
The general theme for the 2009 program was “Asia in Dialogue:Visions and Actions for a Humane Society.”
From September 14 through November 13, 2009, the seven fellows resided mainly at the International Houseof Japan in Roppongi, Tokyo, and participated in workshops, resource seminars, field trips, and a retreat withscholars, journalists, and NGO/NPO leaders based in Japan. At the end of the two-month program, on
November 6, a public symposium entitled “Action in Dialogue: Towards a Responsible Society” was held toreport on the outcome of the collaborative interaction as well as on the research interests of each fellow. This
program report includes the reports submitted by the fellows after the program was completed, as well as asummary of the resource seminars and other activities in which the fellows participated.
The Program believes that the critical voices of its fellows, which challenge the status quo, as well as their
proposals for alternative solutions, will lead to the development of new norms and value orientations. These
outcomes of the program will have significant benefits for the future of the region.
The International House of JapanThe Japan Foundation

5
Page

ALFP 2009 Fellows

Kuroda Kaori (Japan)
Co-Director, CSO Network of Japan
Ms. Kuroda has been Co-Director of the CSO Network Japan since April 2004.
She was on a Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership NPO Fellowshipwith Social Accountability International in New York in 2006. Prior to her current
position, she worked for the Asia Foundation Japan office as Senior Program Officer and then Assistant Representative. Before moving to the nonprofit sector, she
worked at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. in Tokyo and the Center on Japanese
Economy and Business at the Columbia University School of Business in NewYork.
Ms. Kuroda has written and published many articles on international NGOs, civilsociety and social responsibility. Her recent work includes a chapter “R d Jinken
Bunya no NGO Inishiachibu (NGO Initiatives in the Field of Human Rights inthe Workplace)” in Shakaiteki Sekinin no Jidai—Kigy , Shiminshakai, Kokuren no Shinajii (The Age of Social Responsibility: Synergy of Business, Civil Society and theUnited Nations) (Kunugi and Nomura eds., 2008). She received her M.A. from theHarvard Graduate School of Education and her B.A. from Seikei University.
Marco Kusumawijaya (Indonesia)
Director, Jakarta Arts Council
Mr. Kusumawijaya is an architect by training, and has been working as a professional and activist in the fields of architecture, environment, arts, cultural heritage,urban planning and development. He is focusing his thought and practice on asustainable approach to urbanism and architecture, and the social changes required
towards sustainability. He works with both public and private sectors, international
and local agencies and NGOs, communities and civil society groups. His experiences include an award-winning project of community-driven reconstruction of
23 villages in post-tsunami Aceh. He writes for major print media in Jakarta, andcontributes to journals and books on urban issues, as well as giving talks on TV
and radio. He lectures in diverse fora: public policy workshops, training of civilsociety activists, universities, and community-initiated advocacies and action planning exercises. In 2001 he started Green Map in Indonesia. He has published threebooks about architecture and urbanism, and translated one on social entrepreneurship. He is initiating a knowledge/know-how sharing website (www.rujak.org) for
citizens to build a better Jakarta, his hometown.

7
PageAsia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

Ma Jifang (China)
Coordinator, China IEM (Independent External Monitoring), Fair Labor Association
Ms. Ma is the China IEM (Independent External Monitoring) Coordinator of the
Fair Labor Association (FLA), a nonprofit multi-stakeholder organization dedicatedto protecting worker rights and improving working conditions in China. She has
been working with and for marginalized people in Chinese society, such as farmers, migrant workers and women, and bringing their voices to the public. Her
recent work mainly focuses on the issues of the impact of globalization, corporatesocial responsibility, labor conditions in the supply chain and accountability ofmultinational companies. Ms. Ma has more than ten years’ experience working for
nonprofit organizations. Before joining the FLA, she was the Partnership Development and Child Sponsorship Manager of the ActionAid China Office. Prior to thisposition, she worked for the Environment and Development Program at the Ford
Foundation Beijing Office. Ms. Ma obtained her bachelor degree in English Literature at the Institute of International Relations and her second bachelor degreein Mass Media at the China School of Journalism.
Tanvir Mokammel (Bangladesh)
Filmmaker/Author/Director, Bangladesh Film Institute/Bangladesh Film Centre
Mr. Mokammel studied English literature at Dhaka University, was a left-wing
journalist and then worked as a left-wing activist to organize the landless peasants ofrural Bangladesh. Always a film enthusiast, he has so far made five full-length featurefilms and eleven documentaries. Some of his films have received national and international awards. LALON (2004), a feature film on the 19th-century mystic songcomposer Lalon Fakir, LALSALU (A Tree without Roots) (2001), a story abouta Mullah who established a false shrine in a poor village, and KARNAPHULIRKANNA (Teardrops of Karnaphuli) (2005), a documentary on the plight of theindigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, are among those screened in Japan.
A prolific writer, Mr. Mokammel has written articles in newspapers, poems and literary criticisms. His important books include Syed Waliullah, Sisyphus and Quest for
Tradition in Novel, A Brief History of World Cinema and The Art of Cinema.
Jennifer Santiago Oreta (Philippines)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University
Ms. Oreta holds an M.A. in Education Management from De La Salle University,and has attended advanced courses on peace and conflict studies at the European Peace University in Burg (Austria) and at Uppsala University (Sweden). She
received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Santo Tomas inJune 2009. Her field of specialization is gender and security, and she argues thata lopsided security sector arena dominated by men creates more insecurity thansafety, especially for women. Her research work and interests also include smallarms proliferation and gun violence, security sector reform, and people’s democratic participation. An activist since her college days, she continues to be involved
in social and political issues. She is currently the convener of the Philippine Action
Network on Small Arms (PhilANSA), a local group that advocates for stricter gun
control and lobbies for the passage of an international Arms Trade Treaty. She is also
involved in the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) as the convenerof the Youth and Peace Commission and co-convener of the Gender and Peace
Commission. She is a Board member of the IPRA Foundation, and an active member of Pax Christi International.

8Page

ALFP 2009 Fellows

Andrew K.L. Soh (Malaysia)
Instructor, Dept. of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University
Mr. Soh graduated with a Master’s Degree in Philosophy in 2006 with a thesis
entitled “Wei Ziran: A Daoist Ecological Ethic of Continual Becoming” from Ateneo de Manila University, where he also obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy. His research is in the field of Daoist Philosophy as a living philosophy
in addressing contemporary questions of ecology and human living. An instructor with the Department of Philosophy at Ateneo, he teaches courses in Daoist
Philosophy, Philosophy of the Human Person, and Philosophy of Religion. As ateacher, he is committed to a holistic formation of persons through an education of
the mind and heart, and is a strong advocate of service learning in which students
are given an opportunity to incorporate their engagement with persons on themargins with their philosophical reflections in the classroom upon the meaning of
being human. A Chinese-Malaysian who has lived in the Philippines for the pastten years, Mr. Soh finds himself in an ongoing dialogue of life in which diversity
holds distinct possibilities for unity—a genuine harmony of distinct cultures andperspectives.
Iqbal Haider Butt (Pakistan)
Senior Partner, Development Pool
Mr. Butt specializes in technical writing and research, program and advocacy design
and planning, and has extensively assisted projects affiliated with national, regional
and international development agencies and mainstream media groups, in the main
to stimulate the developmental role of youth and the media in peace-building. He
pioneered the youth track of peace diplomacy in South Asia in 2002, interactingwith more than forty-five universities and higher education institutions in Pakistan,
India and Afghanistan. This work has been supplemented with much research on
peace and youth including the largest national survey on student politics and a
recent study on student politics in Pakistan. As a core member, he also helped todesign the first-ever formally recognized Master’s level course on peace in Pakistan.
A political scientist by training, he is the editor of around fifty books, mainly on
current political history and governance in Pakistan and South Asia. Mr. Butt’s
portfolio is further enriched by a fellowship with the United Nations University(UNU) in Tokyo, Japan, his encounters as an International Visitor on Preventive
Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution under the US Department of State, and bytraining in Conflict Transformation Skills at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU),
USA.

*Affiliation and titles are those at the time of participation in the program.

9Page

ALFP 2009 ScheduleSep 14
Sep 15
Sep 16
Sep 17
Sep 18
Sep 19Sep 20
Sep 21
Sep 24
Sep 25
Sep 28
Sep 29Sep 30
Oct 1

Oct 2
Oct 5
Oct 6
Oct 7
Oct 8
Oct 9
Oct 10–Oct 17
Oct 18–Nov 1
Oct 30
Nov 2
Nov 4
Nov 6
Nov 9
Nov 13

Orientation/Welcoming Reception
Introduction Session
Country Reports 1 (Kuroda Kaori & Tanvir Mokammel)
Country Reports 2 (Jennifer Santiago Oreta, Andrew K.L. Soh, & Ma Jifang)Country Reports 3 (Iqbal Haider Butt & Marco Kusumawijaya)
Retreat Day 1 (Shonan Village)
Retreat Day 2 (Shonan Village)
Retreat Day 3 (Shonan Village)
Seminar on Kabuki by Nakamura Kyozo, Kabuki Actor
Workshop on the Public Symposium
Seminar “Sun-based Economy Changes the World” by Yamazaki Yasuyo, President,
Sun-Based Economy Association
Seminar/Japan@IHJ “Article 9, Japanese Pacifism, and American Militarism” byJohn Junkerman, Filmmaker
Tanvir Mokammel Workshop
DVD Screenings by Tanvir Mokammel, Marco Kusumawijaya, and Iqbal Haider
ButtSeminar “The Reality of the Poverty Problem in Japan” by Yuasa Makoto, Secretary
General, NPO Moyai
DVD Screening of “Rokkasho Rhapsody”
Andrew K.L. Soh Workshop
Seminar “Urban Sustainability: Governmental and Artistic Perspectives” by
Horiuchi Masahiro, Professor, Tama Art University, and Marco Kusumawijaya
Iqbal Haider Butt Workshop
Seminar “Third Wave in Japan” by Fujiwara Kiichi, Professor, University of Tokyo
Seminar “Social Responsibility in (Realizing) a Humane Society” by Allen Choate,
Vice President, Asia Foundation, Kuroda Kaori, and Ma Jifang
Jennifer Santiago Oreta Workshop
Field Trip to Yamagata, Aomori, and Yamanashi
Individual Activities Period
Seminar “Introduction to CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation” by
Imata Katsuji, Deputy Secretary-General, CIVICUS
Report on Individual Activities
Workshop on the Public Symposium
Public Symposium “Action in Dialogue: Towards a Responsible Society”
Screening of a film directed by Petula Sik-ying Ho, ALFP 2007 Fellow
Evaluation Session

11
Page

PAPERS OF THE FELLOWSYouth Apathy and the Search for
Political Engagement in Pakistan
IQBAL HAIDER BUTTINTRODUCTION
According to estimates by the US Census Bureau, 61% of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 25, and international analysts are growingly alarmed over this “youth bulge.” Gunnar Heinsohn (Raphael-Lemkin-Institutefor Comparative Genocide Research, University of Bremen, Germany) has even elaborated on how demographic balance heavily in favor of the youth explains Pakistan’s political turmoil and will continue to bear
unprecedented consequences in the future.1 A ground-breaking study, “The Shape of Things to Come,” byPopulation Action International (2007), is a further scientific testimony to the emerging significance of the
youth factor in Pakistan. Hence, it is necessary to engage youth in political decision-making and governance.
If we look at literature on youth, we find that student politics has been the only form of youth engagementin Pakistan. As long as student politics is dynamic, the youth is supposed to be active.There is massive pessimism
on the socio-political and democratic participation of contemporary youth.The analysts in this line of thought
are greatly apprehensive of the overwhelming presence of a “depoliticized” youth that is uninterested in anything “political” and that is disengaged from the political system. Many authors and scholars have subscribed tothis idea of youth aversion to politics. It is noteworthy that analysts from otherwise opposing political loyalties
share similar views on this count.2
Though the reasons may be different, a large number of scholars and researchers elsewhere in the world
have also indicated that present-day youth is increasingly becoming a spectator instead of an active actor in
the socio-political and democratic action of society. That young people are becoming increasingly disengaged
from politics and the democratic system has become an established tradition of thought. A powerful voice like
Robert Putnam has also mentioned this crisis of civic disengagement in his celebrated work, Bowling Alone(2000). Based on a large amount of survey data, Putnam has shown how citizens have become disconnectedfrom family, friends, neighbors, and social structures. He warns that this shrinking access to “social capital”—
the basic building blocks of community and civic health—is a serious threat to the civic and personal healthof a nation.
I, however, argue that the conventional wisdom of youth apathy comes from an understanding of the formal
institutions of government, conventional political actors (i.e., parties), and traditional forms of political behavior.3
The field of politics (i.e., universities, factories, baronial councils, etc.) is diffused, blurred, and made anonymousin favor of extra-locational notions of ideology and national (more often populist) politics. It becomes a tool forachieving a meta-narrative rather than for focusing on the contextualized field of youth politics.
I have previously shown in a study on student politics4 that there was a difference in students’ perceptions ofstudent politics and student unions. The majority not only welcomed student unions but was willing to makeunions more dynamic, peaceful, women-friendly, and socially responsible, while rejecting “student politics.”
1 http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/415unyit.asp?pg=2
2 Such debates can be seen in Ahmad, Aziz-uddin. “Pakistan Mein Talaba Tehreek,” Lahore: Mashal, 2000; Khalid, Saleem Mansoor.
“Talba Tehreekain” (Vols. 1, 2), Lahore: Albadar Publications; Tareekh Jamiat Committee. “Jab Woh Nazim-e-Ala Thay” (Vols. 1, 2,
3, 4), Lahore: Idara Matbooaate-Talaba; and Piracha, Nadeem F. “Student politics in Pakistan: A Celebration, Lament & History,”
Unabridged http://www.spotbit.com/main/magazine.php?&prod=3984
One of the keys points of all these authors relates to the absence of ideology that, according to them, has historically been the motivating force of socio-political activism among the youth.
3 Butt, Iqbal Haider, “National Survey on Student Politics, 2008,” Gujranwala: BARGAD, 2008.
4 Ibid.

15
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

These findings came from the collection of 5% representative data of students in all the 23 general education
universities in Pakistan. Needless to say, the desired student unions backed by the vast majority of highereducated students in Pakistan are also essentially “political,” though they may be currently absent.
Now the big question is why youth cannot relate to the contemporary (understanding of) politics. This isdue to the assumption, one can say at the micro-level, that mainstream politics operates on a larger scale anddoes not offer young people incentives to relate to the immediate environment, locations close to them, tangible interests based on youth issues, etc. At the mesoscale and macro-level, this can be explained in terms of
the overlooking of societal, structural, and developmental changes that have occurred in Pakistan.
Using a theoretical framework well mapped out by Norris (2002), we can discern the factors working toencourage or discourage political activism at three levels—macro, meso, and micro.This framework further categorizes and synthesizes multiple factors as explained by theorists from different schools with their key perspectives, including societal modernization, structure of the state, mobilizing agencies, resources, and motivation.
When applied to national contexts, drastic changes have occurred for the Pakistani youth and polity.

YOUTH AND POLITICS: A HISTORICAL MAPPINGHistorically, the political and democratic activism of youth is part of a greater narrative of national movements.
There are generally few footnotes on youth participation in the vast body of historical accounts in which
national movements are the focus of studies on the youth; the potential of youth to shape their successes is only
cursorily mentioned. Here, the term “youth” refers to all “young people”; it does not have a defined age limit,
and consists of different sub-age cohorts. They form part of the national identity and are not self-conscious of
their distinctiveness as an organized group.
In these accounts, “youth” itself is not the subject. The potential and youthfulness of this youth to serve agreater national cause is what interests the authors. However, these qualities are not generalized into the patterns of specific behavior that have shaped them. We may find a documentation of events, but no analysis isgiven on youth participation itself.
This argument is especially true for the first three out of the four epoch-making movements in which Pakistani youth is deemed to have been politically active:i. the Pakistan movementii. the uprising of 1968–69
iii. the Afghan war
iv. the movement against the imposition of emergency by President General Musharraf
In fact, in only the most recent movement, we find that youth as an independent and highlighted entity
has emerged in public discussions. We will later see that in analytical terms this course for inquiry began withdemographic studies rather than with the historical and political literature.
In the first example of the Pakistan movement, we have to browse the works of authors like Ayesha Jalal(2001), Stephen P. Cohen (2004), K.K. Aziz, Sirdar Shaukat Hayat Khan (1995), etc. Their narratives shed somelight, in terms of events and developments, on when and where the youth (especially three organized groups—
the Muslim National Guards, All India Muslim Students Federation, and Punjab Muslim Students Federation)
mobilized the Muslim population of United India in different localities during their campaign for a separate
homeland, Pakistan.5
This mainstream scholarship of the Pakistan movement is a classic example of a chronicle of events of youth
activism in the making of Pakistan and the partition of India.
Ian Talbot (1996), though, is an exception. He is deeply conscious of the role that the Muslim National
Guards (MNGs) played in the Pakistan movement and the historians’ neglect of these youth volunteers. He
emphasized in a dedicated chapter that these “volunteers were as much a symbolic underpinning of Pakistani

5 See Khan, Shaukat Hyat. “A Nation that Lost its Soul,” Lahore: Jang Publishers, 1995. Jalal, Ayesha. “Self and Sovereignty: Individualand community in South Asian Islam since 1850,” Lahore, Pakistan: Sang-E-Meel Publications, 2001. Cohen, Stephen Philip. “TheIdea of Pakistan,” Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004.

16
Page

Youth Apathy and the Search for Political Engagement in Pakistan‘nationalism’ as the new flag and anthem [of Pakistan].”6 They demonstrated public participation in the freedom
struggle, especially in the urban areas of northern India. He also provides a bottom-up view of the politics ofMuslim League that traditionally was elitist. At one point, Salar-i-Azam (Commander in Chief) of the Muslim
National Guards claimed in his autobiography that its members numbered around 300,000 in only one province of Bengal.
Secondly, in the post-independence era, youth’s role has been indirectly highlighted in Lal Khan’s recent
book, which was published in 2009. He reports the events of the 1968–69 uprising for a “revolution” inPakistan from a trade union and Marxist perspective.7
Thirdly, the Afghan Jihad period provides us with stark examples of youth’s role in national politics. This,
however, mixes both procedural and illegitimate activism as compared to other epoch-making movements, theapparent purposes of which were peaceful and legitimate. The political rallying and propaganda for the Jihad
against Russia manifested procedural activism, but the actual recruitment, military training, and other subversive activities constituted illegitimate activism for the Jihadi cause.
A certain branch of literature and the public statements of important political figures assert that the youth
was extensively recruited for the Afghan Jihad campaign; this is regarded as one of the open secrets of national
politics and is hardly challenged by any political commentator. Many eminent personalities like the late Prime
Minister Ms. Benazir Bhutto (2008), General Pervez Musharraf (2006), Ambassador Hussain Haqqani (2005),
etc. endorsed the campaign for the Afghan war.8 However, there is very little investigation of the details and theactual operation of youth recruitment and the political participation of the youth in this campaign.The official
versions of the Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT), sister organizations of the Jamaat-e-Islami, provide us with authentic
insights into their political support of Afghan Jihad through a series of Jihad conferences.They uphold and takecredit for the success of Jihad against Russia through the political mobilization of the youth.9
The fourth and latest milestone movement, which was against the imposition of emergency rule by General
Musharraf, woke the world up through its collective action and a youth that acted in an organized manner forthe rule of law in Pakistan. This has created formal platforms within and outside campuses. New student organizations such as the Students Action Committee, University Student Organization (USF), and Insaf Student
Federation (ISF) have been founded. The old monopoly of IJT in the biggest university of Pakistan, Punjab
University, was also broken after a spate of student protests against the manhandling of Imran Khan, a popularcricketer turned politician, in November 2007. The present movement is urban as it is more conducive forgender-mixed interactions that are non-affiliated with political parties; these interactions extensively use virtual
space, web-blogging, electronic messaging, and other contemporary tools of communication.
We can see from these four milestone youth movements that they were all initiated by the literate youth—
the students—whose political participation is cited.
In the Pakistani perspective, the political participation of youth is practically student activism. The main
characteristic of this activism is its dependence on and affiliation with political parties. There has not been an
independent student organization. Of these four milestone political movements of the youth, non-affiliatedactivists have emerged only in the latest movement for the rule of law in Pakistan.
The list of Pakistan’s major student organizations would reveal that all these bodies were sister organizationsof their mother political groups. This list includes the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), Islami Jamiat Talaba(IJT), Peoples Students Organization (PSF), Democratic Students Organization (DSF), National Students
Federation (NSF), Nationalist Students Organization (NSO), All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organization(APMSO), Balouch Students Organization (BSO), Anjuman Talaba Islam (ATI), Jamiat Talaba Islam ( JTI),
Pukhtun Students Federation (PkSF), Insaf Students Federation (ISF), Jaye Sindh Talaba Mahaz, etc.
Student politics was also divided by an intense ideological struggle between the political Islamists and theleft-oriented parties during the Cold War era.This struggle shows the adherence to ideologies of youth activists;

6 See details in pp.59–80.Talbot, Ian. “Freedom’s Cry:The Popular Dimensions in the Pakistan Movement and Partition Experience inNorth-West India,” Karachi: Oxford University Press: 1996.
7 Khan, Lal. “Pakistan’s Other Story: The 1968–69 Revolution,” Lahore: The Struggle Publications, 2008.
8 See examples in Bhutto, Benazir. “RECONCILIATION: Islam, Democracy and the West,” London: Simon & Schuster, 2008.
Musharraf, Pervez. “In the Line of Fire: A Memoir,” London: Simon & Schuster, 2006. Haqqani, Hussain. “Pakistan: Between Mosqueand Military,” Lahore:Vanguard Books, 2005.
9 See interviews of Chiefs of the IJT (Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Meraj ud din, Ejaz Ahmed, Rashid Nasim, Amir ul Azeem, and Seraj ulHaque) in “Jab Woh Nazim-e-Ala Thay,”Vol. 3, Lahore: Idara Mutbooat-e-Talaba, edition 3 Jan, 2008.

17
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Reportwhen these commitments were not present, people would automatically classify the new activism as apolitical.10
Their standpoint may not now be acceptable by the majority of students, as has been indicated in the National
Survey on Student politics, 2008. However, it is worth mentioning that both these rightist and leftist activists
have been the leading groups in youth activism in Pakistan in the post-independence era.
It is nevertheless to the credit of APMSO and BSO that they preceded and resulted in the formation of
their mother political parties. APMSO was founded on June 11, 1978, while the BSO came into being in
1967—both prior to the emergence of the parties they are now politically aligned to.11
There are two major explanations for the dependence of student activism on political parties: (i) the inception of student politics by the leading political party to facilitate the struggle for independence. This is also
true for India. (ii) The ban on political leaders through restrictive laws like the Elective Bodies Disqualification
Order (EBDO) in 1960 and the Political Parties Act of 1962 and the successive undemocratic regimes, specifically in Pakistan.The proponents of the latter idea maintain that, in the absence of political process, the defunctpolitical leaders chose to flex their muscle through student organizations.12 This also created a space for street
and agitation politics. It is no coincidence that, throughout the 1950s and until the late 1960s, the only student
organizations in West Pakistan—present day Pakistan—that could thrive on campuses were those that adhered
to radical notions of changing society from their respective rightist and leftist standpoints.
Political parties capitalized upon the show of muscle, street power, and intense uprisings through student
politics until the 1990s, when student unions were banned. In the pre-independence era, the historian Sharif
ul Mujahid cites examples between 1937 and 1946 of how the fear of student demonstrations deterred manyleading provincial chiefs such as Fazlul Haq, Khizr Hayat Khan Tiwana, and G.M. Syed from revolting and challenging the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah; this played a crucial role in sustaining Jinnah
in his singular leadership.13
Likewise, General Ayub Khan himself accused Maulana Maudaui of “creating student troubles” in November 1963, before banning the JI.14 The events of 1968 are also testimonials to the street power of youth. Syed
Wali Nasr (1994) and Javed Hashmi (2005) postulate that the role of the agitation politics of the youth was
extended against the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto regime; they were the real opposition that led the mainstream political parties. With the start of the Afghan war, a new element of militancy rose to its peak, with an open displayof arms on campuses.15 Subsequently, student unions were banned by the Martial law notification in 1984.
On July 1, 1992, all students and their parents/guardians were bound by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to signan undertaking at the time of admission not to “indulge in politics.” Every college and university student inPakistan has to provide this affidavit to date.
The Supreme Court further banned all student unions on March 10, 1993.
Student organizations have resisted this ban. Nevertheless, there is vast support for the ban, especially fromeducationists who think that student union activities have contributed to violence, militancy, and the disruptionof studies on campuses. In an unprecedented move, the Vice Chancellors of all public and private universities
in Pakistan agreed not to lift the ban during the present critical situation of the country. Rather, they support
the growth of societies and associations within campuses. They further accuse the unions of being a source ofviolence and disruption to studies.16 Some veteran student activists—now national political leaders—also agree
to delink students from national political parties and the violence of the past.17
Two major surveys on student/youth politics confirm that students negatively view the influence of politics
outside campus. The National Survey on Student Politics conducted in 2008 also revealed that the aversionof students is directed towards the dominant forms of campus politics linked with political parties, violence,
10 See for example, Ahmad, Aziz-uddin. “Pakistan Mein Talaba Tehreek,” Lahore: Mashal, 2000, and Tareekh Jamiat Committee. “JabWoh Nazim-e-Ala Thay” (Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4), Lahore: Idara Matbooaat-e-Talaba. (Ahmad in his recent newspaper writings, however,seems to have revised earlier stands expressed in his book.)
11 Interview with Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Secretary General, National Party.
12 Interview with Aamir Riaz, Editor monthly Awami Jamhoori Forum.
13 Mujahid, Sharif al. “CHAPTERS FROM HISTORY: Students’ role in the Pakistan Movement.” Daily Dawn, June 30, 2002.
14 Ghulam Ghous, The Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan in Ayub Era (1958–69), MPhil Thesis (unpublished), Quaid-i-Azam University
Islamabad, 2001.
15 Interview with Senator Anisa Zeb Tahirkheil, twice elected vice president of the Peshawer University Students’ Union, and later thefounding Secretary General of the Peoples Youth Organization and Federal Minister.
16 Daily Dawn, April 12, 2009.
17 Interviews with Fayyaz Baqir, Pervaiz Rashid, and Anisa Zeb Tahir Kheili.

18
Page

Youth Apathy and the Search for Political Engagement in Pakistan

ideologies, etc., and that students do not necessarily reject campus politics per se.There are verifiable indications
that students approve of union activities within campuses but disapprove of “politics.” This means that theyessentially wish to engage in political acts but that they seek to remain outside the influence of formal institutions of government, conventional political actors (i.e., parties), and traditional forms of political behavior.18
The formation of new student bodies such as the Students Action Committee (SAC), ISF, and University
Students Federation (USF) during the last three years and their role in the movement against the imposition of
emergency rule by General Musharraf also demonstrates the similar effects of campaign-based politics.
Our review suggests that the latest student uprising is unique in its character as compared to the first three
examples of the Pakistan movement, the uprising of 1968–69, and Afghan Jihad politics. Trends have hugelychanged. Therefore, the historical approach to understanding student/youth participation in democracy andpolitics is likely to fail in addressing the new forms of group cohesion, networking, and mobilization of youth
in Pakistan.
A review of youth and their linkages with democracy in Pakistan would reveal that the activism of youth
is largely imagined as mass politics, street power, and intense uprisings. This is true for both the proponents ofpolitical Islam and progressive thought—the two leading camps in the history of literate youth (student) politics
in the country.19
It is clearly a preconception that politics is concerned with the formal institutions of government, conventional political actors (i.e., parties), and traditional forms of political behavior. Here, however, the field of politics(i.e., universities, factories, bar councils, etc.,) is diffused, blurred, and made anonymous in favor of an extralocational notion of ideology. This very assumption of democracy indicates that young people are becoming
increasingly disengaged from politics and the democratic system. This framework further shows the legitimacyof the political system in crisis and the rise of a disenchanted and irresponsible young generation.
The big question is whether political parties are the only agents of political and democratic activism.

YOUTH APATHY TOWARDS FORMAL POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONSIn practice, youth apathy towards politics is a disinterest in formal politics. A study by BARGAD20 (titled“National Survey on Student Politics, 2008”) provides ample empirical data to support this point. The survey was conducted by statistically gathering the opinions of 5% of students from all 23 public universities inPakistan that impart general education. This was the largest study on student politics in the country; in total,
909 students responded to the survey.
The National Survey on Student Politics, 2008 shows that more than six out of every 10 students (61.2%)
surveyed in the public universities are not in favor of student politics. However, 68.9% of students welcome thelifting of the ban on student unions. The majority of students are unaware of the situation of student politics
before the ban in 1984 and, in fact, 62.6% of the students indicated that they had no opinion on student politics
in the pre-ban period. Only a fraction (1.8%) possessed highly positive opinions of such politics. In addition,
there were almost no female respondents (1%).
According to the other key results of the national survey, students believe that they should not take part innational politics and political movements, either in an individual or in a collective capacity. 42.2% and 49.8%of the students, respectively, supported such participation. There was a great perception that student politics
should be limited to educational institutions (52.4% vs. 41.3%). Nearly two-thirds (72.3%) of the surveyed students expressed that student organizations should not be affiliated with political parties. Only 28.1% indicatedthat mainstream political parties should have student wings, while 57.9% said “No” to this query. 45.7% of thestudents were also skeptical of teachers and students sharing the same political loyalty on a certain campus; theysaid that this would not have a positive effect on educational institutions. 36.2% of the students were positive
about the same loyalty scenario.

18 Butt, Iqbal Haider. “National Survey on Student Politics, 2008,” Gujranwala: Bargad, 2008, and Centre for Civic Education (CCE)“Political Participation of Youth in Pakistan,” Undated.
19 See for example, Ahmad, Aziz-uddin. “Pakistan Mein Talaba Tehreek,” Lahore: Mashal, 2000, and Tareekh Jamiat Committee.
“Jab Woh Nazim-e-Ala Thay” (Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4), Lahore: Idara Matbooaat-e-Talaba. (Ahmad in his recent newspaper writings, however, seems to have revised earlier stands expressed in his book.)
20 BARGAD is a youth development organization. http://www.bargad.org.pk/

19
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

In terms of the rules of student unions and the Code of Conduct for student organizations, the national
survey results indicated that 69% of the students thought that the procedure of student union elections should
be indirect and that the unions should be elected by departmental societies.
More than two-thirds (77.1%) of the students believed that it is important for the university administration
to impose the Code of Conduct strictly on student organizations in order to ensure that there is no violence on
campus. Only a very small number of students (7.5%) took the individual possession of weapons on campuses
to be “Normal.” 68.1% categorically said that it was criminal. Nearly two-thirds of the students were in favorof banning those student organizations that promote sectarian, religious, gender, caste, and/or racial discriminations through their literature and actions.
Based on academic performance, 56.7% of the students supported the eligibility criteria for those who wantto contest student union elections.
A vast majority (70.3%) stood for open access of information regarding student union and university funds.
Only 14.6% opposed easy access to such information.
When asked to rate the five key objectives of a student union, the students indicated that the first objectiveof the student union should be “Quality Education.” “Student Welfare,” “Culture of Peace,” “Leadership Development,” and “Political Training” followed, in the order set by the respondents.
According to a recent national survey, 63.6% of university students wanted a reserved quota for girls in thestudent unions. 34.4% of the students opposed the allocation of such a quota.
Views in favor of/opposition of student politics
Gender
Question

Response

Male

FemaleTotal

Are you in favorof student Politics?

No# of Respondents% of Total

210
23.1%

346
38.1%

556
61.2%

Yes

# of Respondents% of Total

225
24.8%

128
14.1%

353
38.8%

Total

# of Respondents% of Total

435
47.9%

474
52.1%

909
100.0%

Ranking of the aims of student unions
Aim

Male

Female%Quality Education
Student Welfare
Culture of Peace
Leadership Development
Political Training

22.30%
11.70%
5.20%
6.30%
4.40%

29.90%
8.30%
5.50%
2.40%
3.80%

52.20%
20.10%
10.80%
8.70%
8.20%

Source: National Survey of Student Politics, 2008; Published by BARGAD.

Overall, the youth in higher education do not oppose politics per se; rather, they are wary of dominant(campus) politics and its violent past. They fully endorse the curbing of discriminatory politics and they welcome women’s quotas. They are also clear about a vision of politics that must be in line with their interests,
their needs, and quality education.
The above empirical case suggests that the youth would welcome politics that promotes their sectoral interests and would reject the versions of politics that are outside their immediate environment and controlled byformal political parties.

20
Page

Youth Apathy and the Search for Political Engagement in Pakistan

The debates triggered by the National Survey on Student Politics, 2008 are also interesting to follow. In aradical shift from their avowed positions, many mainstream politicians who have a student politics backgroundhave openly conceded to break student links with politics within the bounds of campuses.21
A more recent survey that I have conducted (with Sabiha Shaheen)22 in 19 universities, with logistic help,
staff, and volunteer assistance from BARGAD, shows that the notion of youth apathy towards politics needs tobe critically examined and cannot be taken as a factual statement. This is because the survey indicates that theyouth is fairly interested in politics. However, they are least inclined towards student politics, whose violent pastand potential to disrupt their studies is far greater than any other type of politics.The survey also indicated thatthe youth is well in touch with political happenings and relies mostly on electronic media as their source of
information. They are influenced by the political interests of their fathers at home, as well. However, they do
not necessarily endorse the following of the political loyalties of their close relatives. Although they have notvoted in the national elections yet, their participation in other elections—class, campus, etc.—is significantly
high. They are also highly cognizant of the importance of democracy and politics. When it comes to practicalparticipation in politics, they have interacted more with student/youth organizations and their leaders. They
also have visibly taken part in skill-based social activities, including debating, literary, religious, and sports
events, as against hardcore political activities. Moreover, they think that access to their respective members of
the national assembly is limited to them. However, they believe that the allocation of quota for women in theparliament has brought about positive change in national politics.
The surveyed youth also firmly believes that politics and democracy can bring about peace in the country
and on their campuses. They further seek to take part in extra-curricular activities on their campuses.
The above-mentioned surveys demonstrate well that the youth is not aloof from politics, as is generally
considered. However, their terms of engagement are more pragmatic than ideological, as has been the case in
the past movements in Pakistan.
Another highlighted factor is that there is a stark contrast between the perceptions of youth and theirpractical participation in political and democratic activism. Furthermore, the present-day youth stays abreast ofpolitical and democratic happenings in the country. Why this does not translate into action is a big question.
According to the findings of the above survey and the survey conducted by BARGAD (2008), this could be
attributed to the absence of collective spaces, opportunities for platforming and positive interactions, enabling
environment, resource building, and incentives for training and collective action.

THE USE OF ICTs AS AN EMERGING FORM OF YOUTH ACTIONMedia, especially electronic, and ICTs have witnessed a phenomenal upsurge in/of access and infrastructure in
recent history in Pakistan.
The two key political contributions of ICTs to contemporary democratic action in Pakistan can be summarized: (i) linking Pakistani diaspora with situations back home and (ii) integrating literate youth with socialand political action.
The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) informs that there are around 4 million registered expatriate
Pakistanis living abroad. Informally, an additional 4 or more million migrants who are unregistered can be
added to this number. According to the interim report of the panel of economists, the Planning Commission
GOP, their remittance touched nearly 6.5 billion US dollars only in fiscal year 2008, and their role in national
growth, investment environment, and employment-generation cannot be over-emphasized. Due to the ICTs,
this huge community [larger in population than many European countries] is invoking its Pakistani links likenever before.The professionals and youth communities are particularly inclined to participate in the democratic
discourse of Pakistan.
21 See, for example, a seminar on “Educational Institutions and Wings of Political Parties?” in the Faisal Auditorium in Punjab
University Lahore at New Campus on November 17, 2008. Official Press Release Available at:
http://www.pu.edu.pk/press/press_release-17-nov-08.asp
22 Butt, Iqbal Haider and Sabiha Shaheen. “Youth and Political Participation,” British Council in forthcoming multi-country report,
Next Generation Report, 2009.

21
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

The following is a list of some websites that either came about after the imposition of emergency rule23 inPakistan or that commented upon the saga.24– pakpolitics.com– AitzazAhsan.com– PakVoices– NaiTazi.com– The Campaign to Reclaim Karachi– Pakistan Alert Network– Friends of South Asia
– SupportPakistan.org– EmergencyHQ.org– Not Again, Never Again– NowPublic.com– http://web.mac.com/agitation/emergency_2007/– FASTRising– ALE-Xpressed– Code Pink
Rais holds that “the judicial crisis and the lawyers’ movement captured the attention of all sections of society.
But, more than any other, the youth became interested in the identity of their state—who controls and runs
it and for what purposes—and learnt their first lesson in politics. The lesson was that one or few individuals
associated with powerful formal institutions and informal social structures have absolute control over the stateand do not care about public interests.”25 Rais continues:
The most important thing about the rise of the new social movement is that the young Pakistanis have acquired politicalsocialisation in a globalised context with deeper knowledge and understanding of positive changes taking place in othercountries, and how their own country is being governed.
The sudden rise of the social movement rejects the conventional analysis that the youth is depoliticised and mainly interested in advancing their careers.26

Apart from national activism over the imposition of emergency in Pakistan, the uprising in Punjab University, Lahore, the largest higher education institution, against the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) was a phenomenal
event that began in November 2007, in response to the IJT’s mistreatment of Imran Khan. IJT was vacated by
students often thought to be “urban” and incapable of initiating any mutiny against such a dominant group, andwas ousted many strong opponents with national backing from the PU campus.
The triumph of the two leading student groups—University Student Federation (USF) and the Insaf Students Federation (ISF)—is attributed to the mobilization of students through YouTube and SMS messages
against an opponent that was deemed strong and that had a significant history of outwitting others using formal
political communication tools.
The USF has regularly posted videos on YouTube to demonstrate the excesses of its opponents. The number ofsuch postings amounts to hundreds. Moreover, it disseminates SMS messages to more than 50 core activists in theuniversity.The same is true for ISF, whose Punjab Province database contains cell numbers of around 700 activists.27
The ICTs have helped young activists to destroy the physical surveillance capabilities and mainstream media
links of the dominant political group.
The extent of youth networking through internet can also be gauged from the data generated by me. It
reveals that 16,126 students from 18 (general education) public universities are active members of only one
social networking site ORKUT, which is quite popular among Pakistani youth. The number of virtuallypresent and interactive youth surpasses those youth that have been traditionally affiliated with political parties.
23 Please refer to the following website for further information.
<http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007>.
24 Some of these websites no longer exist.
25 Rais, Rasul Bakhsh, “Youth of the Nation,” (November 2007), The Green Political Foundation,<http://www.boell.de/democracy/governance/institutions-governance-3034.html>
26 Ibid.
27 Interviews with Ahmed Muaz President ISF and Amir Jalal Chief Organizer USF, December 2009.

22
Page

Multi-stakeholder Processes
for a Responsible Community
KURODA KAORIINTRODUCTION
During my fellowship, I focused on community development in the multi-stakeholder process in the context ofsustainable development and social responsibility.The concepts of “sustainable development” or “sustainability,”“social responsibility” of organizations (and individuals), and “multi-stakeholder processes or partnerships” havedeveloped together over the past two decades or so. Recently, “community involvement and development” hasbecome a core subject of social responsibility in the future ISO 26000 standard, currently being developed byInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO). This paper examines a case in which multi-stakeholder
partnerships are formed to address social and environmental issues in Toyota city, Aichi prefecture, in Japan.The
challenges and prospects of multi-stakeholder processes in this case will be discussed. Before discussing the case,
I will touch upon the terminology and definitions of the keywords in this paper.

TERMINOLOGY AND CONCEPTS
The term “sustainability” or “sustainable development” has been widely known, and achieving a “sustainable
society” has become a common goal globally. The term first appeared in the report “Our common future,”
also known as “the Brundtland Report,” which was submitted by the World Commission on Environmentand Development in 1987. In this report, “sustainable development” was defined as “a form of developmentthat meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.” This definition has been commonly used since then. However, the sustainability agenda is far morepressing in today’s world than it was in 1987, when the Brundtland Report was submitted. This is because theissues of climate change, food security, poverty, and human rights have become far more threatening to theplanet and to human beings; thus, dealing with these issues is now considered top priority at the local, national,
and global levels.
“Agenda 21” was adopted in order to implement the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development at
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
in 1992. Agenda 21 states, “Critical to the effective implementation of the objectives, policies and mechanisms
agreed to by Governments in all programme areas of Agenda 21 will be the commitment and genuine involvement of all social groups.”1 It continues by stating that one of the fundamental prerequisites for the achievementof sustainable development is broad public participation in decision making. It also defines the roles of majorgroups, including women, children, youth, indigenous people, non-governmental organizations, local authorities, trade unions, business and industry, the scientific and technological community, and farmers.2 In order toensure the effective follow-up of UNCED, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was createdas a multi-stakeholder forum in December 1992. From around then, multi-stakeholder processes have gained
recognition as valid and meaningful mechanisms for socially and environmentally responsible management
practices toward sustainable development.3
1 http://habitat.igc.org/agenda21/a21-23.htm
2 http://habitat.igc.org/agenda21/a21-23.htm
3 “Governance and Multistakeholder Processes” by Nancy Vallejo and Pierre Hauselmann (2004). http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2004/
sci_governance.pdf

23
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

The concept of social responsibility has been developed with a focus on business, multinational corporations
in particular, in the age of globalization, which has been around since the 1970s but has become more prominent from the 1990s onwards. Social responsibility or corporate social responsibility has been defined in many
ways by different groups. However, the common features of being socially responsible include responsibility for
an organization’s impacts on environment and society; contribution to sustainable development; transparency;
accountability; ethical behavior; and stakeholder engagement. The terms “sustainability” and “social responsibility” are often used as two sides of the same coin although they are different concepts. According to ISO/DIS (draft international standard) 26000, the principles of social responsibility are accountability, transparency,
ethical behavior, stakeholders, rule of law, international norms of behavior, and human rights. These principles
form the basis of an organization to implement social responsibility and contribute to sustainable development.4
Stakeholder engagement is an important concept in this new standard.5

MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PROCESSES (MSPs)
Multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) usually encompass multi-stakeholder dialogues and multi-stakeholder
partnerships. As previously stated, from the Rio Declaration (UNCED 1992), MSPs among the government
sector, the business sector, and civil society actors have become a common call to forge sustainable development.6 MSPs have been considered an effective mechanism, particularly in the promotion of social responsibility. The European Multi-stakeholder Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was held in October
2002 with the aim of providing a platform for discussions on CSR issues among the main stakeholder groups
in Europe, including employers, trade unions, business organizations, and civil society organizations.There havebeen similar processes in promoting CSR at the national level in other European countries. In Japan, after being
in the preparatory stages for a couple of years, a new mechanism called “multi-stakeholder forum on social
responsibility for a sustainable future” was launched in March 2009.This forum consists of representatives fromseven groups—industry, labor, consumer groups, NGOs, the government, specialists, and the financial sector.
Many standards and initiatives for promoting social responsibility have adopted MSPs. Therefore, standardsetting organizations such as Global Reporting Initiative, AccountAbility, Social Accountability International,
Fair Labor Association, Clean Clothes Campaign, Ethical Trading Initiative, and many others are often called
multi-stakeholder organizations or multi-stakeholder initiatives. ISO also adopted this process for the first time
when it decided to develop a standard for social responsibility (the future ISO 26000 standard). The working
group for this future standard is currently composed of approximately 400 experts representing six stakeholder groups—industry, governments, labor, consumer, NGOs, and SSRO (Service, Support, Research, andOthers)—from more than 90 countries.
The benefit of MSPs is often identified as the dynamism of engagement among different experiences, perspectives, incentives, and constituencies when all stakeholders make a common commitment to improving
conditions by addressing problems and producing practical outcomes and timely results. The process of thisengagement usually takes more time when one or two groups work on the issue. However, as long as MSPs
bestow upon each group a sense of ownership, they can in the end increase efficiency. MSPs may also reduce
the risk of leaving someone out; they thus prevent conflicts among stakeholders. In order for MSPs to work,
the ingredients of successful MSPs, which could include the following,7 should be shared by all stakeholders
involved:− Common visions and goals;− A facilitator;− Equal representation from all;− Joint work plan encompassing activities, schedules, performance indicators, resource commitments, roles,
and responsibilities;
4 http://iso26000.jsa.or.jp/_files/doc/2009/iso26000_dis.pdf
5 ISO Central Secretariat, ISO and Social Responsibility 2006.
6 Nancy Vallejo and Pierre Hauselmann (2004) http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2004/sci_governance.pdf
7 Referring to “The New Broker—Brokering Partnerships for Development” by Michael Warner, Natural Resources Cluster, Business
Partners for Development published by Overseas Development Institute, 2003.

24
Page

Multi-stakeholder Processes for a Responsible Community− Funding principles;− Decision-making principles;− Grievance mechanisms to resolve differences;− Procedures for transparency;− A strategy for communicating with constituents and other interested parties;− On-going communications between stakeholders;− Procedures for monitoring and measuring performance;− Rules for individual stakeholders to leave or join MSPs; and− Exit strategy for partnerships

CASES OF MSPs AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL IN JAPANMSPs have been adopted and developed in recent years at the community level as well. Listed below are somecases from Japan.
Kawasaki Compact was initiated by the Kawasaki city government. The city is adjacent to the Tokyo Metropolitan area. It is a manufacturing city with many world-renowned high tech companies and research anddevelopment institutions. It is a multi-national city, with foreign nationals accounting for 2% of its total population. It highlights the key concepts of a city: sustainable community development and community that contributes to the rest of the world. In line with the above concepts, the city stresses that citizens, private businesses,
NPOs, and governments should bring out their respective strengths and work together to deal with social andenvironmental issues in Kawasaki city as well as at the national and global levels.8
Kawasaki city has joined the UN Global Compact (UNGC), and, in 2006, it established the Kawasaki Compact based on the principles of the UNGC.9 Kawasaki Compact has two parts: Business Compact and Shimin(Citizens) Compact. Business Compact is targeted at private businesses in Kawasaki city and has nine principles
in the area of human rights, environment, fair operating practices, safety, and contribution to community.
Shimin Compact encourages citizens to actively participate in dealing with social and environmental issues.
Ibaraki SR (social responsibility) Network was led by a nonprofit intermediary organization, Ibaraki NPO
Center Commons, in Ibaraki prefecture, located in the northeast of Tokyo. This network was formed in thespring of 2009, after discussion over a couple of years, with the aim of providing a common area for different groups to deal with issues in the community. Other members of the Network include Ibaraki Employers’
Association, Rengo Ibaraki (Federation of trade unions), Ibaraki Shimbun (Newspaper), and Ibaraki Chamberof Commerce.
The above are two examples of MSP initiatives that have been increasing in recent years throughout Japan.

DEVELOPMENT OF A SUPPORT SYSTEMFOR JAPANESE LANGUAGE LEARNING IN TOYOTA CITY
Another MSP is a support system for Japanese language learning that was developed in Toyota city, Aichi prefecture. I will examine this project with reference to a case study carried out by a Japanese nonprofit organization, the Diversity Institute,10 in August 2008, as well as the report issued by Nagoya University in March 2009.
I also visited Toyota International Association (TIA) and met Mr. Doi Yoshihiko, the System Coordinator ofthis MSP project. Based on the information from the above sources, I will discuss the challenges and prospectsof this case.

8 About Kawasaki compact: http://kawasaki-compact.com/mokuteki.html Translated into English by the author.
9 UNGC comprises10 principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.
10 The Diversity Institute is a nonprofit think tank that specializes in the issue of diversity in the community. This case study “Toyota
Nihongo Gakushu Shien shisutemu or Support system of Japanese language learning in Toyota” was published as a series of casestudies, Chiiki de Susumeru Shakai sekinin (or Promoting social responsibility as a community) in a monthly journal, NPO Management by IIHOE, in August 2008.

25
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

BackgroundToyota city is a mid-sized city of the automobile industry, with a population of approximately 420,000. It has
become a multi-national city with approximately 16,000 foreign residents from 80 countries, who account for
3.9% of the total population. As of May 1, 2008, the largest group is from Brazil, with 7,986 people, followed by
2,839 Chinese, 1,575 Koreans (South & North), and other nationals, who work at auto (or auto parts) factories.
Aichi prefecture has a fairly large number of foreign communities consisting of Brazilians (80,401), Koreans(South & North together, 42,252), Chinese (41,605), Peruvians (8,292), and others. Aichi prefecture conducted
an attitude survey in 2008 toward the internationalization of Aichi prefecture.The results reveal the mixed feelings of citizens towards the increasing number of foreign nationals, as shown in Figure 1.
A U.K. telecom company, Cable & Wireless, together with a UK-based think tank, SustainAbility, and a Japanese nonprofit organization, Center for Active Community, conducted an interesting study and issued a report
titled “Corporate Community Investment in Japan” in 2003.11 The report explains the set of issues arising from
economic changes witnessed from the late 1990s onwards. In addition, according to the report, one of the issues
was that prejudice among Japanese nationals towards foreign nationals is deepening, partly due to communication problems.12 Indeed, the language barrier is a serious issue faced by foreign nationals and Japanese nationals
when communicating with one another.
In many cases, city and municipal governments, nonprofit organizations, and nonprofit intermediary organizations are the ones who tackle the communication problems related to foreign nationals and who try to bridge
the gap created by the insufficient support system of the central government. Because Toyota city is not a college town, foreign workers do not have an opportunity to learn Japanese even though more than 80% of them
expressed that they would like to learn the language. Against this backdrop, a support system for Japanese language
learning (hereafter, language support system) was initiated by the city council (with the cooperation of Toyota
International Association (TIA), a nonprofit intermediary organization) along with Nagoya University, Brazilian
schools, and small-medium enterprises in the city. It was funded by a large contribution from Toyota Motors to
Toyota city. The language support system aimed to be a platform for communication between locals and foreign
nationals. After a preliminary study, a pilot project began in a Tokai Rika factory in Toyota in June 2008.
FIGURE 1. How do you feel about the increasing population of foreign nationals?
Worsen public safety

31.1%

Arise conflicts from differences in culture,manners and customs
Increase social burden

13.3%
2.9%

Increase the opportunity to learn culturesand languages of another country
Increase the opportunity to be friends
with people from other nations
Lead to economic growth

16.4%
7.6%
5.4%

Do not know

11.4%

Other

11.9%

Source: Aichi-ken no kokusaika ni kansuru kenmin ishiki chousa kekka (the result of the Attitude Survey of Residents of Aichi Prefecture
toward the Internationalization of Aichi Prefecture) conducted by Aichi prefecture in March 2008. It used a random sampling of 4,000
residents, of which 1,094 responded.

11 “Corporate Community Investment in Japan” by Cable & Wireless IDC Inc., Cable & Wireless, SustainAbility Ltd., Centre for
Active Community in 2003.
12 “Corporate Community Investment in Japan” by Cable & Wireless IDC Inc., Cable & Wireless, SustainAbility Ltd., Centre for
Active Community in 2003.

26
Page

Multi-stakeholder Processes for a Responsible Community

The Japanese support system has been developed and implemented by a working group (WG) at Nagoya
University. The main coordinator is Mr. Doi, who is also the System Coordinator of the entire project. There
are several subgroups of the WG, each of which meets once a week to develop Japanese textbooks, E-learning,
websites, and capacity-building programs and to discuss volunteer coordination and assessment of language
acquisition. The WG works with employees of local corporations, students, and other volunteers. This multistakeholder platform aims at not only helping foreign workers with their language skills but also encouraging
local people to take part in a diversified community.
The system has two objectives. One is to develop and spread a system to help foreign nationals in the city
learn basic Japanese so that they can get by in everyday life. There is an understanding that this will lead to thecreation of a sustainable community.The other objective is to develop a comprehensive and sustainable support
system for Japanese language learning that is replicable in other areas at the local and national levels. Becauseof this comprehensive approach, the city and the System Coordinator, Mr. Doi, welcome observers from other
cities.

Toyota City Diversity Promotion Committee
The language support system is being promoted and discussed by a special committee of support for Japanese
language learning in the Toyota-shi Tabunka Kyosei Suishin Kyougikai or Toyota City Diversity Promotion
Committee. This Committee has multiple stakeholders, including the Mayor, the Chairman of TIA, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce in Toyota city, junior high schools, three local corporations, Japanese
language experts, Toyota City Housing Corporation, Toyota Police, Rengo Aichi (Federation of trade unions),
Toyota Social Welfare Office, and a few others. There are three sub-committees within the Committee—thesub-committee of insurance and labor, the sub-committee of education and youth, and the sub-committee ofcommunity. Thus, the language support system is discussed not only in linguistics terms but also as an important component of the promotion of diversity in the city. Each of the four (sub-) committees forms a multistakeholder roundtable forum.

A Pilot Study at Tokai Rika
Tokai Rika is a company that produces seat belts and ornamental parts for automobiles; it employs approximately 300 Brazilians out of a total of 1200 employees. Volunteers, many of whom are college students, help
in the language classes. In fact, the System Coordinator had approached 50 small-medium-sized companies
through the Chamber of Commerce to explain and promote the system to their workers. He received replies
from five companies, one of which was Tokai Rika. Because most companies hire foreign workers throughtemporary staffing service companies, the management of the receiving companies/factories often does not
feel that providing training and language services to the temporary workers is mandatory. Tokai Rika has also
dispatched workers but it has a good relationship with Modan Soubi, a staffing service company. Both companies agreed on the objectives of the language support system, and Modan Soubi sent its own staff to assist thelanguage classes at Tokai Rika.

THE CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF THE JAPANESE SUPPORT SYSTEM
It is too early to evaluate this one-year-old system. However, we would like to share the following observations,which include challenges and prospects:
The main challenges are as follows:− to share a common vision among different stakeholders in terms of promotion of diversity in communities
through the system;− to engage directly with foreign workers in developing and implementing the system;− to increase the participation of local community in the language classes;

27
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report− to increase the participation of local companies in the system;− to get more understanding from top management at a company in terms of needs of language support; and− to secure funds for the future (the initial donation by Toyota Motors will be used up by 2012. There is nopledge from anyone to financially support this system from then on).
As a result of these challenges, many companies do not feel responsible for providing language training totheir foreign employees. In addition, the recent financial crisis hit Toyota city hard, and, consequently, many
foreign workers as well as Japanese contracted workers were laid off. The Japanese classes at Tokai Rika havebeen suspended for the past several months.
However, there are some prospects as well. The number of volunteers, including students and those working
at the city council, has been increasing. In this severe recession, Mr. Doi says that it is crucial to make this system
sustainable with the support of community members. The core members of the system are expanding their
networks with governments and organizations in other cities in similar situations in the hope that this system
will be replicable after it is tailored to fit each community.

CONCLUSION
In the case of the language support system in Toyota city, there are two levels of MSPs. One is a multistakeholder roundtable forum led by Toyota city. The other takes place at the implementation level. The latter,
however, is not a case where different stakeholders get together to implement the system. Rather, the System
Coordinator is given a managing and coordinating role and works with other stakeholders, such as the working
group at Nagoya University, TIA, Toyota city, local companies, and volunteers at different times when needed.
For example, the System Coordinator’s dealing with local companies can be done without engaging with local
government officials and student volunteers. Therefore, not all ingredients of a successful MSP that I have suggested above may be applicable in this particular case.
Although it is crucial to engage directly with core stakeholders in MSPs, it is not easy to do so. In the caseof the language support system in Toyota city, it is important to further involve foreign workers and residents
of local community in the process. In addition, in order to make the language support system successful andsustainable, it is vital for the community to treat this system as an important component when dealing with
the issue of diversity. Social inclusion and community empowerment are also essential in order for different
stakeholders to nurture a sense of ownership and responsibility for the community.
As the number of foreign residents and workers is expected to increase in other communities in Japan, we
would like to follow how the language support system develops in Toyota, as it can be a model for other diverse
communities in the future.

28
Page

Sustainable Urbanism and
Its Challenges to Civil Society1
MARCO KUSUMAWIJAYA2W

e are entering an interesting decade of the twenty-first century: all of humanity is mobilizing to survive
climate change in order to prolong their existence into the next millennium. If they succeed, they will
be able to question the many gods—big and small, singular and plural, ancient and recent—so far conceptualized. There are two possible extremes: man will reinstate these gods to absolute existence as a result of
having experienced ecological changes, or he will totally liberate himself from their divine necessity through a
new, self-instigated confidence. In either possibility, that is being made more humble or more arrogant, humanity will have a profoundly restructured existential understanding of themselves and the universe.
Alternatively, maybe this will not be the case.
Because, as we are apparently moving ahead in earnest to reduce CO2 (I was glad to learn while in Japanthat Indonesia is the first developing nation to promise a 25% reduction by 2020, despite my being unsure
about how we will achieve this … You must forgive us if we fail), we should be reminded that there are otheroutstanding problems that humanity faces, with or without climate change, which may aggravate them. Amongthese problems are areas in which my cohort colleagues in ALFP 2009 are working: armed conflicts and humansecurity, unfair relationships between owners of capital and labor force, cultural (and artistic) freedom, poverty
and injustice in many parts of the world, under- or un-represented voices of the next generation and otherspecies, increasingly unaccommodated diversifying communities, and minorities with different needs. Climatechange is not the only ecological problem that we are facing. Relatively independent of climate change are,among others, decreasing biodiversity and water scarcity. Despite the fact that these problems might be worsened by climate change, other ecological problems have pre-existed these issues, which are caused by manyother factors that are related to our mode of industrialized production and mass consumption, to our system,and to our behavioral pattern.
Given the recently increasing “Al Gore-an” fascination with climate change and the consequent mobilization we are increasingly witnessing, I think we have to refocus our efforts on these other problems, ecologicaland non-ecological, even though there are still some issues that first need to be dealt with in regard to ourmobilization against climate change itself.
Indeed, when we act on climate change, we only become better animals, because we are saving ourselvesfrom a basic threat to the species. This is nothing but an instinct for survival. We become better human beings
only when we also solve problems such as poverty, human rights violations, cultural repression, and others,
because this requires active compassion, which is unique to human beings. However, it is true that no society
can exist without a sustainable physical environment. Environment is a resource without which no social or economic entity can exist.There can be no trade-off between environment and other factors because the former issimply the existential basis of the latter. It is wrong to imagine a model in which development is in (harmonious) balance with environment. Development and environment are not of equal standing. Development can bebased only on the environment and must be intended to regenerate the environment, to grow together with
its capacity.
Therefore, I share with my colleagues the belief that a humane society means a society that actively andcontinuously thinks and takes care of the welfare of all humanity, not of just the majority, and that perceives
the problems of a few unfortunates as the collective problems of humankind. Consequently, we need a societythat actively takes into its hands the nitty-gritty work that need to be done to ensure that the world becomes
1 Presented at ALFP 2009 Public Symposium, Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan, November 6, 2009.
2 Urbanist; Fellow at Asia Leadership Fellow Program (ALFP) 2009, Japan Foundation and the International House of Japan.

29
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Reporta better place for all, not just for the majority. This is what we mean by “responsible society”: a society that has
the necessary capacity to continuously respond to outstanding and emerging problems, both through direct
and indirect action and through advocacy to reclaim state policies and market directions. A responsible societyis thus a reinvigorated civil society that coordinates its actions through dialogue in a public space and works on
both the nitty-gritty necessities and the continuous reproduction of values in order to provide policies for thestate and directions for the market. Given the inevitable frequent market failures and the often inert politicalstalemates in power webs, the third sector, the civil society, should really reclaim the ownership of both thestate and the market.

THE URBAN QUESTIONSAt this moment, we can safely conclude that at least humankind is well equipped to change, bearing in mind acomparison with similar catastrophes in the long past, when humans were completely powerless: the last glacialage, some 75,000 years ago, and the last global warming, some 11,000 years ago.3
It is impossible to say definitely how we will change. We could say that we will survive the existential threatof global warming because it is simply existential and we might be moved by that fact. However, will we alsochange to respond to the many other ecological problems? In addition, will we refocus on the problems wealready have at hand irrespective of climate change? In addition, how many lives and how much property will
suffer if we even survive this climate change as a species? These questions are related to cities. On the positiveside, climate change opens up a whole array of other problems. Most importantly, it offers us the opportunity
to reflect on and respond to the many other world problems that, if wisely responded to, could bring aboutsustainable living, particularly in cities.
In 2007, the world urban population passed the 50% threshold, due largely to growing cities in the developing parts of Asia, including China, the Indian subcontinent, and South Asia. Up to 80% of the urban population
in South East Asia lives within 100 km of the sea4 and is therefore vulnerable to rising sea levels. In archipelagic
countries like Indonesia, this figure may be considerably higher, with both urban and rural populations concentrated closer to, if not literally at, the sea.
The importance of a city lies in its being the irreversible locus of human permanent settlements and a portof entry for people, goods, and new processes. The density of people, goods, infrastructure, information, andrelationships, and the diversifying diversity of symbolic reproduction, are the main characters that make cities
unavoidable problems and solutions for human sustainability.
Sustainable urbanism is not only about ecology (climate change and other issues). It is also about social andcultural sustainability. Hence, the following story about Mr. Nakamura.

OUTSTANDING PROBLEMS: NAKAMURA-SAN IS NOT A JAPANESEAND TANAKA-SAN WOULD NOT DO RADIO GYMNASTICS
While my other colleagues last week went to see Mr. Tanaka Tetsuro, who was fired 25 years ago because hewould not do “radio gymnastics,” and has ever since been staging daily a standing protest outside the gate of Oki
company, I met a man by the name of Nakamura. Nakumara’s bloodline is purely Japanese. Both his mother andfather have pure Japanese bloodlines. Although he speaks impeccable Japanese, he is not a Japanese national.
He has been living in Japan for the last 40 years. He has worked and paid tax continuously and proportionally,at least as much as any working Japanese, in the town of Kawasaki for over 25 years. He is married to a Japanese
3 Indonesia is related to both events. The first took place because a huge volcano in Sumatera erupted and created the now highland
Toba Lake, which is really a caldera 100 km long and 30 km wide. The eruption was so huge that it threw up dust that darkened
the earth for many years, caused it to cool off, and led to a glacial age. Only recently have scientists been able to tell this story fromvolcanic dusts all over the world that can be traced back to their source in Sumatera. The eruption killed most humans, leaving only
about 10,000, including only 1,000 pairs that became our ancestors. The second one is really the last global warming that took placeabout 11,000 years ago. It caused icebergs to melt and sea water to rise, separating the higher lands in South East Asia from others,
which became the more than 17,000 islands of the current Indonesia Archipelago.
4 Emil Salim (Lead Economist) et.al., The Economics of Climate Change in South East Asia: A Regional Review, April 2009, AsianDevelopment Bank, Manila.

30
Page

Sustainable Urbanism and Its Challenges to Civil Society

woman and has a grown-up child and a teenage child. However, he has no voting rights in Japan. He could
not participate in the decision-making process that would affect his livelihood over the past 40 years or in the
future. He is not represented in any way. He has continuously faced job insecurity. His wife and children are
Japanese citizens but he is not Japanese. His attempt to apply for Japanese citizenship failed and discouraging
comments were made by the officials in charge. This stopped him from trying again. Ironically, he has voting
rights to elect public officials in Canada, a country that has had little thing to do with him for the last 40 years;
this is likely to continue for the rest of his life.
His first name is Norman. He was born in Canada and moved to Japan when he was 10 years old, from whenon he went to Japanese schools. In his own words, he is considered “not Japanese enough.” He has experienced
discrimination, as many of his foreign colleagues do. There are about 30,000 foreign workers in Kawasaki,
which accounts for over 2% of the total population of the township.
In brief, the problem that Mr. Nakamura faces is the concept of citizenship based on cultural and racial identity. It is about borders created by culture that have been institutionalized paradoxically in our modern conceptof nation-state, which is supposed to be rational.
This is only an example of the many problems that exist in our imperfect democracies all over the world.
Perhaps not because of any fundamental flaw of the democratic principle itself, but because things change anddevelop as our diversity increases, we discover more and more the under- or un-represented, the marginalized,
the discounted, the oppressed, and the suppressed. New challenges emerge, and ecological problems are only
part of these challenges.
This indicates the need to change.
This also points to the fact that the city is the locus of many of our modern problems. Eighty percent ofJapan’s population, and therefore the country’s economy, are located in the chain of urban agglomerationof Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. The situation is similar all over the world. Cities are
the center of intensified production and consumption. Unfortunately, they suck resources from all over thecountryside.
Therefore, if change is to take place, it must occur in the cities. However, what changes?

ZOKA NI SHITAGAI, ZOKA NI KAERE TO NARI!
(FOLLOW NATURE, AND RETURN TO NATURE
TO BE PERFECTLY TOGETHER WITH IT!)5
Climate change is not the only ecological problem the world is facing, depending on how one perceives theidea of “problem.” For example: the loss of many species of banana is a problem for me, but maybe not for the
producers of the only (more or less) three species of banana now available in most supermarkets. Indonesia used
to have between 700 and 800 species of banana.
Suppose I am right and that our ecological problem relates to our entire system of production and consumption.
Our way of “growth” has led to the extinction of many species and has caused irreversible damage to land, forest,
rivers, lakes, and the sea. Our mode of “growth” has depleted the planet instead of “growing together” with it.
Climate change has, of course, been made the most spectacular a threat recently through the 25-years
campaign, as well as through its clear, existential menace to humankind. It has also opened up a whole arrayof problems that were not being paid attention to before. Most importantly, the practices to prevent climatechange have also made us realize that we can have a different life that is healthier and happier, with justice andequality.
Through my research over the past three years, including the time during ALFP 2009, I learned about a multitude of practices all over the world that have proven the possibility of the different life that I have just mentioned
above. An organic farmer in Takahata,Yamagata, has won a 35-year struggle with the recently enforced ordinancecalled “The Takahata Food and Agriculture Ordinance.” Pioneers at Chubu Recycle Association have managed
to recycle 30% of Nagoya city waste and have consequently saved wetland (important for migratory birds) froma landfill project. A new initiative has been made to re-plan and re-link Toyoda City with its forested region.
People like Mr. Nakamura, even if they have to struggle a long way, are starting to organize themselves into
groups to work together. Conceptual thoughts and technical research are also being carried out and put forward.
5 Matsuo Basho’s teaching on composing poems as described by Doho (1657–1730), in Toshiharu Oseko, Basho’s Haiku, 1990.

31
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

These include interculturalism instead of multiculturalism, Cradle-to-Cradle (Bill McDonough, no waste, “mottainai”), sun-based economy (Yamazaki Yasuyo), farmed fishery, and community-based sanitation system (Yuyun
Ismawaty, winner of Goldman prize for environment), to mention a few.
The list of initiatives and practices is endless if we are to include those all over the world. However, thesepractices face many challenges, some of which I have laid out as follows:− Many of the current sustainability practices, despite the fact that they have proved successful, replicate slowly
because of the lack of available political process to support their up-scaling.We need not only more sensitive
and knowledgeable politicians (and bureaucrats) but also changes in the system to be more accommodating
and swift, like Mogami river. We cannot wait for 35 years, like the farmers in Takahata. We cannot delay justice for another 25 years for people like Mr. Nakamura or the many others in different countries who suffer
in diverse ways.
− The speed we have in discovering more under-represented groups (the oppressed, the discounted, themarginalized, and the non-humans) and in increasing diversity in general faces the slow mechanics of thedemocratic system to accommodate diverse needs and groups.
− The reconstruction of city-regions and “bio-regions” faces the disintegration of political and administrative
sub-divisions into fragmented jurisdictions.
− The changes required are deep; at the same time, quick changes are also required in practical behavioral
patterns. Exemplary and efficient leadership and systems are needed to support the sustainability of thesechanges.The challenge is also to build up trust (that will change together) and anticipate a number of necessary collaborations.
− Changes require simultaneous local action and global collaboration. We are starting to see that international
politics are now so dependent on local politics. Therefore, global governance and global corporate governance are under question. There are surprises as well. For example, it has been recently discovered that
there is a 200-year-old clause in US Law that makes it possible to take American corporations accused ofmalpractice in other countries to American courts. Progressive ideas such as multiple citizenship are being
discussed. In these areas, numerous hands are needed to produce working instruments for global civil society
networking. We should note that there are already organizations such as CIVICUS that organize global collaboration among civil society organizations.
− A contentious issue that requires deliberation is how many and what kind of incentives should be created in
the system to encourage changes in the consumption pattern.There have been some initiatives in organizing
systematic incentives, such as the “eco-money” in Nagoya. It is important to have in-depth evaluation andcritical review.
− There is no question about the necessity of civil society to actively engage with the state and the market
at both practical and polity levels, but there are challenges in formulating the right modalities in different
contexts and fields. There are lessons to be learned from inter-contextual and inter-sectoral exchanges, butcivil society activists are left to their own devices in deciding the right formulae for their respective issues
and contexts.
Civil society, both as public space and as a collection of active, self-organized individual citizens or groups,
will have to work on these challenges. In rapidly densifying and expanding cities, these challenges will prove
to be easier or more difficult than others, depending on how well civil society re-organizes vis-à-vis politicaland economic spaces. More than ever, civil society needs to reassert that homo homini socius, not homo homini
lupus.6 There are a number of technicalities and nitty-gritty to keep civil society busy. Where I come from, we
have learned that civil society needs to reclaim the ownership of this work and not leave it solely to politicaland economic forces.
An aspiration for sustainable urbanism makes politics more complex but also potentially more focused,with a sense of urgency. It re-asserts the basis of democratic processes: transparency and accountability in areal or an almost scientific sense. With the recent progresses in science, technology, and collaborative institutions, humankind is well equipped to combat the challenge successfully (as compared to the last glacial age
11,000 years ago, for example, when humankind was completely powerless). We can undo global warming
6 Humans are friends to each other, not wolves to each other.

32
Page

Sustainable Urbanism and Its Challenges to Civil Society

while developing new ways to live better. However, it will remain a potential hazard if we take it for granted.
The challenge needs to be responded to actively.

ARTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Finally, I need to re-assert the role of arts (and culture in general) in developing a responsive civil society
because I think we need to go beyond the instrumental use of arts in promoting “awareness,” arts as a merecommunication “technique,” or arts as a “cute” (kawaii, borrowing a Japanese word) way of understanding theurgency and order of things.
I would argue that a society in urgent need of change in urban sustainability should use arts not just as society’s reflection and force them into straightforward instrumentality but as society’s dialectical anti-thesis.This isa position in which arts in history has proved to be most useful in promoting human progress while at the sametime fulfilling human needs for non-pragmatic relationships with others, including nature. The recent infusion of arts into design (of daily products),7 for example, shows how arts not only reflect but also offer criticalforms of the anti-thesis to daily life. In a different way, Mr. Tanaka Min and his colleagues are offering mimetic
relationships with nature in an anti-thesis to their current construction.8 They offer open alternatives that are
generously left to be questioned and deliberated on in public spaces.
Arts, by its quest for authenticity and originality, could help society to change in a genuine way throughcommitment on a personal level.
To support the above, I should include a description of the relationship between arts and civil society
by Dr. Ignas Kleden, the first Indonesian fellow of the ALFP program, whom the Jakarta Arts Council had
requested to write a paper on this issue:9
An artistic response is personal and rests on two distinct conditions: authenticity of message and originalityof medium. Authentic message is not the same as “true” message.True message is measured by its approximation
to reality. An authentic message is measured by its approximation to its author’s own belief as a result of intense
personal struggle.The uniqueness of an artwork is that both its message and its form of medium radiate directlyfrom the individual personality of the artist. As such, it approximates the ideal, intensified uniqueness of theindividual human and his/her capacity to convey certain aspects of life in his/her unique way.
The impossibility of separating esthetics and ethics has made some artists such as Mr. Tanaka Min choose away of life in accordance with their artistic principles.They do this not to be eccentric, but to “live their arts,” soto speak. In the reverse process, Mr.Tanaka Tetsuro feels the urge to sing and play the guitar to not only express
his principles and convey his messages but also, more fundamentally, to establish integration between ethicaland artistic statements. To stage a protest every day for over 25 years requires ethical discipline, which is unlike
artistic discipline. Good artists do as much research as any PhD researcher, while struggling to process intensely
personal authenticity and originality.
At the same time, in our changing societies, there are always values to be reproduced. There are always gaps
between values and realization through our modern institutions. These gaps are what we see all the time as thebasis of work to be done. Arts and artists develop strong sensitivity towards values and gaps not because they
are morally better or more committed to transparency and good governance, but because of their profession of
producing successful, creative work. Artists must satisfy the conditions of authenticity and originality.
Artists can therefore be sensitive towards all kinds of messages, including messages and statements in public
and in political spaces. Artists find it hard to tolerate hypocrisy because authenticity demands that values areinternalized completely to become personal, as originality cannot compromise with imitation, duplication,
reproduction, and pretense. These are demands on a personal level.
I argue that civil society should take advantage of arts in the above capacity and reproduce that capacity inthe public space. Furthermore, I recommend that we create more spaces for artists to interact with civil society

7 I am referring, for example, to the current exhibitions of industrial products designed by Naoto Fukasawa at the 21_21 Design Sight
and by others at Tokyo Midtown DESIGN TOUCH.
8 ALFP fellows have had the opportunity to see their works in their own place during October 16–17, 2009, during the Dance
Hakushu Festival.
9 Ignas Kleden, SENI DAN CIVIL SOCIETY (Dengan Referensi Khusus Kepada Penyair Rendra), (Arts and Civil Society, with
Special Reference to the Poet Rendra) to be presented at the Jakarta Arts Council, November 10, 2009.

33
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Reportin concrete ways, share common problems, encourage free, creative investigation, and facilitate creative works
to enter into much more interactive public spaces. Artists could play the role of relevant “public intellectuals” by offering their arts and thoughts to the public space. As such, they also exercise the existence of public
space, while at the same time strengthening it and the society that this space serves. Arts and thoughts could
substantiate non-violent public spaces. On the other hand, artists cannot exist as public intellectuals without
the existence of a healthy public space. Public space should be the necessary engagement between artists andtheir societies so that it is not defenselessly instrumental, as in the case where artists try to by-pass the public
space and serve power directly.
The transition into an ecological age may have violent moments in its process due to its depth and the brief
period of its generation. This is another important motivation for the engagement of arts to strengthen nonviolent and critical public spaces and to moderate exchanges in the transition process.
In different parts of the world, public spaces are facing different crises. Public spaces are non-existent in nondemocratic countries such as Myanmar. In advanced industrialized countries, public spaces might have become
too formalized and over-mediated with very few chances of direct interactions. In newly emerging democracies such as Indonesia, public spaces are abundant, euphoric, and in a very fluid stage. Each will pose a different
challenge to artists and other public intellectuals.
Further, following Dr. Ignas Kleden, arts are fundamentally the product of private space. In a democraticsociety, arts are invaluable for civil society, which is fundamentally a public space. If this public space is without
tension or a well-defended, nurtured private space, a society will become totalitarian.10 The history of public
spaces shows that values offered in public spaces have their origins in the private space of individuals or particular communities before they transcend those private spaces to enter the public space. Public space depends on
private spaces for its content. Arts are among the necessary spaces and tools to process these feedings. In doing
so, arts fulfill human needs that are not accommodated in the capitalist system because they are not “instrumentally rational”: that is, they mimic communication with nature, with bodies, aspiration to live in solidarity withothers, and a will to experience non-pragmatic communications with others.

10 Ibid.

34
PageCorporate Social Responsibility in China:
Implementation of Corporate Code of Conduct
and Improvement of Labor Conditions
MA JIFANG

INTRODUCTION
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) came into being in the United States and West Europe in the 1960s andhas developed quickly over the last two decades. The concepts of CSR and Corporate Code of Conduct wereintroduced to China in the mid 1990s, when transnational corporations relocated their manufacturing industry
to developing countries to reduce costs. In recent years, thousands of factories in China have been subjected tosocial audits from international buyers and external auditors. In 2008, about 150 Chinese enterprises publishedtheir own CSR reports.
In the past 15 years, great efforts (in terms of human and financial resources) have been made, by both buyers
and suppliers, and remarkable progress has been seen in areas such as health and safety. Even then, there exist
persistent issues such as excessively long working hours, maltreatment of workers, and limits in freedom of
association in many factories. Why does this situation exist? Is it because China lacks a tradition of compliancethat makes “good factories” pay higher salaries than their competitors that do not pay the minimum wage?
Alternatively, is it because China has an oversupply of labor and because workers therefore have no leverage innegotiating their conditions with their employers? Alternatively, is it because the current practice of CSR hasreached its “dead-end,” as civil society has pointed out?
In this paper, I will examine the introduction and implementation of CSR in China. Particularly, thefocus of this paper will be on the adoption of Corporate Code of Conduct, achievements in supplier chains,
and the constraints and problems associated with CSR initiatives in China. In the end, I will look at thetrends of CSR and explore alternatives that can lead to a sustainable CSR, especially in the current time of
economic crisis.

CSR IN CHINA
CSR was “imported” to China in the mid 1990s, when multinational companies brought their capital to China.
China experienced three stages in the process, from “forced” implementation to “voluntary” practice. In recent
years, with the “internal” efforts of promotion by the government, media, and NGOs, more and more industrial
associations/organizations and enterprises have begun to attach more importance to CSR and to practice CSR.
Despite this, it is shown that the results are far from satisfying and that we still have a long way to go before we
can reach international standards and the requirements of “Global Compact.”
It should be noted that there are some differences between the Chinese and Western concepts of CSR. In
China, CSR focuses on paying tax, corporate governance, and charity; in the West, these are seen as the basic
and legal requirements of running a business. Western companies regard corporate citizenship, labor issues, andenvironmental protection as primary CSR concerns, and incorporate these concepts into their business model;
in China, these are seen as secondary priorities.

First Stage (1996–2000): Social Audit— “Forced” CSR by International Buyers
In the early 1990s, when transnational corporates moved their manufacturing to developing countries, especially when China became the “world factory,” labor issues in the “economic zones” in the south of China were

35
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

appealed by consumers and the public in the sourcing countries and Hong Kong NGOs. The CSR campaign
arose out of the disastrous fire at Zhili factory in November 1993, in which 87 workers were killed and 47
workers severely injured. These workers (mainly young females) had been locked in by the factory owner intheir dormitories and their movement was restricted to the factory. Overseas labor organizations and NGOs
condemned the crimes of these “sweatshops” and urged the factories as well as their buyers to follow international and national labor standards.
In 1996, then President Bill Clinton summoned representatives of industry, consumers, universities, tradeunions, and NGOs to form a taskforce to react to the scandals created by the American brands in their supplierchain. After years of debate, these representatives of different stakeholders reached the agreement that multinational companies should take responsibility for the labor issues of their producers. The roundtable eventually
evolved into the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a multi-stakeholder organization with membership comprisedof companies, trade unions/NGOs, and universities to promote and monitor the implementation of CoC.
Meanwhile, more big brands began to develop their own “Codes of Conduct” and implement them, mainly byconducting social audits in their supply factories.
During this period, the conception of CSR was completely new to Chinese factories as well as in the field of
theoretical research of CSR. For the factory management, CSR meant “forced auditing” imposed by the buyers that they were reluctant to implement. Meanwhile, the audits were limited to exported-oriented Chinese
suppliers/factories and did not spread to the larger scale. Some scholars also noticed this new trend and started
to write articles and organize workshops to introduce CSR at the academic level.

Second Stage (2000–2004): Implementation of Code of Conduct and SA8000
After 2000, the strengthening of CSR management became a new trend in transnational companies. Most big
companies conducted social audits and assessed the CSR performance of their supplier factories. Only supplierspassing the audits and getting good ratings in performance reviews could receive the “pass” of production.According to statistics, during the period of 1997–2004, more than 8000 factories were audited by international brands.
Meanwhile, the multi-stakeholder monitoring organizations developed a separate Code of Conduct thatused more systematic certification systems such as SA8000 (Social Accountability 8000), WRAP (Worldwide
Responsible Apparel Production). Published in late 1997 and revised in 2001, the SA8000 Standard and verification system is an auditable certification standard based on international workplace norms. It covers the areasof child labor, forced labor, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination,
discipline, working hours, compensation, and management systems. In 2004, the United States and some European countries force promoted SA8000 standards in China and urged export enterprises producing garments,
textiles, toys, and shoes to get SA8000 certification. It is estimated that more than 85% of the exported factoriesof these types of products were impacted by this requirement in terms of exporting volume.
More international NGOs, local NGOs, and media got involved in spreading and promoting CSR concepts andpractices.They exposed the accidents and misconduct of irresponsible enterprises, criticizing their bad governanceand administration; they organized various workshops and forums, exploring legal frameworks and the Chinese
way of effectively implementing CSR in Chinese enterprises. Media also took the responsibility of promoting
CSR to the general public.The Chinese government changed its position from an attitude of “wait and see” to a
cautious, supportive attitude by providing a favorable policy and social environment and legal framework.

Third Stage (2005–): Active Participation by Chinese Enterprises
The year 2005 was a significant one for CSR development in China. In May, China National Textile & ApparelCouncil (CNTAC) promulgated China’s first CSR management system—China Social Compliance for the
Textile & Apparel Industry: Principles and Guidelines (CSC9000T), which specifies requirements for social
responsibility and the management system for textile and apparel enterprises. In December, China Social Corporate Responsibility Alliance was founded in Beijing. During the founding conference, participants drafted“China CSR Standards” and released the “Beijing Declaration of China CSR.” These two events marked the
localization of the “imported conception” into the Chinese context, after more than a decade of discussion,
dispute, and conflicts.

36
Page

Corporate Social Responsibility in China

Meanwhile, organizations specifically promoting CSR in China have been set up during this period, suchas the Chinese Federation for CSR, Syntao, Corporate Citizenship Association, etc. CSR practice in China has
evolved into a system with concrete implementation procedures and guidelines.

LABOR CONDITION IMPROVEMENT AND CONSTRAINTS OF CSR
Has the implementation of CSR improved the labor conditions in China? The answer is “yes,” although there
is a still a long way to go in some areas. By using the “weapon” of order and capital, transnational companies“forced” Chinese factories to change their traditional business operations and labor standards, pushing themto adapt to international principles and standards, especially in the areas of health and safety, child labor, forcedlabor, minimum wage, delayed payment, environment, labor rights, etc. By effectively implementing the codeof conduct, some factories established long-term and stable business relations with TNCs and set an example
to other factories. More factories took these “model” factories as examples to attract potential internationalbuyers; as a result, workers’ conditions have largely improved.
From the workers’ perspective, the implementation of code of conduct provided them with the basic awareness of rights and they began to consciously strive for their rights. In a bag factory in Shenzhen producing for a
famous American brand, workers were required to familiarize themselves with the content of code of conduct
to cope with buyer’s auditors. In this way, workers came to know that they were entitled to at least one day ofrest in a one-week period and they protested to the top management for not having received this treatment.
Gradually, factory owners and management, by force or by will, realized that better working conditions
could help increase workers’ motivation, which would result in an increase in productivity. Furthermore, maintaining good labor relations is a key factor in minimizing the negative impacts of conflict in the workplace
and reducing the amount of labor arbitration cases. Benefitting from good practices in CSR, more enterprises
began to set up their own codes of conduct and publish CSR reports.
Despite these achievements, the constraints of implementation of the code of conduct, especially throughthe means of social audit, should not be neglected. Although social audits are important to ensure better workplace conditions, they do not address the root causes of noncompliance. Consequently, the resulting corrective
action plans often treat only the symptoms of the problems and are thus not sustainable.
Another negative impact of the implementation of the code of conduct is repetitive audits due to the lackof a universal code among different buyers and different monitoring systems. Factories are receiving so many
audits and facing so many different standards that they suffer “audit fatigue” and manipulate monitors with fakedocuments, double booking, and couched workers.
In the West, NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) are the driving force of the CSR movement, and theiractive participation is critical to the whole process. Although the implementation of the code of conduct and social
audits require consultation with and the involvement of NGOs, in reality, local NGOs and CSOs are often ruled out
in code of conduct monitoring. Furthermore, workers’ voices are rarely heard. Worker interview is conducted as aroutine and as a verification source of noncompliance, but workers perspectives and opinions are often ignored.

CSR IN THE TIME OF ECONOMIC CRISESAs the economic crisis came about the latter half of 2008, CSR promoters and observers predicted that CSR
would experience a low curve since its rise in the 1990s; since the nature of business is to make profits, whenthe economy in a downturn, non-profit departments such as CSR are the first to be cut off. On the other hand,
the reality in some factories showed that “good” companies that were committed to social responsibility not
only survived but also made incredible expansions over those that ignored CSR and treated it as a burden. As
such, I see three possible scenarios in the CSR industry.

CSR Dropping
The business community will entirely give up CSR as a fad that served a role in creating a market for ethicaland environmental products but that does not have a wider purpose in society. As the recession looms, business

37
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

expenses will be reduced to only essentials, and CSR will be considered as a “nice-to-have” but unnecessary
cost. Tightening budgets will result in CSR/compliance staffing cuts, and investment in supplier’s CSR activities will reduce.

CSR Surviving
The second scenario is that companies will continue to recognize that CSR plays an active and importantrole in hard times and will be willing to engage in actions where their products or activities are linked to awider social and environmental good. On the other hand, responsible actions should be recognized as not justnecessary but a business imperative. It is good business to understand the role the organization plays in broader
society and to leverage resources in order to manage and satisfy stakeholders. However, this model of CSR stillholds marginal status in a company’s operations.

CSR Becoming a Core Part of BusinessIn light of the current crisis, the world is experiencing and the critical need to rebuild trust with stakeholders,companies will reflect on their irresponsible behavior being a possible cause of the financial crackdown andwill make CSR a main concern and a core part of their business. The crisis forces corporations and CSR into
two sides of the same coin. Embedding responsible action and ethical conduct into the core business will help
to re-establish trust and re-connect stakeholders. Only by working together can business and CSR achieve thesame goals and priorities.
Meanwhile, CSR budgets (rather than philanthropic budgets) will remain intact since these companies will
be unwilling to lose their established competitive edge. Some even argue that during recession, companies thatpractice corporate responsibility may have an advantage over those that are not. Companies actively addressing
environmental, social, and governance issues are usually better at managing risk and may be even more competitive in a recession.

CONCLUSION• Imported concept and a “forced” practice imposed by multinational companies• First implemented in export-oriented Chinese enterprises, and China developed its own CSR system• Working and labor conditions improved in the areas of health and safety, forced labor, wage and benefit, harassment and abuse, but still weak in FoA and collective bargaining, working hours, child labor, equality, etc.
• Interactive movement between external forces (international) and internal forces (national legislature)• Limits of social audit—snapshot results and not a sustainable solution—turn to capacity building• CSR proved to be effective and rewarded in sustaining business—cases in economic crisis

REFLECTION OF CSR DURING A TWO-MONTH VISIT TO JAPANI prepared this paper for the 2009 ALFP and made some revisions while I was staying in Japan. During the twomonth visit, two events related to CSR issues made a deep impression on me; I would like to mention them as
unforgettable memories of my ALFP experience.
The first event was a seminar open to the public, organized by one of the 2009 ALFP fellows, Kuroda Kaori,
to screen “Garment Girls”—a documentary film directed by another 2009 ALFP fellow, Tanvir Mokammel.
Mokammel is a famous Bangladeshi filmmaker and his documentaries are well known for reflecting the lifeand plight of indigenous and underprivileged people in Bangladesh. Since “Garment Girls” is the story of thelife and struggles of those working in the garment factories producing international brands and supplying todeveloped countries, I was invited as a guest commentator after the screening of the film.
Though the seminar was held in the evening after a workday, there were more people than I expected in
the audience and the organizer had to add more seats to accommodate so many people. I had seen the film

38
Page

Corporate Social Responsibility in China

before but was once more touched by the scenes similar to those that I had seen in Chinese factories and by
the enthusiastic response from the audience. During the “Question and Answer” session, while I was answering
the questions, the audience’s insightful thoughts and concerns pushed me to re-consider CSR issues from theperspectives of both suppliers and buyers (such as Japan). This also provided me with a chance to look at thementality and opinions of ordinary consumers in a developed country and to correct some of my biases about
Japan.
To my surprise, although the background of the discussion was the working environment in Bangladesh,many guests were very interested in the labor conditions and sweatshops in China. Due to the close economic
ties between the two countries and the quantity of “made-in-China” goods that have swamped Japanesemarkets, Japanese people/consumers began to ask “Where does the product I’m using come from, and what
are the working conditions of the workers producing it?”; and “How are Japanese companies outsourcing todeveloping countries taking social responsibility in those countries, and how and who should monitor their
behavior?” Even after the end of the seminar, the audience was unwilling to leave. Several audience members
came up to me to continue the discussion on supply chains and how they, as the general public and consumer,
can contribute to changes in workers’ lives.
The second event was my visit to a member company’s factory. Visiting a Japanese (or developed country)
factory and comparing it with Chinese factories (supply countries) was a long-expected wish; thanks to the
support of a member, this wish came true. Because most of the manufacturing industry in Japan has been
moved to low labor cost countries and very few are left in Japan, this was a rare opportunity for me.
This was a medium-sized factory producing sports shoes, with a staff of about 140. Before coming to Japan,
I had imagined that Japan is a strictly hierarchical society and there must be a large gap between workers andmanagement. However, when I entered the workshop, I saw that the factory manager was working with theworkers and that the workers were talking to the manager without any fear.The manager told me that he himself had been an ordinary worker and that the company culture encouraged a harmonious relationship between
workers and the management. The factory valued each staff member and regarded workers as the wealth,instead of the rivals, of the company. It was true that strikes never took place in this factory and that conflicts
could be solved peacefully. This way of management should be learned by Chinese managers.
Another benefit I witnessed when visiting the factory was that the work procedure and production flow
were well- and smartly organized. Although workers worked on an assembly line, they did not look extremelystressed with their work. The manager stated that they frequently assessed the workload and production procedure and changed workers’ assignments and types of work accordingly to avoid tediousness and the single
responsibility of production workers. The turnover rate in this factory was low and most of the workers had
worked there for more than 10 years, some for even 20 or 30 years.This practice should be adopted by Chinese
management.

39
Page

Problematics of Cultural Activism
in Building a Humane Society1
TANVIR MOKAMMELA

sia is not a monolith. Culturally, we Asians are a diverse people and Asia has always been a changing
construction. In the present era of post-globalization, the change is sometimes too hurried.

To build a humane society, most Asian countries face multi-pronged problems. Without a well functioning democracy, the cultural rights of the minorities, the marginalized, and the under classes have very little
chance of being preserved, or even heard. Unfortunately, a huge number of the Asian population even today
has to live in nondemocratic regimes—the military junta in Myanmar, religious monarchies in Arab countries,
and totalitarian rule in China and North Korea. In many Asian countries, the energy and creativity of wholegenerations were dislodged from the state power of some philistine military dictator—a Marcos, a Suharto, a
Zia-ul-Haq, or a General Ershad.
In some Asian countries, religious intolerance is a serious obstacle on the path of humane culture—Islamic
fundamentalism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Iran and Hindu fundamentalism in India. We Asians have recently
witnessed the nightmarish acts of misogynist Islamic fundamentalists, who seem disrespectful not only of our
precious cultural heritage but also of all decent human values, even the sanctity of human life.They operate inPakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, as well as in Indonesia. In Saudi Arabia, in the name of religion, a monarchial fascism reigns supreme and the citizens have hardly any political or cultural rights. Western powers are
critical of the lack of democracy in China but remain conspicuously silent on the same in oil-rich Arabcountries.
In the present globalized world, we Asians are experiencing market-totalitarianism, which Noam
Chomsky has aptly dubbed “Globatarianism.” This globatarianism, or absolute marketism, which is financed by
the corporate world and buoyed by and propagated in the media, has brought along with it a dull and insipid
monoculture. To counter this, Asian nations need to uphold their own age-old, rich humanist cultures thatare omnipresent in their myths, traditions, folk tales, and belief-systems. Who else has better resources for thisthan us, the Asian people, who have thousands of years of civilization behind us? From our priceless cultural
heritage, we can draw knowledge, examples, and inspiration to stand up to the philistinism of market-driven
monoculture, the core of which is only one aspect of human nature—greed—and the manifestation of whichis mere consumerism. Fortunately, human beings are much more than just buyers or sellers in the market.
Human beings are sensitive, rational creatures and the only species on earth that can dream and turn those
dreams into reality! Because of our prolific mythologies, literature, and folk heritage, we Asians can easily
understand contemporary political predicaments, identify archetypal characters, and discern between goodand evil. We can always draw ready references from our literary past—oral or written—and these historicaldéjàvus hardly fail!
Protests against autocratic rulers and crude market forces through culture can take different shapes andforms. In my country, Bangladesh, we have experienced how theatre, both traditional folk-theatre and urban
middle class theatre, is being effectively used to criticize social anomalies.
In most oriental countries, poetry has remained an effective and popular form of expression against social
inequalities and injustices. During the 1980s, a good number of our poets used poetry to protest against theregime of the military dictator. It was so effective that the dictator, General Ershad, also decided to write poems
to defend his regime! However, the wrath of the people was so strong and the General’s poems were so badly
written that his regime could not last that long!
1 Presented in the symposium organized by Asia Leadership Fellow Program on November 6, 2009, in Tokyo, Japan.

40
Page

Problematics of Cultural Activism in Building a Humane Society

To preserve the rights of the minorities, marginalized people, and the underdogs, a well-made documentary
film can also be a powerful tool. From my own experience, I have seen that making a film or a film-show of thiskind often turns into a political event, and we, the cultural activists, willy-nilly become political activists too!
Culture is too precious a thing to be left to the state or to market forces alone. Among the four pillars ofmodern societies—the state, the corporate world, civil society, and the media—it is the corporate sector whosemindset seems to be the most far-flung from the domain of art.Though, from time to time, the corporate sector
sponsors cultural events, it does so more to “feel good” than out of any genuine love of art. For the corporate
world, profit reigns supreme, but for culture, it is human beings that are most significant. The difference isfundamental and it is a challenge for cultural activists to bridge this gap at a level where both can benefit frommutual cooperation.
Television, our good old “idiot box,” has immense potential to propagate right information and opinions,and we have to learn to use the art effectively.Young people these days are more attracted to audio-visual formats than to printed ones; they love to remain glued to the TV screen, computer monitor, or to some electronic
gadgets.The MTV-ization of visual images often makes it difficult for the youth to discern illusions from reality.
Thus, it is quite a challenge to draw the present day youth into any kind of activism. For the present-day Asianyouth, an outlandish monoculture generated in the West is becoming trendy. With the aggressive and all pervasive marketing of new electronic equipments, entertainment is fast becoming more and more personal, andAsian youth shows signs of alienation.
We have, on the other hand, witnessed how the right kind of issues can enthuse the present day youth. The
Facebook generation is often influenced by the positive writings of bloggers and twitters, and they may becomesocially active, even proactive, in their cyber communications. The youth have innocence, precious virtues, aswell as enthusiasm, which actually is no less than that of their ideologically engaged preceding generations.
All we need is to communicate on their wavelength, demonstrate the right causes, play the right chords, and, ofcourse, provide the right leadership. I will never lose my optimism about our youth because optimism in thissphere is not just an option but the only option. In this sector at least, we simply cannot afford to fail! All our
endeavors, our very raison d’être, depend on the success of this.
It is very important for public intellectuals to remain rooted. Sometimes, some Asian intellectuals who live
abroad and speak in colonial languages become too cosmopolitan. They may be bright and may be saying theright things, but people tend to pay more heed to a homegrown intellectual who is rooted among the people,
speaks in their language, and whom they can trust. The wise words of the old maxim, “learn from the people,”remain valid!
Society is class-divided. Each class has its own cultural traits, forms, and values. When we say “national
culture,” one may ask whose culture we are talking about. We have observed that the cultural conflict between
the rich nascent trading class and the old-fashioned military oligarchy can sometimes appear to be radical. But,
as artists, or public intellectuals, we have to know where the interests of the common people really lie. A deep
understanding of the variegated and often confusing nature of the so-called “national culture” is an utmost
necessity. However, if we take a broader perspective, national culture, which is formed through centuries in theexpression of language, food habits, behavioral patterns, and entertainment forms, definitely has some distinct
nuances. This is not to stereotype any nation, but when we say “Japanese culture,” “Indian culture,” or “Filipino
culture,” we know what we mean. In these national cultures, the core values of a people as well as the specifictraits and characteristics of a nation are reflected, and they singularly stand out.
The quintessence of the culture of a given people is their folk culture. During bad times, we draw inspirationfrom mythologies and from our age-old folk heroes. A Danish intellectual once told me that during the Nazi
occupation, the sales of books of old folk tales and Nordic mythologies soared enormously. Every household
then read them once more. During their dark days, the Danish people drew solace and inspiration fromtheir culture. I am only referring to this to emphasize that memories, especially those of the underprivileged
people, are important; their life experiences are hardly ever incorporated into grand national narratives orreflected in the corporate media. It is no wonder that novelist Milan Kundera once said, “The struggle of people
against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The collective memory of the people is defining as
it holds the core values of human civilization. People’s memories need to be preserved, remembered, andrecirculated. This is the job of the artists—the writers, the painters, the playwrights, the filmmakers, and thecultural activists.
Religion may not be culture per se, but many of our cultural values and art forms have evolved fromreligious beliefs and practices. Therefore, just being secular may not be modern enough for a cultural activist.

41
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

If we leave the sphere of religion unattended, to unscrupulous forces, or to the priests, shamans, Brahmins, andMullahs only, they might misuse the power of religion for their own motives. We have witnessed this in many
Islamic societies in Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some Arab countries. In the absence of a wellstructured political organization, ecumenical forces, which are traditionally rooted among the people, can also
emerge at the forefront of a people’s movement.This happened in Iran. Recently, we see some glimpses of thisin the role played by the Myanmar monks in their struggle against the Burmese military junta.
In any discussion on culture, the sector of education needs to be addressed. By education I do not mean
only academia but also enlightenment. For proper enlightenment, even 100% literacy and numeracy may not
be enough. The aims of education should be to help form a rational and analytical mindset, to help the young
people to remain free from any form of religious bigotry and crude materialism, to develop their sensibilities,
and to teach them to be tolerant of other viewpoints, looks, colors, and cultures. All our national governments
have structured education systems often inherited from our past colonial rulers. These systems may produce
the right kind of bureaucrats for government offices, efficient managers for companies, and skilled laborers forfactories, but I am not sure whether they produce sensitive and creative human beings, which is a much more
important task.
Enlightenment, which deepens sensibilities, is crucial to build a humane society. Some oil-rich gulf countries
of Asia, though marshalling over-abundant resources, lack enlightenment. As a result, anti-people regimes stillprevail in these countries and the region has unfortunately turned into a constant source of threat not only
to the security of Asia but also to that of the entire world. Some of the worst fanatic and misogynistic Islamic
fundamentalists of Afghanistan and Pakistan have come from that part of Asia.
Mere academic education, or just skill training, is not enough to make a society humane. For the left-outs
and dropouts of society who live beyond the boundaries of school walls, non-formal education should be
provided. In addition, education should not be pursued by rote and should not be certificate-driven: it should
be practical and life oriented—“Education for Life.” For any effective education policy, a holistic approach isnecessary. For some Asian countries, it has become imperative to make education a social movement. It is critically important to provide students with the right kind of education that will prepare them to be proficient intheir professional works, enthuse them to perform social services and teach them to live at peace with “Mother
Nature.” Rabindranath Tagore, the first Nobel-laureate from Asia in literature, believed that the best education we could impart to our youth was to teach them to live in harmony with nature and among themselves.
Tagore’s statements, made one hundred years back, remain valid today.
We, the artists or the public intellectuals, cannot do much in the affairs of economy, as the juggernaut ofmarket-laws will take its own course in any case. However, we can intervene in the sectors of education andculture. Our affirmative action definitely can bring about positive results.
During the time of this changing face of Asia, when the traditional peasant societies are turning into modern
industrialized ones, to avoid tragedies like Afghanistan or Kampuchia, modern and secular education remains
the only plausible answer. The market economy is the order of the day and there is no harm in making money.
But money should be made with a cause. We have to turn the vast mass of humanity of Asia into “social capital.”
The concept of “social business,” instead of just remaining a catch phrase, should be made into a lucrative
business reality.
Here is where the role of NGOs, or NPOs, as they are called in Japan, comes into play. Bangladesh, my country, is a hub of NGOs, where all kinds of large and small, national and international NGOs have been operating
for decades. Some rights-based NGOs that are involved in the issues of minority rights, women’s rights, childrights, and different civil and human rights are doing praiseworthy work. Some NGOs have role-play, street theatre, and audio-visual units. However, most NGOs in Bangladesh are involved in the business of micro-credit.
These NGOs, unfortunately, lay emphasis only on the economic development of their target groups and noton the enlightenment or the cultural development of their members. But without a refined culture, a humanbeing cannot become a real human resource. Poverty is the worst kind of human-rights violation.The endemic
poverty cycle must be brought to an end.Yet, man does not live by a bowl of rice alone! Human beings are by
nature meant to pursue higher ideals in life.The Bauls, the wise itinerant folk-singers of Bengal, never say “Man”(Manab). They always refer to man as the “Gem of Man” (Manabratan). Each human being has the potential
to become a gem of a man. Mere economic solvency cannot unleash the full potential and creativity of humanbeings. Cultural input, which most NGOs unfortunately lack in their programs, is also immensely necessary.
Culture is a tricky thing. It is a mind-over-matter affair and is not always tangible. However, to build a democratic and humane society, culture should remain a potent force. Culture is the softest among the soft powers.

42
Page

Problematics of Cultural Activism in Building a Humane Society

However, it is also a sleeping giant. If wrongly handled, culture can arouse a whole nation. Constant vigilanceis required on the part of the artists, the intellectuals, and the people in general to keep the culture of a given
society alive and vibrant.
With the gap between the rich and poor increasing in some Asian countries and continuing to remain apotential source of violence, cultural inclusiveness can reduce violence and contain national jingoism. Some
Asian countries are now experiencing the limitations of the Western Minister-style democracy. The muscle
flexing of majoritarianism is affecting the rights of the minorities. To build a true humane society, grassroots
democracy is a must. We have to develop our societies to be more tolerant, more sensitive, and more creative.
Only then can we claim that we have succeeded in building a responsible humane society.
Though stated a few centuries ago, the maxim of Sufi Alem Maori Sufian of Persia about artists seems relevant even today. He said, “The best among the kings mix with the artists, but the worst among the artists mix with thekings.” Artists have no business in the corridors of power. It is important for an artist and a cultural activist to
remain free of bondage or patronage of any kind and to remain perennially anti-establishment. Today’s antiestablishment may become the establishment tomorrow.Yet, an artist should avoid being part of any establishment. He is duty-bound to remain a free spirit, as his job is to give voice to the voiceless.
The history of civilization is actually the history of culture. And culture is produced, upheld, and propagatedby sensitive human beings. Thus, the center of all our endeavor and activism should be to create sensitive andaesthetic human beings. And for that purpose, we always have to keep in mind that culture is the goal; politics
is only a means to achieve that goal.

POSTSCRIPT
I understand that since we have stayed in Japan for almost two months, we are expected to say a few words
about Japan too.
Two months are not long enough to understand the rich and unique culture of Japan. Therefore, I will
refrain from commenting on it.
However, we are pleased to know that the new government of Japan seems keen on opening up more
towards Asia.This is good news. Asian nations have always looked towards Japan with awe and inspiration. Japanis always welcome into the fold of Asia.Yet, the desire to return to Asia should not be driven by economic compulsion or political imperatives only. Japan is most welcome among Asian nations, but it is hoped that he comes
not as an affluent, camera-slinging tourist, a seller of company products, or a soldier. He will be most welcome
if he returns as a long-lost brother, a fellow co-Asian, who comes not with the patronizing air of a rich urban
cousin but who travels with the open-mindedness of an explorer and the humility of a monk.

43
Page

Gun Proliferation in Asia: Limits to
Dialogue, Challenges to Action
JENNIFER SANTIAGO ORETA

ABSTRACTThis paper attempts to problematize arms proliferation and misuse—how they affect people’s everyday lives andhow they impinge on the available spaces for dialogue.
Apart from the accusation that leaders misuse the security infrastructures against their enemies, legal arms
donated to governments with track records of corruption eventually end up in the hands of illegal elements.
Corrupt dealings of military and police officials, stockpile theft, ambuscades, and arms capture during crossfire
are some of the common ways of how legal arms end up in illegal trade. There are numerous investigative
studies of how donated legal arms end up in the hands of threat groups. Sadly, a number of Asian countries still
have weak institutions (i.e., the institutions are not yet fully rooted and/or are still in the process of strengthening the basic infrastructure of democracy) that fail to mitigate the crossing-over of legal arms to the illegal
trade. There is, therefore, the great possibility in these societies of legal arms crossing over to the illegal arena
due to either the corrupt practices of some officials or the inability of the system (and agents) to prevent theft
and ambuscades.
The two major recommendations of this paper to address the issue are: (a) address the supply-side of arms byadopting an international Arms Trade Treaty, and (b) curb the demand-side by making the people feel secure in
their homes and communities, thereby limiting the desire to possess weapons for protection.

WHAT IS A RESPONSIBLE SOCIETY?
Different labels have already been coined to describe “responsible society,” the latest of which is human security.
Human Security as a concept puts premium on the basic rights and needs of individuals, including the right toeducation, health, opportunities, sustainability of development, decent and peaceful living, and physical safety
and security.1
While the labels are conceptually close, there is a bias in using the term “responsible society” rather than the
more common concept of “human security.” This author believes that the “human security” paradigm puts aheavy demand on the state to attend to the people’s needs and rights. Yet, the problem of society cannot be
solved by the state alone.This may be clichéd, but people’s participation is not only important but also necessary
to address the ills of society.
“[S]tressing rights while largely ignoring responsibilities” can overburden the state.2 In addition, too much
focus on “rights” can create individuals who pursue their own interests at the expense of shared values andresponsibilities.
“Responsible society” has been framed in this paper in this context. While “responsible society” recognizes
the need for the state to address the basic rights and needs of the people, it likewise takes the people to task andchallenges them to actively engage in community building.
A responsible society is thus defined in this paper as a society that takes care of the basic needs of its people, asociety that genuinely cares about the welfare of all its members, a society that shows compassion and respect toevery member, and a society in which members actively pursue and promote the collective good and welfare.
1 See http://www.humansecuritybulletin.info/page230.htm (accessed Jun 1, 2008).
2 Etzioni, 1995. The Spirit of Community.

44
Page

Gun Proliferation in Asia: Limits to Dialogue, Challenges to Action

Although this definition may sound simple, its simplicity is what makes it difficult to attain. Still, this is not
an impossible dream. There are means to achieve a responsible society, and the primary and fundamental step
is dialogue.
Dialogue is a process of accommodation and of acceptance and sensitivity to others, where differences are recognized but are not allowed to impede or hinder discourse and settlements. To be “in-dialogue” means to be in aprocess with the other with the long-term view of finding common ground and understanding. Given that mostcultures and peoples are trapped in the old paradigm of ethno-centrism, initiating or fostering dialogue requires a
lot of groundbreaking work.That the dialogue process is extremely challenging is an understatement. This process
is usually long and arduous and requires deep commitment from all parties involved. It is crucial, therefore, thatspaces for dialogue be promoted and nurtured.
Yet, spaces for dialogue are currently being usurped by another force: arms proliferation and misuse.
Every day, millions of men, women, and children are subjected to unnecessary human suffering caused by
the misuse of arms. Moreover, arms availability tends to complicate the dialogue and peace process of parties
in conflict.
This paper therefore attempts to problematize arms proliferation and misuse—how it affects people’s everyday
lives and how it impinges on the available spaces for dialogue.
Guns, small arms, and arms will be used synonymously in this paper. Guns and small arms refer to hand-held
weapons that fire a projectile through a tube by explosive charge.The term covers both guns that are officially andlegally manufactured as well as homemade crafts.This definition covers the following weapon types: revolvers andself-loading pistols; rifles and carbines; sub-machine guns; assault rifles; light machine-guns;3 as well as homemade
guns or improvisations that fire a projectile using gunpowder.
The term “arms,” however, can also connote more sophisticated and powerful weapons. While guns/
small arms have more impact on the everyday lives of people, they nevertheless exist side-by-side with bigger
weapons. Non-state actors usually possess small arms and occasionally light weapons appropriated throughvarious illegal means—while the state purchases light weapons and heavy artillery in order to neutralize these
armed non-state actors.

Limits to Dialogue
According to the Small Arms Survey (2007), there are at least 875 million firearms in the hands of civilians,
military, and police forces worldwide, with civilians owning about 650 million.4
While small arms have legitimate use in societies—to protect life, liberty, property, and the physical securityof citizens—the availability of small arms tends to increase the incidence of violence committed in the civilian
population. Criminality and lawlessness are directly linked to the accessibility and availability of guns in society.
Likewise, easy access to arms also makes it difficult for the state to neutralize insurgent and armed politicalgroups that undermine the authority of the state. For brevity, I will refer to armed criminal groups and armed
political groups in this paper as “threat groups.”
The gun is an instrument of value. It is a weapon that makes its possessor powerful. It is not a neutral object,
as is advocated by pro-gun societies. Used by state authorities, criminals, and insurgents alike, the possessor isable to wield power over others who do not possess the same.
Guns kill.The famous adage,“Guns don’t kill, people do,” is a misplaced notion. Guns give power to the ones
holding them. Mere possession of a gun emboldens one to take drastic action. Gun possession and passion are alethal combination.5 Unfortunately, it is the lives of unwilling-participants-to-violence that have ended becauseof the uncontrolled proliferation of guns in society.
While small arms account for only one-fifth of the global arms trade, their effect far exceeds that of the moresophisticated weapons. Given their accessibility, ease of operation, and durability features, small arms are the most

3 Small Arms Survey 2008: Risk and Resilience. Cambridge University Press.
4 Small Arms Survey, 2007. Cambridge University Press (available online).
http://smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/year_b_pdf/2007/2007SAS_English_press_kit/2007SAS_cover%20sheet_en.pdf
accessed Feb 2, 2009, 1155 am.
5 Phil. Action Network on Small Arms, (2009). “Gun violence in the Philippines” in Center for Humanitarian Dialogue newsletter.

45
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Reportcommonly used weapons in intra- and inter-state conflicts.6 The Small Arms Survey in 2002 reported that becauseof arms misuse, one person dies every minute, resulting in an estimated 500,000 casualties around the world every
year.7 Small arms and light weapons are responsible for the majority of direct conflict deaths, with an estimate of
60–90% of all direct conflict victims being killed with a firearm. Small arms are also used in 40% of the world’s
homicides and are a common tool for perpetrating societal violence8 and male dominance in society.
The paradox, however, is that while gun proliferation creates a number of social ills, possession of a gun isalso equated with protection.9 This is now the dilemma; in societies with weak political and security institutions, possession of arms is the civilian’s response to the perception of social insecurity. Legal and illegal guntrade thrives because of the continued and increasing demand for arms by civilians. Lawlessness, criminality,
banditry, and insurgency, coupled with the inability of enforcers to curb these evils, create the impression ofchaos and danger in society. A number of civilians thus look at guns as providers of security. Juxtaposed withthe perception of a weak state, civilians are further motivated to secure arms for protection. It is this feeling ofinsecurity that fuels the drive of civilians to acquire guns.
However, the very fact that there are arms or guns in society creates the condition for their possible misuse,
which then creates more threats and insecurity for the population. More guns in circulation can exacerbate
the already volatile social, political, and economic divides that exist in a transitional society. “The demand forsmall arms and light weapons is often fuelled by conditions of insecurity, oppression, human rights violations
and under-development.”10With the rise of criminality and insurgency associated with guns proliferation, it becomes inevitable forgovernments to increase military and police spending to combat lawlessness. Increased budgets for the military
and the police means less funds available for other government services like education, health care, infrastructure, housing, livelihood training, and environmental protection—services that are crucial to promoting humandevelopment and security.
In 2008, the defense expenditures of the following (selected) countries were as follows:11− Myanmar:− Sri Lanka:− Pakistan:− Philippines:− Indonesia:− Afghanistan:

3.3% of its GDP
3.6% of its GDP
2.8% of its GDP
0.7% of its GDP
0.6% of its GDP
1.57% of its GDP (2007)

While these figures seem insignificant, in actual terms the numbers matter a lot. For instance, in thePhilippines, 40% of annual income is automatically allocated to foreign debt payment, so all the other departments and services are left to scramble for the remaining 60% of the budget. Thus, in actual figures, for every
1 peso, 40 cents goes to debt servicing, 0.07 cents goes to defense spending; and the remaining 59.3 cents has
to be divided among education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, disaster relief, social welfare, housing, earlychild care, gender equity, environment, sports, culture, communication, foreign affairs, overseas workers’ welfare,peace and order, etc.
There is no doubt, therefore, that both physical safety and human development concerns are greatly
affected by the proliferation of small arms. In the context of unmet human needs and the perception of persecution, arms in the “wrong” hands can instigate or exacerbate existing armed hostilities and/or increase incriminality.
Obviously, curbing the proliferation of illegal guns remains a big challenge for the state; yet, at thesame time, it warrants a concerted effort from the other social and political institutions. People will not

6 Integrated Regional Information Networks, May 2006, Available online
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/smallarms/2006/05massdestruction.htm
7 http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/issueareas/inventories/inventories.html
8 Small Arms Survey http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/issueareas/inventories/inventories.html (accessed Feb 24, 2008).
9 Oreta, Jennifer Santiago, 2008. Gun Violence and Women’s Perception of Security. Dissertation study.
10 UNDP Essentials No. 9, Nov 2002.
11 Computed based on data from The Military Balance 2009: The Annual assessment of global military capabilities and defence economics.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies.

46
Page

Gun Proliferation in Asia: Limits to Dialogue, Challenges to Action

feel the need to arm themselves if they feel safe and secure in their homes and communities. The feelingof insecurity likewise is shaped by the effective, impartial, and trustworthy performance of the security
sector actors.

Challenges to Action
The (now seemingly defunct) US-initiated “war on terror” of the Bush administration has further strengthened
the dominant militaristic paradigm of some Asian governments, where arms were exported with little regard tohuman rights and the corruption track record. To cite some examples: 12− In 2007, while Gen. Musharraf was still in power, the United States (again) extended US$ 297M Foreign
Military Aid (FMA) to Pakistan, despite the continued protests of human rights groups on the militarygovernment’s abuses.
− In 2008, both Indonesia and the Philippines received FMA from the United States (Indonesia received US$
15.7M FMA while the Philippines received US$ 29.7M FMA). The governments-in-power of both countries had been, and still are being, accused by human rights groups of gross violations of rights and the useof the military and police to attack political opponents.
How are these connected to small arms and violence to society? Apart from the accusation that leaders misuse security infrastructure against their enemies, legal arms donated to governments with a track record of corruption
eventually end up in the hands of illegal elements.
Corrupt dealings of military and police officials, stockpile theft, ambuscades, and arms capture during crossfire are some of the common ways of how legal arms end up in illegal trade. There have been numerous investigative studies that show how donated legal arms end up in the hands of threat groups.
Sadly, a number of Asian countries still have weak institutions (i.e., the institutions are not yet fully rooted
and/or are still in the process of strengthening the basic infrastructure of democracy), and these states fail tomitigate the crossing-over of legal arms into illegal trade.
Another contributory factor is that a number of Asian countries are also “in transition,” —that is, these societies are reeling from centuries of colonization, have had a history of strong-rulers, are grappling with restive
populations due to the wide disparity of incomes among its people (brought about by decades of structural
wrongs), and have active armed hostility with one or more threat groups.There is, therefore, a greater possibility
in these societies of legal arms crossover to the illegal arena, due to either the corrupt practices of some officials
or the inability of the system (and agents) to prevent theft and ambuscades.

What Do We Do?
I only have two major recommendations: (a) address the supply-side of arms by adopting an internationalArms Trade Treaty, and (b) curb the demand-side by making people feel secure in their homes and community,
thereby decreasing their desire to possess weapons for protection.
1. Address the Supply-side: The Janus-faced G-8 and the need for an International Arms Trade Treaty
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council—USA, UK, China, France, and Russia—together
are responsible for 88% of conventional arms export. The USA contributes to almost 45% of all of the world’s
exported weapons.13 “From 1998 to 2001, the USA, the UK, and France earned more income from arms sales
to developing countries than they gave in aid.”14

12 The source of data is The Military Balance 2009. Note that the arms embargo against Pakistan was lifted in 2001, when Pakistan
joined the US-led war on terror. It has since then received Foreign Military Aid (FMA) from the United States.
13 Conventional arms transfers to developing nations, 1994–2001, OECD website, www.oecd.org/xls/M00037000/M00037874.xls(accessed Jun 2006).
14 Ibid.

47
PageAsia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report− In 2003, the UK announced the sale of BAE Hawk jets to India for a total cost of US$1.7 B—the sameamount that the UK gave to India as bilateral aid.15− France is the third-largest exporter of conventional arms and allegedly continues to export military equipment to states that are subject to UN arms embargoes (e.g., Myanmar, Sudan, and China).16
Under the Dual-use principle, Germany and Japan export non-arms components that can easily be incorporated into conventional arms. Japan remains steadfast in its pronouncement that it is not exporting arms, only
“non-military arms.” The devil however is in the definition— “under Japanese legislation, hunting and sporting
weapons are not considered as arms and are therefore not subject to the same controls as firearms covered by
the Export Trade Control Order.”17 Japan, therefore, has been exporting these “goods” (hunting and sporting
weapons) to countries since it is technically not violating its own self-imposed arms control regulation. The
sad reality, however, is that whether for hunting or for combat, a gun that propels a projectile using explosives
is a lethal instrument.
Japan is also a leading player in the international market for “dual-use” technology. Unfortunately, a number of its non-military exports actually end up as component parts of conventional arms (e.g., semi-conductor
chips for guided missiles, camera lenses used in reconnaissance systems, etc.). Japan also lacks control over there-export of the receiving country of these Japanese “goods.”18
Curbing small arms proliferation and misuse requires that the legal trade in weapons be more effectively controlled because
the majority of illicit weapons start out in the legal market. Currently, there is no internationally accepted set of controls
on arms transfers, and national controls vary in scope and effectiveness. Existing agreements and obligations, such as arms
embargoes, lack enforcement mechanisms and are often violated with impunity.
Internationally, the implementation and enforcement of national and international arms embargoes must be improved.
Particularly important are UN arms embargoes, violations of which must be thoroughly investigated and punished by theinternational community. At the national level, those governments that lack authorization systems for the production andtransfer of small arms and light weapons should establish them immediately, and countries with weak systems should takesteps to strengthen them.19

An international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), therefore, is imperative.
On October 30, 2009, “after years of discussions and debates, the United Nations agreed a timetableto establish a ‘strong and robust’ Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) with the ‘highest common standards’ to control
international transfers of conventional arms.… In a major reversal of policy, the US—the world’s biggest arms
trader—voted in favour of the resolution. Russia and China abstained; Zimbabwe was the only vote against.
As a result of the vote, the conference to finalise the Treaty is now scheduled for July 2012.”20 The control-arms
community is eager and hopeful that the Obama administration will have a discerning attitude towards arms
control as opposed to the hawkish position of his predecessor.
2. Curbing the demand-side: strengthen community safety and promote the notion of collective welfare.
Security strategies must also be devised to address why individuals, groups, and governments seek weapons
in the first place. Such strategies must be sensitive to the complexities of violence in conflict zones, crimeridden countries, and countries recovering from war; these strategies should involve government officials, local
community leaders, NGOs, and the women’s sector in the process.These control-arms strategies must be linked
to other aspects of violence-reduction and disarmament programs (such as security sector reform and DDR)
as well as community safety programs. Gun/arms-control strategies must be woven into existing programs byproviding the population with ways to achieve security and power other than through arms possession andviolence.
15 G8 Global Arms Exporters, available online http://www.iansa.org/control_arms/documents/g8report/g8-control-arms-paper-en.pdf(accessed Nov 5, 2009).
16 Ibid.
17 Ballantyne, Robin, “Japan’s Hidden Arms Trade,” (Dec 1, 2005), Asia Times, http://atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GL01Dh01.html(accessed Sep 18, 2009).
18 Ballantyne 2005.
19 Small Arms Survey http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/issueareas/inventories/inventories.html (accessed Feb 24, 2008).
20 IANSA 2009: http://www.iansa.org/un/ATTvote09.htm

48
Page

Gun Proliferation in Asia: Limits to Dialogue, Challenges to Action

Again, particular attention must be given to Asia. “Asia-Pacific possesses the highest concentration of armsproducing nations outside North America and Europe.While the value of military manufacturing is quite small,perhaps accounting for 10% of total global armaments production, the region has seen considerable growth
in arms manufacturing, in terms of value, types of systems, sophistication and, particularly, national ambitions for such manufacturing.”21 While most of the (current) products of the region are assault rifles and sidearms, a number of states have a strong motivation towards arms self-sufficiency, with most countries currently
investing in research and development to develop and produce more sophisticated arms.
Therefore, the relevant question that needs to be asked is as follows. While self-sufficiency is a value thatmust be pursued, should self-sufficiency in arms be the answer to the security challenge that theregion faces? If not, what alternative security paradigm can we propose, other than dependence
on arms? Again, the devil is in the details!

21 The Military Balance 2009.

49
Page

Education: Forming Persons in a Dialogue of Life1
ANDREW K.L. SOH

INTRODUCTION
What can a person do? The answer is—numerous things.
Ms. Kikukawa Keiko left the city and returned to her home in Rokkasho Village, Aomori Prefecture, tolive the life of a farmer in her effort to stop the construction of a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility there. She
campaigned relentlessly and worked hard to galvanize public support for her cause, especially among the local
inhabitants. She distributed leaflets and went from home to home to warn her neighbors about the potential
hazards of having a nuclear facility so close to their homes. Moreover, not only did she attend public hearings
organized by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited in an attempt to raise voices against the planned construction andoperation of the plant, but she also tried to set up a national network to collectively oppose the use of nuclear
technology. Her efforts bore fruit and led many people to support and join her cause. More recently, she has
earned the attention and admiration of the seven fellows of the Asia Leadership Fellow Program 2009.
Mr. Tanaka Tetsuro was laid off by his company twenty-five years ago because he had refused to accept a“compulsory transfer order to a factory hundreds of kilometers away.”2 The transfer order, he argued, was a formof harassment and unfair punishment for his refusal to participate in daily mass calisthenics, which he branded
as “a humiliating loyalty test to the company.”3 Prior to his dismissal, he had been vocal about his opposition
to what he perceived as unjust company policies, and had supported fellow workers who had been laid off by
the company. For the past twenty-five years, Mr. Tanaka has stubbornly shown up at the gate of this company
with a guitar and a mobile sound system to protest the ill-treatment he had received from the company and to
demand that the company reinstate him in his former position. His actions made the headlines of local newspapers, which helped him gain a number of loyal supporters and the eventual admiration and respect of hisson, who for many years had not really understood his father’s decision. In addition, fascinated by Mr. Tanaka’s
tenacity and his personality, as well as the impact his action has had on society, and intrigued by the possibilityof a powerful human interest story, an Australian film director, Maree Delofski, and her partner, Mark Gregory,traveled to Japan to make a documentary film on Mr. Tanaka. The film was screened at the recent Yamagata
International Documentary Film Festival.
Mr. Hamamoto Tsuginori from Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, cannot walk. He is afflicted with
Minamata disease, a syndrome caused by methyl mercury poisoning. He got this disease when he was young,from eating fish from the Minamata Bay that had been contaminated with wastewater containing methyl mercury, released from the chemical factory of Chisso Corporation. Despite his condition, or precisely because of it,
he has campaigned for much of his life for justice for the victims of Minamata disease. He has traveled widely to
speak about the sufferings of the victims of methyl mercury poisoning and has campaigned for better treatmentof the natural environment. He tells us, in his own words: “I became a storyteller so that the same kind of environmental destruction that occurred in Minamata will not happen again. In our affluent lifestyle, Nature has
been contaminated and people’s health has been harmed. If we want to have a convenient and prosperous life,
we must be grateful for Nature’s gifts, and not pollute it.Through the storytellers’ accounts, I would like people
1 Presented at the Asia Leadership Fellow Program 2009 Public Symposium, Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House ofJapan, Tokyo, on November 6, 2009.
2 Maree Delofski, “Director’s Statement,” in Maree Delofski, prod., Tanaka-san Will Not Do Calisthenics, Sydney: Blue Room
Productions, 2008.
3 Ibid.

50
Page

Education: Forming Persons in a Dialogue of Lifeto feel the horror of pollution and learn what people must do, in order to live in a safe and happy 21st century.”4
Many people have been moved by Mr. Hamamoto’s words and testimony and many more will be moved, I am
sure, as long as Mr. Hamamoto can speak and share the wisdom that he has gained from his suffering.
From the stories above, we see that there are a lot of things that a person can do. However, are they enough?
Perhaps not.
At the time of the writing of this paper, the construction of the nuclear fuel cycle facility in Rokkasho
Village was all but completed. The plant now holds both low-level and high-level nuclear waste, and construction work on the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility continues. Meanwhile, Ms. Kikukawa has fallen ill
several times and, at present, is not strong enough to carry on her campaign. Mr.Tanaka is still playing his guitar
every morning at the gate of the company that fired him twenty-five years ago. His demands, though, havenot been met. In Minamata, about thirty thousand people have yet to be officially recognized and certified as
sufferers of Minamata disease. Unlike Mr. Hamamoto, many people do not see the point in fighting for justicebecause they have lost faith in the legal system.
We need more than one person to make a big difference. For Ms. Kikukawa’s crusade, she needs theentire village and people in the surrounding area to say “no” to the setting up of a nuclear fuel cycle facility.
Mr. Tanaka needs the entire company, or at least the company management, to make the change he demands.
Mr. Hamamoto’s battle needs the support of the entire city, the prefecture, and the country.
These are just three issues that we, the fellows of the Asia Leadership Fellow Program 2009, explored during our two-month-long fellowship program here in Japan. In addition to these three issues, there are manyother issues and problems that we face in our region and in our own countries—Bangladesh, China, Indonesia,
Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Facing up to these challenges requires a concerted effort fromvarious sectors of civil society to work at the “nitty-gritty” of the issues through a series of analyses, dialogues,
and actions for a humane and responsible society. The varied fields of expertise and involvement that the fellows have brought to this year’s program show us the many possibilities of addressing the challenges we face.
For my part, as an educator, I would like to focus on education as a locus for forming minds and hearts for ahumane society.

EDUCATION
When we are faced with failures in society, we sometimes look at our education system and ask if it has somehow contributed to the current state of affairs, or, on the other hand, we ask if it can do something to address it.
Perhaps this is because, traditionally, we have viewed the educational institution as the place where good values
and social responsibilities are taught. It is where the young learn to become good citizens. However, we may
ask “What does education have to do with a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility and the struggles of Mr. Tanaka
or Mr. Hamamoto?” It has everything to do with the issues and challenges discussed above, as these challenges
force us to think about the goals of our educational system. What sort of graduates are we producing each year
from our high schools, colleges, and universities? Are our educational institutions, especially our tertiary educational institutions, functioning like technical institutions and churning out technical experts for the market
economy? In the development of our educational systems and methods, we have constantly improved and tried
to perfect the teaching of expertise, but I am not so sure if our educational planners have cared enough to place
equal emphasis on the teaching and formation of values. At various points in my two-month stay in Japan during this fellowship program, I have felt an uneasy tension in the way that our decision-making processes—atthe corporate, governmental, and societal levels—seem to ignore the question of values. This aspect seems odd
to me considering how our societies in Asia are so rich in tradition and values. Perhaps this is the effect of theso-called modern mindset of progress driven by the ethos of the consumerist society. I believe this is where
education will have to play an important role.
The educational institution is a locus for the development of the minds and hearts of citizens; it is where
the “quiet backroom work” is done to form persons who can make decisions depending not only on the levelof technical expertise in a specific field (which is essential) but also, and very importantly, on the level of personal responsibility. In their book, The Revival of Values Education in Asia and the West, Cummings, Gopinathan,
4 Minamata Disease Municipal Museum, Minamata Disease: Its History and Lessons, Minamata City: Minamata City Planning Division,
2007, p. 41.

51
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

and Tomoda point out that any “effort worthy of the name of education … has been directed into readinessfor the making of choices, into questioning common usage and redefining the notions of obedience andresponsibility.”5 Education cannot merely be viewed as a means of creating “human capital”6 for the economy,
no matter how important this human capital is.
In order for education to not be about the creation of “human capital,” our educational systems and goals
have to clearly emphasize the element of values education, which Cummings, Gopinathan, and Tomoda argue
has always been an indispensable part of educational systems in the East and the West.7 This is where the basic
task of education—the formation of persons—is performed. Schools are the places for preparation and the locifor reflection and challenge as they are where values and expertise are integrated into the realities we face inour search for solutions to our problems.
Over the past decades, education, especially the so-called tertiary education, has become increasingly focusedupon specialized disciplines, with the objective of producing human capital through the harnessing of the“scientific and technical knowledge [that has] raise[d] the productivity of labor and other inputs in production.”8
The dream of modernization and of economic progress has driven the goals of education, which are to produce
a qualified and well-trained work-force that will lead the line for economic growth. Gary Becker writes in his
discussion on human capital:
The continuing growth in per capita incomes of many countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is partly due
to the expansion of scientific and technical knowledge that raises the productivity of labor and other inputs in production.
And the increasing reliance of industry on sophisticated knowledge greatly enhances the value of education, technical schooling, on-the-job training, and other human capital.
New technological advances clearly are of little value to countries that have very few skilled workers who know how to
use them. Economic growth closely depends on the synergies between new knowledge and human capital, which is whylarge increases in education and training have accompanied major advances in technological knowledge in all countries thathave achieved significant economic growth.
The outstanding economic records of Japan, Taiwan, and other Asian economies in recent decades dramatically illustrate
the importance of human capital to growth. Lacking natural resources—they import almost all their energy, for example—
and facing discrimination against their exports by the West, these so-called Asian tigers grew rapidly by relying on a welltrained, educated, hardworking, and conscientious labor force that makes excellent use of modern technologies. China, forexample, is progressing rapidly by mainly relying on its abundant, hardworking, and ambitious population.9

This makes great sense given the challenge of economic growth as well as the dream of economic progressthat Asian countries continue to pursue. But should we create technical expertise at the expense of a more
holistic formation of persons? In the Ateneo de Manila University—a university with a strong liberal arts
tradition that is expressed in a core curriculum with many courses in the humanities10—where I teach in the
Department of Philosophy, there has been debate over the reduction of core courses to allow departments toinclude more major-specific courses. The argument of proponents for the reduction of the core curriculum
courses is that their students should focus more on their majors so that they will be better prepared for theirown fields of study, whether they be engineering, management, or biology. Such a move has been opposed by
the school for the reason that the courses in the core curriculum contribute to the holistic formation of thestudent.

5 William K. Cummings, Saravanan Gopinathan, and Yasumasa Tomoda, “The Revival of Values Education,” in The Revival of Values
Education in Asia and the West, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1988, p. 4.
6 The idea of human capital is drawn from the writings of Economist Gary S. Becker. See Gary S. Becker, “Human Capital,” Libraryof Economics and Liberty, <http://econlib.org/library/Enc/HumanCapital.html> (accessed November 5, 2009).
7 Cummings, Gopinathan, and Tomoda, pp. 3–26.
8 Becker.
9 Ibid.
10 The core curriculum is composed of courses from the Humanities (e.g., English, Filipino, Foreign Languages, Philosophy, andTheology), Social Sciences (e.g., Psychology, Social Science and Anthropology, Political Science, and Economics), and Physical Sciences(e.g., Biology and Environmental Science). The core curriculum courses comprise roughly 40%–45% of the total units enrolled by
students in the course of study for a four-year undergraduate degree. See Appendix for a description of the Core Curriculum.

52
Page

Education: Forming Persons in a Dialogue of LifeEDUCATION AS FORMATIONThis means that we do not merely equip a student with an expertise or a set of skills to help him or her
succeed in a career; we develop the entire person because we are concerned with the person. We speak hereof an education of the mind and heart—an education of the cognitive and affective aspects of the person.
The idea of education as the formation of persons is not alien to our Asian cultures. We can identify similaremphases in the wisdom traditions of our respective cultures. For example, the Confucian tradition that has
influenced much of East Asia emphasized the development of virtuous persons.11 In Jesuit universities andinstitutions of education, of which Ateneo de Manila is one, the education of the entire person is exemplified
by the pedagogical principle known as cura personalis, or “care for the person.”12 This care for the person is seen
through “teachers accompanying learners in the lifelong pursuit of competence, conscience, and compassionate commitment.”13

Forming Persons-for-Others
Essential to the notion of education as a forming of persons is an emphasis upon a sense of social responsibility—on both personal and collective levels. While speaking to an international congress of alumni of Jesuit
educational institutions in 1973, Pedro Arrupe, former Superior General of the Society of Jesus, pointed outthat we ought to educate students to become “persons-for-others.”14 Arrupe elaborated that the goal of education should be to form persons who would be agents of social change and who would also transcend the tendency of egoism in order to recognize the social dimension of their actions.15 This challenge posed by Arrupe
is relevant even in our time. We continue to face the challenges of a society burdened by a seemingly limitlessdemand for energy at all costs, unjust corporate practices, and irresponsible actions that lead to environmental
pollution.
We need a value-centered and person-for-others directed education that will lay down the foundation
for a reflective and critical consideration of our oft-unquestioned ethos of the consuming society. We haveenculturated our hunger for energy and consumerist attitudes. For example, I was amazed by the numberof vending machines wherever I went. These machines are available at all hours, providing a great convenience. However, at the same time, they consume a lot of energy by working twenty-four hours a day. In an
ever-increasing demand for energy, we look to develop technologies that will provide the energy we crave.
I believe, though, that the challenge of education is to raise the question of our energy consumption, or more
precisely, to provide us with opportunities to understand that, perhaps, the real problem of the energy crisis weare facing is not about how we need to constantly generate more energy but about the ethos of consumptionthat remains unquestioned.

11 The virtuous persons here refer to junzi (君子), variously translated as “exemplary persons,” “superior men,” or “noblemen.” For
Confucius, the goal of education was the cultivation of persons of virtuous character who “would be useful to state and society”
through the practice of “good government … rule[d] by virtue and moral example.” He was said to have believed in the “perfectability of [people]” and thus sought to teach them to become noble “of character.” Sources: The Analects of Confucius: A PhilosophicalTranslation, trans. Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont, Jr., New York: Ballantine Books, 1998, passim.; Fung Yu-lan, A Short Historyof Chinese Philosophy, edited by Derk Bodde, New York: The Free Press, 1976, p. 40; Wing-tsit Chan, trans. and comp., A Source Book
in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963; reprint, 1973, p. 15.
12 Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, “Cura Personalis” Society of Jesus,<http://www.sjweb.info/documents/phk/20070115-curapers-s-eng.swf> (accessed November 5, 2009).
13 Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, “Jesuit Education and Ignatian Pedagogy,”<http://www.ajcunet.edu/Jesuit-Education-and-Ignatian-Pedagogy>, (accessed September 18, 2009). See also the explanation ofcura personalis at the following web pages:<http://www.sju.edu/about/missionstatement.html> and<http://www.regis.edu/content/spr/pdf/EmmausSEP07.pdf>
14 Pedro Arrupe, “Men for Others: Education for Social Justice and Social Action Today,” an address to the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe in Valencia, Spain, on July 31, 1973,<http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/men-for-others.html> (accessed October 5, 2009).
15 Ibid.

53
PageAsia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

Formation at the Frontiers of Depth and Universality
How does education rise to the challenge stated above? It does so by rising to the challenge of what Adolfo
Nicolas, the current Superior General of the Society of Jesus, called the “frontiers of depth and universality.”16
He spoke of the challenge of helping students develop a “deep understanding and appreciation of what ismost important.”17 We must invite and challenge our students to “see” and “think.” This is only possible if weallow our students to experience and reflect upon their experiences with depth. Nicolas explains: “Depth ofknowledge and, even more important, depth of experience, must mature into a depth of conviction that is able
to remain peaceful and steadfast even in a confusing and hostile world.”18 We live in the so-called information
age: information is available at our fingertips. Our students are able to gain access to information, but the roleof educators and our education system is to challenge students to reflect upon what is most important in theirlives. To use an Ignatian principle: “non multa sed multum,” which literally means, “not many but much” or “notquantity, but depth.”19
The second frontier that we face in education is the “frontier of universality.”20 “A paradox of globalization”—
this ever-expanding interdependence among nations, economies, and peoples—is a growing sense of “fear of
the other … who is different.”21 There is a resistance to the influence of the other, and protectionism that leads
one to safeguard one’s autonomy and wellbeing is, in some way, a natural response to influences that comefrom outside. However, in this growing tide of globalization and climate of regional cooperation—ASEAN
Plus Three (China, Japan, Korea) and ASEAN plus Six (China, Japan, Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand)—education at the frontier of universality challenges the students to develop a “sense of breadth of belonging andwideness of concern and responsibility.”22 In other words, the challenge for education in this globalized world
is how we can form students who will rise above their limited interests and their limited sense of belonging
toward a “broader sense of belonging and responsibility.”23

DIALOGUE OF LIFE
Engaged Education
The depth and breadth of education must also involve the formation of persons who are rooted in theircommunities and realities. This is the challenge not only of rootedness, but also of relevance. Relevance asks
whether and how our education responds to the call of humanity and the pressing needs of our age. We needan education that keeps the student engaged with the issues and realities concerning, for example, the questionof energy, corporate ethics and social responsibility, the environment, and peace and security. Consequently,
education as the forming of persons must engage the student in a dialogue of life.
One way to encourage this engagement, as is done in Ateneo de Manila and in a number of colleges and universities across the region,24 is through service learning. By definition, service learning is “a teaching and learning strategy
that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teachcivic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”25 In a strict sense, service learning should involve a tangible form
16 Adolfo Nicolas, “Issues and Challenges in Jesuit Education,” an address to faculty, staff, students, and alumni of Ateneo de Manila
University on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Jesuit Education in the Philippines,<http://www.ateneo.edu/index.php?p=120&type=2&aid=7009> (accessed October 4, 2009).
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Examples of such colleges and universities are members of the Service Learning Asia Network, which include, among others, theInternational Christian University in Tokyo, Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lady Doak College in
Madurai, India, Seoul Women’s University in Korea, Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Petra Christian University in
Surabaya, Indonesia. See <http://subsite.icu.ac.jp/slc/slan/member.html>.
25 National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, “What is Service-Learning?” Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning
Clearinghouse, <http://www.servicelearning.org/what-service-learning> (accessed September 19, 2009).

54
Page

Education: Forming Persons in a Dialogue of Lifeof service provided by the students to the community that they have chosen to serve. Furthermore, service learningachieves its learning aspect through students’ reflection on the experience of serving in their communities and working on the various issues and problems that are present in the community. Historically, service learning started in the
United States in the 1960s and was introduced to institutions in Asia in the 1990s. In Japan, for instance, the International Christian University (ICU) started its service learning program in 1996. Service learning has the potential tobring the world into the classroom and the classroom into the world by allowing students to directly engage with thecommunity.This is essential if education is to be relevant and if we are to develop the “depth of understanding” andthe “breadth of belonging and wideness of concern and responsibility” that Nicolas spoke about.26
In Ateneo de Manila University, service learning initiatives are incorporated into specific academic requirements such as students’ theses, in which students are encouraged to address social questions and needs. For
example, a student of the Fine Arts Program worked on the use of dance as a means of helping improve the selfimage of the youth in a depressed area. She conducted a sort of dance therapy in the local community, whichhas proven to be a successful means of building a sense of solidarity and a sense of purpose and self-worth
among the youth in the depressed community. The direct involvement with the community is a key to service
learning. It allows for both a cognitive and an affective involvement with the questions and issues present in thecommunity. This dialogue of life is an essential aspect of education as the formation of persons.
This dialogue of life can be difficult given the apparent passivity and apathy of the youth, which is compoundedby the realities of urban living—the lack of a sense of community. However, I believe that this is precisely the challenge of education. Education must be geared toward the creation of space for a dialogue of life.Technical education that teaches students how to solve problems must be complemented with an education that immerses themin the “mystery” of living (to borrow the notion of “mystery” from the twentieth century French philosopher,
Gabriel Marcel).27 Therefore, an education as forming persons in a dialogue of life must emphasize this element of
mystery in our human living. We cannot separate ourselves from the issues our communities are facing.

Opportunities for Learning
The opportunities for an engaged education are not only found in planned educational programs; they are alsopresent in the events that effect our living, such as the recent flashfloods brought by Typhoon Ondoy (international name, Ketsana) that devastated much of Metro Manila in the Philippines. Scores of students, faculty,
and staff members flocked to take part in the relief efforts organized by the Disaster Response and Management Team (DREAM Team) of the Ateneo de Manila University. With the cancellation of classes, Task Force
Ondoy became the learning and teaching opportunity. The community learned first-hand what it meant tobe a person-for-others. When students and teachers returned to the classrooms, teachers were encouraged tohelp students process the experience of the flood through a guided reflection. Numerous members of thecommunity experienced much loss in that flood—from the loss of personal belongings in houses completely
submerged in flood waters to the loss of loved ones who perished in the calamity. In the face of tragedy, someeven lost a sense of meaning in their lives. The healing process continues for many who were involved. In all of
this, the educator plays a crucial role in the task of reflection, understanding, and healing. The teacher also acts
as an exemplar and guide for the student and as a constant questioning presence like the “gadfly” that stirs the“steed” in Plato’s dialogue, Apology.28 An Indonesian idiom goes:
Ing ngarsa sung tuladha (From the front offering example)
Ing madya mangun karsa (At the side building up effort)
Tut wuri handayani (From behind supporting with encouragement).29
26 Nicolas.
27 According to Marcel, “A problem is something which I meet, which I find completely before me, but which I can therefore lay siege
to and reduce. But a mystery is something in which I am myself involved, and it can therefore only be thought of as a sphere where
the distinction between what is in me and what is before me loses its meaning and initial validity.” Source: Brian Treanor, “Problem
and Mystery,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marcel/#6> (accessed November 6, 2009).
28 Plato, “Apology,” trans. Benjamin Jowett in The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues, ed. Shane Weller, New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1992, pp. 31–32.
29 Attributed to Mr. Ki Hajar Dewantara, a respected educator, who became the first Indonesian Minister of Education. I am gratefulto Mr. Marco Kusumawijaya, co-fellow of this year’s ALFP 2009, for the quote and for his help with the translation into English.

55
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

This captures very well the cura personalis that is involved in education as formation of persons in a dialogueof life.

CONCLUSION
Education is one of the keys to a humane society. However, it must be a values education that emphasizes theformation of persons-for-others—persons who, through a reflective dialogue of life, can appreciate the depth
and universality of our lived realities. The Confucian text, The Great Learning (Daxue 大學) teaches:Things have their roots and branches. Affairs have their beginnings and their ends. To know what is first and what is last
will lead one near the Way (dao 道).30

Confucius pointed out that, “It is the person who is able to broaden the way (dao 道), not the way thatbroadens the person.”31 In our effort to tackle many problems—whether they are economic, social, political, or
environmental—let us focus on the roots.The roots here refer to education that involves the holistic formationof persons who will have their minds and hearts in the right place and who will, because of this, make the rightdecisions that ultimately lead to the creation of a responsible, humane society.

APPENDIXThe following is a description of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Core Curriculum, found on the websiteof the School of Humanities:“The heart of the Ateneo education is the core curriculum, largely made up of courses offered by the Schoolof Humanities. The rich traditions in philosophy, faith, literature, language, arts and culture give this education
its distinctive character.
The courses in philosophy bring students into contact with the primary texts of great philosophers from theclassical times to the contemporary period. By posing personal, social, ethical and religious questions among
students, the courses develop habits of philosophical reflection.
Courses in theology offer students a unified, constructive, firmly articulated vision of life grounded in theChristian faith. Immersed in the rich sources of theological wisdom and scholarship, they develop a thinking
faith and are led to respond to the call for moral transformation and spiritual renewal.
The study of literature starts students on their journey in the creative life. Students deepen their understanding of themselves and their world by reading literary texts—local and global, classical and contemporary—taught from a multicultural perspective.
The courses in Filipino, English and a foreign language teach students to think critically and communicate
effectively.”32

30 Chan, p. 86.
31 Analects 15.29. See Ames and Rosemont, p. 190.
32 “The Humanities in the Core Curriculum,” School of Humanities Website, Ateneo de Manila University,<http://soh.ateneo.edu/global/> (accessed November 5, 2009).

56
Page

ALFP ACTIVITIES 2009
Country Reports by the Fellows
Johanna O. Zulueta, Rapporteur, ALFP 2009

Pakistan: A Country ProﬁleIQBAL HAIDER BUTTI

qbal Haider Butt began his report with two key words—diversity and segmentation—to describe Pakistan.
Pakistan is administratively divided into four provinces that were formed based mainly on their linguistic identities. However, this does not necessarily mean that the identities that they represent are their only identities, meaning that there is diversity even within provinces. Butt then talked about the location and the geographic borders ofPakistan with Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east, and China in the far northeast. Pakistan is hugely
diverse not only in its people and languages but also in its terrain and weather. Butt sees Pakistan as a melting pot
of cultures due to cultural influences from South,West, and East Asia. Pakistan, however, is unevenly developed.
Established in 1947, Pakistan has a federal form of government and its legal system is based on English Common Law. It was first named an Islamic republic in 1956, but before this proclamation, there was a huge debate
on whether Pakistan should have been called the Republic of Pakistan or the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Butt mentioned that the country is one of the most data deficient countries in the world, with its last census
having been conducted in 1998. One reason for this is evident in allegations of malpractice and disputes in
Sindh province, where the two dominant and sometimes competitive ethnicities, the Urdu-speaking migrants
from India and Sindhis, accused each other of fake registration in order to show higher numbers for their ethnic
groups, as resource allocation is based on the population (of the area). Clashes occurred and census-taking wasthus delayed. This also happened in Balochistan province. Ethnic groups in Pakistan basically refer to linguistic
groups, and the majority of the population of the country is Punjabi, accounting for 53% of the population.
The majority (95%) are Muslims, with 75% of the Muslim population being Sunnis. Christians and Hindus
comprise 5% of the population. Discrimination against the minority religious groups also exists in Pakistan.
Butt stated that the state in present-day Pakistan is a result of the Afghan War. This war was not just a proxywar between soldiers and communists; in a sense, all of society was dragged into it, said Butt. During the martial
law period from 1979–88, the state promoted jihad in Afghanistan. During this time, mainstream parties could
not freely work because leaders were either exiled or jailed. In the absence of political parties, political Islamist
student organizations were promoting the message of jihad and actively recruiting people into their groups.
The role of students was very important on the civilian side.
Pakistan has a large youth population. Butt quoted a study on youth population and the problem of security
and said that if there are too many idle young people, there will be some kind of upheaval. In relation to this,he argued that—ideologies notwithstanding—one can witness this phenomenon (idle youth) in the present
Taliban government. This is because, in the tribal areas, the social fabric of society and the colonial set-up ofchiefs have been broken by the transnational aspirations of (international) jihadists. These people’s traditional
lives have been disrupted by the jihadists. Due to the lack of jobs, they people are vulnerable to invitations(as they are given money and a gun) by jihadists and tend to join them, irrespective of their ideologies.
Pakistan’s economy has been resilient because, despite all this upheaval, it has successfully maintained a growth rateof at least five percent. Butt said that despite government changes and instability, there has been economic growthin the country. He argued that whenever there is a democratic government, the growth rate decreases. On the other
hand, in an authoritarian, military government, the growth rate increases.This is because there is stability in an authoritarian government, so local and foreign investors are more confident. Another explanation is the role of the UnitedStates in giving aid to Pakistan during martial law, as the Americans feel comfortable dealing with just one person.
Butt added that there was a radical shift in 2006, when the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League—the two major parties in the country—made an agreement to depose authoritative regime. He
believes that they are committed to the idea of promoting democracy. In connection to this, Butt stated thatcivil society has currently become a mainstream term in the country and NGOs have been engaging with thegovernment. Civil society still agitates in many ways, however, but has already engaged itself with the state.

59
Page

Current Issues Facing Japanese NPOs/NGOs
KURODA KAORII

n her report, Kuroda Kaori shared information on Non-profit Organizations and Non-governmental
Organizations (NGOs) in Japan. NPOs in Japan are regulated by what seems to be a hundred different
laws. In Japan, the term “Enu-pee-oo” (NPO) does not necessarily include nonprofit organizations in the
broad sense. Rather, it usually refers to organizations incorporated under the Law to Promote the Activities ofNot-for-Profit Organizations, or the NPO Law, and organizations that work on domestic issues. On the other
hand, the term “NGO” is often used in Japan to refer to non-profit organizations that work on global issues
or organizations that are engaged in international development; this is based on the fact that the term was firstused in the United Nations. Kuroda works with the Civil Society Organization (CSO) Network in Japan;
most people in Japan, however, do not use the term CSO. At the global level, the CSO may include the large
non-profit sector, NGOs, labor unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, the professional sector, andothers. Kuroda clarified, however, that the CSO Network in Japan does not really refer to CSOs in this sense.
It is often pointed out that the non-profit sector in Japan developed under governmental control due tothe historical strength of the public sector. The Japanese government after the Meiji Era used the non-profit
sector as a societal partner to implement public policies. Before the NPO Law was enacted in 1998, mostnot-for-profit private organizations were incorporated under the jurisdiction of Civic Code Article 34, which
required that approval and guidance be obtained from an authorizing agency for the establishment of a public interest corporation. In addition, an organization required a basic capital of several million US dollars inorder to be acknowledged as a foundation. After the Second World War, the Private School Law, the Welfare
Corporation Law, and the Medical Law were enacted as special laws under Civic Code Article 34. Because of
their requirements, however, not one of these laws enabled small, citizen-based, grass-root and private voluntary groups to easily obtain legal status. In fact, approximately 90% of grass-roots organizations had to remain
unincorporated. The rapid growth of citizens’ organizations in the wake of the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake was
the driving force behind the enactment of a new law in 1998 that substantially simplified the process of incorporation. As of July 31, 2009, around 38,000 organizations were registered as NPOs.
Many Japanese NPOs focus on health, welfare, medical services, community development, social education,and sustainable development. However, these are mainly service-delivering organizations and are weak on
advocacy, said Kuroda.
There Japanese NPOs and NGOs still face challenges. One of these challenges is financial instability due tothe lack of institutional funding (both government and private) and public donation. In addition, institutional
funds are regulated in the way that direct labor costs and overhead costs are not fully covered. As a result, moreorganizations seek an expansion of business-led earned income. NPOs and NGOs also face a lack of humanresources. Moreover, professionalism in this sector has not yet been established.
Kuroda then shared a report by SustainAbility and the Centre for Active Community and Cable and Wirelesson the current social issues faced by Japan.These issues include growing homelessness and youth unemployment,
deteriorating public security, growing immigration and xenophobia, falling public confidence in food safety, thedecline of communities, an increase in truancy among children of school age, barriers to women in employment,
an increase in domestic violence and child abuse, the negative impacts of the information society, and the pressuresof a rapidly aging population. Kuroda then mentioned some Japanese NGOs and NPOs involved in addressingthese issues, such as the NPO Moyai, which works for the homeless, and the Japan Association for Refugees.
Kuroda said that Japanese NGOs and NPOs are increasingly working with other sectors and establishing multistakeholder partnerships because cooperation is important in constructing a sustainable society. She talked about
the development of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26000 and the Multi-stakeholder

60
Page

Current Issues Facing Japanese NPOs/NGOs

Forum on Social Responsibility for a Sustainable Future, which was started in March 2009. The forum brought
together representatives from seven groups—industry, labor, consumer groups, NGOs, the financial sector,
government, and university professors and specialists—all of whom participated on an equal footing with an aim
to find solutions and explore collaborative approaches for a sustainable future. Currently, there are four working
groups that focus on sustainable community, global issues, nurturing people, and the issue of diversity.
In her closing report, Kuroda said that the policy for NGOs and NPOs by the new administration under theleadership of Prime Minister Hatoyama is being welcomed by NPOs and NGOs despite a lot of uncertainties inthe Hatoyama administration. She added that NPOs and NGOs are currently trying to establish new relationships
with the ruling coalition parties, although some already have links to individual parliamentarians. Kuroda believes
that this will create more room for NPOs and NGOs to participate in the government’s policy making.

61
Page

Indonesia
MARCO KUSUMAWIJAYA

F

ocusing on the changes that took place after 1998, Marco Kusumawijaya began his report with an
overview of Indonesia, including its demography and geography. As a multi-ethnic country, the 17,000island country has 700 ethnic groups and 300 languages. The majority of the population in this country
is Muslim, but in some areas, other religious groups such as the Hindu majority in Bali and the Christianmajority in North Sulawesi dominate. Kusumawijaya believes that Indonesia has moved from passive pluralism
to interculturalism, which is a more active type of pluralism. More than half of the population of Indonesia isconcentrated in Java, an island about the size of the United Kingdom. Indonesia has varied species of flora andfauna. It also boasts 70–80 percent of the world’s traditional textile designs and techniques due to the presenceof different cultures across the country.
Kusumawijaya then provided a brief history of Indonesia’s religious influences, from the influx of Hinduismin the second century, to the growth of Buddhism from the second to the twelfth centuries (with Borubudur—
the largest Buddhist temple in the world—a testament to this growth), and the spread of Islam from thesixteenth century, which also coincided with the introduction of Christianity that came with colonization.
Indonesia gained independence on August 17, 1945, after which the nation saw the 32-year reign of President
Suharto.The reform movement started in May 1998, when Suharto was ousted from office following the 1997
Asian financial crisis.
Urbanization is one of the pressing concerns in Indonesia, with Jakarta having a very high urban primacy—
the relative position of the largest city compared to the next smaller ones. Kusumawijaya said that commuting
into and out of Jakarta is a problem, with three million commuters entering and exiting the city every day.
Global warming is also taking its toll on the country, with increased average temperatures, decreased soil fertility
and rice crop production, as well as increasing cases of malaria. Rising sea levels are also a concern. Kusumawijaya also mentioned that Indonesia is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in terms of deforestation.
Kusumawijaya then mentioned the changes that have taken place in the country after 1998, which include
the cessation of Timor Leste and peace in Aceh, although armed conflict still exists in the Moluccas and Papua.
There has also been a change in the political system. The earlier fake-multi party system, which squeezed
multiple parties into three big parties, with the ruling party becoming the major party, was changed into asystem that is simultaneously multi-party and presidential. However, this current system is causing problems,
as a presidential system ideally should have only two or three parties. Although there is a stronger parliament,
this also means a shift of corruption to parliament and committee members. There was also overall decentralization and the expansion of local autonomy, which means a shift of corruption to the regions, according toKusumawijaya. The constitution was amended to allow all citizens to run and be elected for positions as highas that of president; in the past, only Pribumis—a term meaning native or indigenous, similar to Malaysia’s
Bumiputra—were allowed to run for president. Nowadays, there is a freedom of cultural expression and language that was nonexistent during the Suharto regime, when the use of the Chinese language, as well as thepresence of Chinese schools, was banned. Kusumawijaya noted that while freedom of the press exists, there is
now a rise in religious fundamentalism and general moral conservatism in the country.
Economic liberalization continues to be practiced in Indonesia, and Kusumawijaya stated that the country
was able to survive the economic crisis because the government does not depend much on exports. The new
government is also said to be paying more attention to good governance, as well as to civil society, culture, andscience.

62
Page

Hukou System in China and
Its Impacts on Rural Migrants
MA JIFANG

I

n her report, Ma Jifang focused on the unique system of household registration in China, called the Hukou.
This system, according to her, is still in effect in every aspect of Chinese society. The Hukou system is a
registration system that regulates the movement of people from rural to urban areas.
Most of China’s population is concentrated in the eastern side of the country, with people from the southwest migrating toward the east. Manufacturing industries are also concentrated in this part of the country. Ma
added that Western development began in China only around ten years ago. China has a 5,000-year-old history
and has the largest population in the world. The country is also known for its one-child policy, through which
only one child is allowed per married couple in urban areas. Ma stated, however, that in rural areas, a couple canhave another child if their first child is a girl. She then talked about problems regarding this policy.
The majority of people in China are of Han origin, although the presence of various ethnic groups cannot be denied. There are also five autonomous regions in the country. These are as follows: Xinjiang, with the
Uyghur people; Tibet, with the Tibetans; Inner Mongolia, with a Mongol majority; Ningxia, where the Huipeople live; and Guangxi, where the Zhuang people are concentrated. Hong Kong and Macau became Special
Administrative Regions of China in 1997 and 1999, respectively.
Returning to her discussion of the Hukou system, Ma talked about the origins of the registration system thatwas started for the purposes of taxation and conscription, as well as for the collection of statistical data. After thefounding of the People’s Republic of China, the new government started to control the movement of people
between rural and urban areas. While the registration system was loosely implemented for the movement ofpeople between 1949 and 1954, in 1956, regulation of the movement of rural people to cities began. This was
because, as a new republic, the country was poor and there was a shortage of food, according to Ma. Facilities
were also limited in the cities. The government at that time also decided to centralize industries in order tocompete with capitalist countries.
In 1958, the Hukou system was promulgated to control the movement of people between rural and urban
areas. This system also created two classes of citizens: urban workers and rural workers. Urban citizens enjoyeda lot of benefits from the government, including housing and other social benefits. Rural people were seen as
self-sufficient and were excluded from government benefits since they were seen primarily as providers of foodgrains, raw materials, and labor for the industrial sector. In the early 1980s, many rural people came to cities
to look for work. Many of these rural migrants took on the low-skilled jobs that urban people did not want.
Aside from lacking the benefits that their urban counterparts enjoyed, they also experienced discriminationfrom these urban dwellers. The biggest problem that these migrant workers faced was that their children were
not accepted into schools in cities and thus had to be left to study in their hometowns, under the care of their
grandparents.
Ma stated that there is debate on whether to abolish the Hukou system. While small cities or those cities
with populations of 100,000 tend to be open to abolishing the system, large cities or those with populations ofover a million are not keen on abolishing the Hukou system.

63
Page

Bangladesh
TANVIR MOKAMMEL

T

anvir Mokammel began his report with a short history of Bangladesh. Bangladesh had been part ofPakistan and was known as East Pakistan before it gained independence in 1971. Bangladesh has a historyof more than a two thousand years of civilization. Most of its population are Muslims, 85% comprised ofSunni Muslims (although there is a small percentage of Shi’ite Muslims as well), 13% are Hindus, and the rest
2% are Buddhists, Christians or animists.
Bangladesh is a densely populated country with more than 150 million people occupying approximately
56,000 square miles of land. Much of the country is a flat delta land with some hilly regions in the northbordering India and in the east bordering Myanmar. There are more than 230 rivers in Bangladesh which arevital to the economy and culture of the country.With 80% of its population being farmers, Bangladesh is essentially an agricultural country with rice being the main product. People involved in off-farm works are mostly
engaged in fishing or in different cottage industries.The country’s main cash crops are jute and tea. Despite thelarge agricultural population of Bangladesh, almost 60% of the farmers do not own any land. Landlessness is aperennial problem in this land-hungry country. Most of the agriculture is still manual.
Mokammel said that due to lack of minerals in Bangladesh, the country never really had any major industry.
Another reason for the lack of industrialization is due to the fact that the country does not produce enough electricity
to sustain industries. Bangladesh once had a large jute industry, but at present the main industrial product is the readymade garments, often sewn in sweat-shop factories, where cheap labor is employed. Most of the workers are women
who work for very meagre wages.These garment factories are the country’s main source of foreign currency income.
The second biggest source of money is the remittance sent by the seven million Bangladeshis working abroad.
Politically speaking, Mokammel said, the Bangladeshi constitution drafted in 1972 after the country became
independent, was quite democratic, secular, and forward-looking. Unfortunately, since 1975, there have beena series of right-wing coup d’états, and the country has shifted more towards right, and has taken an Islamic
stance. Bangladesh has hence become more Islamist than secular, thus undermining the positive features of
the 1972 constitution. Moreover, soon after gaining independence, Bangladesh has been under military andquasi-military rules for more than two decades. Thus democratic institutions have not been able to thrive. At
present, Bangladesh is a nascent democracy with a bi-partisan parliamentary government.
With regard to the media, Mokammel says that the print media enjoys more freedom than the electronic
media, as the latter is dependent on the government for its licenses. As for the judiciary, it used to face problems
in terms of independence because the government always tried to control it. However at present, the judiciaryenjoys relatively more freedom as the government has initiated the process of separating the judiciary from theexecutive wing of the government.
The country has its share of problems, but the main problem currently for Bangladesh is her lack ofinfrastructure. Bangladesh is also prone to frequent and devastating floods. Corruption is another major problem
in Bangladesh. Mokammel noted that corruption in Bangladesh is a serious developmental hindrance now
rather than being a moral issue only. Another problem is the lack of political will and vision of the leaders. The
issue of human rights is also problematic, as the democratic institutions often do not function properly.
Despite its economic limitations, Mokammel sees potential for Bangladesh. The country has more than 4,000
NGOs mostly involved in micro-credit which have helped in reduction of poverty at the grass-root levels. He also
added that the homogeneity of the country can also be a positive characteristic in terms of the country’s potential
as it helps Bangladesh to stay free from ethnic and regional conflict-issues, unlike some other countries of the
Indian sub-continent. In the socio-economic indexes the curves of Bangladesh are positive and upward, and thecountry is in a pre-take off stage and one hopes that the huge potentiality of the country will be unleashed soon.

64
Page

Domestic Realities and Global Engagements:
Dynamic Tensions Confronting the PhilippinesJENNIFER SANTIAGO ORETA

J

ennifer Santiago Oreta began her report with a description of the geographical location and territory of
the Philippines. The Philippines was under Spanish colonial rule for more than 300 years and then under
American control for around 50 years. Mostly of Malay origin, the Filipinos are predominantly Christian,with approximately 85% of the population Catholic, and about 5%, Muslim. The national language, Filipino, isbased on the Tagalog language, which is the language of the ruling class spoken in the capital. English is usedas the language of instruction in schools. Education in the Philippines is based on the American educational
system, with six years of primary education and four years of secondary education. Though there are statecolleges and universities, most of the colleges and universities in the country are privately owned.
Oreta then provided a short outline of the country’s more recent history, highlighting the martial law yearsof the Marcos dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in 1986 under Aquino through a “people power”
revolution. In 2001, there were two uprisings—a successful one in January to topple the then president Estrada,
and another in May, with efforts to reinstate him, which failed. In 2005, a wiretapped conversation during the2004 elections between incumbent president Arroyo and an election official was made public, since when thelegitimacy of the current presidency has been an issue. This is the context of the present report.
Currently, one in every ten Filipinos lives outside the country, and the Philippines benefits from labor exportationand the remittances of these workers to their families.According to 2006 estimates, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)
remitted around one billion pesos each month. Quoting 2006 statistics, Oreta said that an average of 800 Filipinos
leave the country every day.There has been an ongoing trend towards the feminization of labor, as most OFWs are
women. Oreta stated that this has an “educating” effect on these workers as well as on the families they leave behind,as these workers are exposed to new political and economic systems as well as to other cultures. At the national level,
remittances sent by these OFWs have kept the country’s economy afloat despite the worldwide recession.
Meanwhile, Oreta said that the drivers of tradition and continuity in the Philippines are social institutions, thechurch, educational institutions, and the community. At present, there is a concerted effort between the church andacademic institutions to spread what is Filipino and Asian, as well as Filipino values and identity. This simultaneously mirrors the duality of development. On the one hand are urban centers that are modern and cosmopolitan
and on the other hand are areas that remain rural and traditional. Thus, there is continuing tension between theforces of globalization (toward modernization) and those of tradition. Oreta believes that the state is in the best
position to bridge the gap between globalization and tradition.This dynamic tension however, according to Oreta,puts a lot of pressure on the state to strengthen the national identity of the country while welcoming the challenges
of globalization. The best way for the state to address these pressures is to engage in reform measures that will aid
and strengthen the pride of the Filipino people and address and welcome the challenges posed by external forces.
Oreta then noted that more than half of the population (53%) sees itself as poor, according to a national
survey in 2007. She then added that political violence is related to access to basic services because this lackof access actually drives people to rebel or to resort to political violence. In connection to this, many people
surveyed said that the government should spend more on basic services. Oreta then shared some statistical dataon Filipinos’ perceptions of democracy and government.
Oreta ended her report by explaining the current conflict between the Philippine government, the Muslims,
and the communist insurgency groups. She sees this conflict and these threatening groups as impinging onsocial cohesion in the country. The conflict further radicalizes the relationship between the Muslim minority
and the Christian majority. The state either can be the solution to the problem or can exacerbate the tension.
The best solution is to make the democratic system work and to let the people feel that they are relevant.
Participation makes the people feel more committed to the system and thus helps prevent corrupt practices.

65
Page

A Wanderer’s Thoughts on Malaysia
ANDREW K.L. SOH

Having been away from Malaysia for 12 years—in Singapore for 2 years and Manila for 10 years—
Andrew K.L. Soh stated that his country report would be more of ruminations on certain issues regarding
Malaysia’s history and society. Malaysia is made up of 13 states and has a federal constitutional government. Each state has an executive state government. The parliament is composed of the Senate and the Houseof Representatives. Elections are held every five years. Malaysia follows a system of elective monarchy, bywhich its king or Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected through a five-year rotation from among the nine rulersof the Malay states. The government is sustained by the Barisan Nasional or National Front of Malaysia, which
consists of around 14 parties headed by the United Malays National Organization. Formed in 1973, it has been
the country’s ruling coalition since independence. The main parties of the coalition are divided along ethnic
groups; which is said to be why Malaysia remains divided among ethnic and racial lines. Soh stated that this canbe traced to British colonial times, when different ethnic groups were kept apart.
Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multi-ethnic country made up of Malays, Chinese, Indians,
and other groups. Malaysia is predominantly Muslim, with Islam as its official religion, although a variety ofother religious beliefs and groups exist in the country. Soh explained the concept of Bumiputra, which can betranslated as “son of the land/earth” (bumi means earth/soil, putra means son). Bumiputra largely refers to the
Malay group and excludes other groups, especially in terms of economic and political policies and business
opportunities that favor the Malays. Soh also said that the schools and universities in Malaysia follow the quota
system wherein Malays are given preference, in public service and scholarships for instance, over other groups.
Soh then talked about an incident in 1987 in which the government arrested 106 persons, including membersof opposition political parties and social movements, and in which four newspapers were shut down to stifle
dissent.This was under the provision of the Internal Security Act, a leftover from the time of British rule, whichallowed warrantless arrests. One of the catalysts of this was opposition to the Education Ministry’s revamp of
the education system, where non-Chinese-trained teachers were assigned as headmasters of Chinese schools.
This, of course, led to a protest from the Dong Jiao Zong (Chinese educationists), which caused the government
to react and crackdown on the protesters.
Mahathir Mohamad, the longest-serving prime minister of Malaysia, is credited with the country’s rapid
modernization as well as with the legacy of infrastructure and public works he has left behind. He is also
known as an outspoken critic of the West and its policies. Soh talked about how Malaysia was able to recoverfrom the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis through the policies that Mahathir adopted, as well as from the scandal
and charges of sexual harassment that led to the ousting of then Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister
Anwar Ibrahim.
Although Malaysia presents itself as a united country that is “truly” Asian, the reality is far from this, as ethnic
tensions and racial divides persist beneath the veneer of unity. Until recently, intermarriages—between Malays
and Chinese or other non- Malays—were frowned upon, Soh added. This racial tension is also felt during
elections.
Soh finally spoke about the educational system in Malaysia and the current educational atmosphere in the
country. Based on the British system of education, Malaysia aims to be a regional educational hub, especially foruniversity education; as a result, more courses are now being offered in English. Soh, however, laments the factthat tertiary education in Malaysia focuses on the development of specialized professional knowledge but does
not make much of an effort to include courses that emphasize a more holistic education of students.

66
Page

Seminars by Resource Persons
Johanna O. Zulueta, Rapporteur, ALFP 2009Kabuki
NAKAMURA KYOZO
Kabuki ActorM

r. Nakamura Kyozo, a Kabuki actor, gave a talk on Kabuki—a traditional Japanese performance art.
As part of the Japan Foundation’s program to introduce Japanese culture overseas, which began in 1998,
Mr. Nakamura has visited several countries around the world to give lectures on this popular Japanesetheater form, which developed during the Edo period (1603–1868) in pre-modern Japan. Mr. Nakamura wastrained as a Kabuki actor at the training school attached to the National Theatre.
Mr. Nakamura began his lecture with a short history of Kabuki, which dates back to Kyoto in 1603. The
originator was a lady named Okuni. She was widely known as Okuni of Izumo because she was originallyfrom Izumo, which is in the present-day Shimane Prefecture. Dressed like a man, Okuni was said to have performed sacred dances that became the origin of Kabuki as it is known today. Kabuki is mainly characterized bydance and song, which is the literal meaning of Kabuki when written in Chinese characters—歌舞伎—“ka”(歌) meaning music, “bu,” represented by the character mai (舞), meaning dance, and “ki” (伎) meaning skill.
Mr. Nakamura, however, pointed out that Kabuki has another meaning, based on the word “kabuku,” whichmeans “to lean” as well as to be “out of the ordinary.” Okuni was regarded as someone who was “Kabuki,” or“out of the ordinary,” because she dressed as a man, which was then considered to be “out of the ordinary.”
Hence, Kabuki was regarded as an avant-garde art form at the time. Mr. Nakamura explained that the dance
element of Kabuki was based on Noh, a theater form born in the Muromachi period. The shamisen, the threestringed instrument said to be based on the Ryukyuan jamisen, also played a big role in the development of
Kabuki.
While Kabuki is now performed only by males, it originally was female-only theater, or Onna Kabuki,
which then developed into Wakashu Kabuki (or Kabuki performed by adolescent males) before developing
into its current form, the Yarou Kabuki or the male-only Kabuki. Kabuki actors are usually divided into twogroups—those who play male roles, or the tachiyaku, and those who take on female roles, or the onnagata.Whileit cannot be denied that various theater forms, especially those in other cultures, also have male actors performing female roles, Mr. Nakamura emphasized that Kabuki is different in the sense that the onnagata roles are
passed from one generation to the next. The onnagata is not a mere imitation of a woman; rather, through thisrole, an abstract, symbolic portrayal of the female is achieved.
As an onnagata player, Mr. Nakamura demonstrated and explained how one would act out female roles in
Kabuki. Chest movement is important when playing a young woman, as a woman feels with her chest. In portraying female emotions, laughter and cries are stifled to indicate shyness. Mr. Nakamura then acted out part ofthe play, Fuji Musume (Wisteria Maiden), entitled “Fuji Ondo,” which depicts a young girl who is the spirit ofa wisteria. She has drunk sake (Japanese rice wine), gotten drunk, and while dancing and playing with wisteria,thought of the man she loves.
In conclusion, Mr. Nakamura told the fellows that at least five to ten years are needed in order to masterthe skills of Kabuki acting, although, in reality, mastery of the craft takes a lifetime. He sees himself continuingwith the craft well into the future, as he considers it not just a performing art but a culture as well. In the past
25 years, significant changes such as the development of new Kabuki genres and collaborative work between
Kabuki actors and contemporary playwrights have taken place in this theater form, in keeping with contemporary changes in society. However, when asked if he sees the day when females will be on the same stage
performing Kabuki, Mr. Nakamura answered in the negative, and smilingly added that females as part of the
Kabuki ensemble would mean that onnagata players like him would probably lose their roles.

69
Page

Sun-based Economy Changes the WorldYAMAZAKI YASUYO
President, Sun-Based Economy AssociationM

r.YamazakiYasuyo, President of the Sun-Based Economy Association, gave a talk on the use of solar energy
as an alternative energy source in combating the continuing effects of global warming. Mr. Yamazaki
worked for 20 years in the financial sector and has 8 years of work experience at Goldman Sachs. He
quit Goldman Sachs in 2002 and went into work related to public policy. In 2003, he made a proposal to theincumbent government to make Japan’s highway system toll-free, as doing so would reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. In addition to this, he has also proposed to change the current pension system.
Mr.Yamazaki began his presentation with a short history of Japan’s economic growth and pointed out thatin the 23 years after the war, Japan became the second largest economy (in terms of GDP) in the world. Thiseconomic growth was accompanied by the movement of people into urban areas; after the war, 75% of the
population was living in the cities. Japan’s economic growth also saw the development of Japan’s transportation
system and the invention of the bullet train in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics. The transportation and highway
system of the country was partly financed by the United States through the World Bank.
Between the 1950s and the 1960s, the Japanese government decided to shift from a coal-based economy
to a petroleum-based economy, thereby propelling Japan’s economic growth during this period. Also, income
disparity that had been prevalent during the war was reduced; hence, in the 1980s, 90% of Japanese consideredthemselves to be middle-class. It was also during these postwar years that the United States saw Japan as a strong
economic partner.
Mr. Yamazaki then went on to provide a short history of petroleum-based economies in the world.
In the twentieth century, America was the dominant producer of oil and was credited for the development of
petroleum-based technology, as well as technology and industries that consume oil, such as cars and airplanes.
Hence, during the twentieth century, the United States was an important player in the world economy due toits petroleum-based economy.
Within the past century, the human population has grown dramatically and human life expectancy in Japan
has increased to 84 years for females and 78 years for males. Mr. Yamazaki emphasized the fact that this phenomenon is not only true for Japan but also for the entire world. The world’s population is expected to reachnine billion in 2050. With this growth in mind, Mr.Yamazaki then asked whether the current supply of energy
was enough to meet human needs.
Currently, there is a shortage of energy as well as of food and water; this, along with environmental deterioration and global warming, puts humanity in great danger. Mr. Yamazaki added that a petroleum-based
economy is not sustainable in the long term and that people therefore need to look for alternative sources ofenergy. Dependence on petroleum and other carbon-based sources of energy will further increase CO2 emissions, which will add to the current problem of global warming. Nuclear power as an alternative energy source
is not feasible because, aside from the effects of radiation, uranium reserves can be depleted in 80 years.
Thus, Mr. Yamazaki proposes the creation of a sun-based economy, in which sunshine provides all humanbeings with sufficient energy, food, and water all year around.The sun, after all, is an abundant source of energy
and is free, as compared to carbon-based sources of energy such as oil, wherein the more they are used, themore expensive they become. The amount of radiation the sun emits in an hour is equivalent to the amountof energy human beings consume in a year. Aside from the fact that sunlight can be found anywhere on earth,unlike carbon, which is found only in specific areas, solar energy has been present on earth for the last fivebillion years (whereas carbon-based energy was only said to have been present in the last 30 years). Moreover,solar energy, according to Mr.Yamazaki, is sustainable, since every country has the potential to create a sun-based
economy. However, his proposal for the development of a sun-based economy has some limitations and faces

70
Page

Sun-based Economy Changes the Worldcertain challenges. For one, financial and technological limitations pose a challenge to the development of thistype of economy, especially in developing countries.The geographical location of some countries as well as thepeople’s commitment to the system could also pose challenges. Nevertheless, Mr.Yamazaki remains optimistic
about the prospect of a sun-based economy in the near future.
Mr.Yamazaki also introduced the Japanese concept of “mottainai,” an expression that points to the feelingsof regret at not having utilized something and allowing it to go to waste, thus symbolizing recycling, re-using,and saving. He also said that “helping each other” is crucial, especially in this age of capitalism, where markets
and the “winner takes all” mentality prevail. “Helping each other” needs to implemented on a global scale fora sun-based economy to be successful and sustainable in an atmosphere of cooperation.

71
Page

Cultural Activism in the Democratization of Society
TANVIR MOKAMMELALFP 2009 Fellow

Tanvir Mokammel first became involved in cultural activism when he was in university and has remained
involved for the past 25 years.Whether one likes it or not, according to Mokammel, cultural activism usuallytranslates into political activism. The two main threats to Bangladeshi democratization are military dictatorship (including quasi-military rule) and religious fundamentalism, which is not limited to Islamic fundamentalism.
Cultural activism for political democratization takes on different forms and differs from culture to culture.
It may be in the form of theater, art, poetry, or films and documentaries, including alternative cinema. In
Bangladesh, theater has played a significant role in the democratic struggle of its people. Theater, be it political,
street, or art, has proved to be an efficient tool for this purpose, and dialogues loaded with double entendre
raise awareness of the current social and political situation in the country. As theater is considered an art, thegovernment cannot ban it. Theater plays a role in helping people challenge the current establishment. Poetry is
also an effective tool for cultural activism, as it can win the hearts of the people.
In this regard, Mokammel believes that well-researched documentary films can be powerful tools for culturalactivism, too. Speaking from his own experience, Mokammel said that it is not only the government that cancreate problems for cultural activism but also several outside forces, such as Islamic groups. However, people
respond positively to films and the messages are embedded in them. The media and technology that are available at present should also be utilized to achieve the goals of cultural activists. Mokammel finds new media andsocial networking sites, including Facebook, very helpful in the struggle for democratic vision, as they encourage the participation of the young generation in political activities.
In any kind of cultural activism, there emerges the question of cultural identity, especially in terms of language,
because language plays an important role in the question of cultural identity, particularly in the case of Bangladesh.
Language has been a contested issue in the struggle for independence in Bangladesh, where the Urdu language
was imposed on the country by Pakistan. Language has since then been the core of national identity. In connection
with the discourse on the role of language in forming cultural identity, Mokammel mentioned the need for thekind of activism that is rooted in the people. Cultural activists should speak to the people in their own language.
Mokammel then asked which and whose culture is represented by such activism. The continuing presenceof folk culture in agricultural societies should not be taken for granted. In light of this view, the role of religion
and religious organizations in the process of political democratization should be carefully studied. Educationthat is not for degrees but for enlightenment also plays a crucial part in this particular kind of activism.
Mere affluence is not enough to make a complete human being or to develop a real human resource,
according to Mokammel. The problem, however, is that most of the NGOs in Bangladesh place too muchemphasis on economic activities such as micro-credit (owing to the success of the Grameen Bank), and thus
have a tendency to neglect cultural issues. Mokammel strongly believes that it is only through cultural activities
that a human resource can be developed. He maintains that the main aim of cultural activism is not to unseat a
dictator or remove a politician from power.The main goal of cultural activism is to make human beings worthyof the name “man.” It has to unleash the potential of the “human gem.” He further emphasized that culture is
the aim of cultural activism; politics is only a means to achieve it.
Mokammel then screened his film, Teardrops of Karnaphuli, which highlights the plight of the tribal peopleof the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), which is situated in southeast Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar and India.
Historically, these tribes had trans-border relations with Burma.The area is said to be the most backward region
in Bangladesh; with the construction of a dam in the early 1960s, all the arable land in this area was flooded,
and many people were left homeless. Karnaphuli is a river in the CHT. Karnaphuli, which is made up of twowords, karna (ear) and phuli (flower), means earrings. The film was shot in 2001.

72
Page

The Reality of the Poverty Problem in JapanYUASA MAKOTO
Secretary General, NPO Moyai

M

r. Yuasa Makoto has been involved in the poverty problem in Japan for several years.The poverty problem
in Japan was exacerbated by the global financial crisis that was caused by the Lehman Shock in 2008;
Mr. Yuasa said that the number of people visiting the NPO Moyai (independent life support center)has recently increased, and possibly even tripled, with 40–50 people visiting the center at a time. Moyai also
assists the homeless people within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area by bringing them food; these occasions havealso increased two- to three-fold. Mr.Yuasa, however, stated that this problem existed even before the Lehman
Shock. He believes that the main cause of poverty in Japan is the shift in the redistribution of the economy.
Despite Japan having posted two to three percent growth in 2002–2007, poverty has continued to exist.
Japan enjoyed high economic growth in the 1960s, when people led affluent lives. This was partly due tothe fact that Japan’s neighboring countries were less affluent and provided cheap raw materials to Japan. Theseraw materials were then processed in Japanese factories and were exported to the United States and Europe.
This was a “catch-up” type of economy, in which Japan tried to “catch-up” with Western nations. Currently,
Japan is in a position where the Newly Industrialized Economies (NIES), Brazil, Russia, and other countries
are trying to catch up with Japan. Mr.Yuasa stated that the Japanese economy had reached a stalemate and thatit has no model to follow anymore.
The Liberal Democratic Party, or the LDP, which dominated the political arena for 50 years after the War,
had devoted most of its funds to public works and has injected a lot of money into the private sector andconstruction-related companies. It was believed that economic growth would boost everyone’s livelihood.
However, since the 1990s, this system has broken down and has led to cuts in welfare subsidies. Mr. Yuasa
then said that this was why people voted for a change in government and for the Democratic Party of Japan(DPJ). In contrast to the LDP’s policies, the DPJ is directly injecting money into households—for instance, by
providing children’s allowance and free tuition for high schools—to increase the disposable income of households. The DPJ believes that it can rebuild the Japanese economy in this way. The DPJ is very critical of thebureaucracy and how it handled economic funds during previous administrations. However, Mr.Yuasa claimed
that the DPJ actually wants to make it the responsibility of companies to provide welfare for its employees.
Since the current regime cannot criticize companies at this time, it is blaming the bureaucracy.
In order to keep the DPJ from reaching a stalemate in its policy to directly infuse money into households,
Mr.Yuasa and his group are lobbying for a survey of the poverty situation in Japan in order to grasp the reality.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data states that Japan has a poverty rateof 14.9%, which ranks quite high among OECD countries.The working poor ratio in Japan is at 80%, which ishigher than that of the United States (70%) and that of the OECD average of 63%. Among the working poor
in Japan, 40% actually belong to households with two or more working members, which is twice as high asthat of the United States (20%). This is due to the obvious fact that the status of women in Japanese society islow. Mr.Yuasa stated that this was hardly covered in newspapers and that the government has not done anything
about the problem; as a result, the issue continues to remain invisible to the public. Thus, the NPO is demanding that the government look into the actual figures, conduct a survey, and implement a basic policy to address
the problem.

73
Page

The Role of Education in Forming a Humane Society
ANDREW K.L. SOH
ALFP 2009 Fellow

Andrew K.L. Soh began his talk by stating that education must be of and for the people, especially in theformation of a humane society. When speaking of education for persons, one must first define whata person is. Philosophically speaking, a human being is an embodied subject (subject points to thepsychological-emotional-spiritual aspect, and body points to the physical aspect); education should address
the different needs of the human being as a whole. An education of the person is an education of the spirit
and should allow for a certain kind of rootedness. Moreover, an education of the person is also an educationof the mind, which builds expertise and knowledge. Education should be an education of reflective persons,which leads to an education for persons; this is an education of the heart. It is education that is concerned withsolidarity with others, which include not only humans but also Nature.
Education can be either formal or non-formal. Formal education usually refers to academic education, but
Soh pointed out that we need to focus on non-academic education within the academic. Non-academic education is targeted at the university level, because the kind of training that educators like Soh provide requires
a certain level of maturity, which is usually found in university students. Non-formal education, on the other
hand, points to more community-based education, such as literacy education done outside school as well as
studies on media and arts.
Soh then shared the ideas of Pedro Arrupe, Confucius, and Adolfo Nicolas on education. Pedro Arrupe(1907–1991), the former Superior General of the Society of Jesus, lived at a time when the Catholic Church
was opening up to the world. During this time, the notion of social justice, of which Arrupe was an advocate,
was being taken up by the Church. He believed that an education “should be for social justice and social action”
and that it is necessary to work with others in order to dismantle unjust social structures. Arrupe criticizedJesuit education for its failure to live up to its role of educating people for social justice, and, instead, focusing
on the individual. The challenge today, however, is to move from the individual to the social. Furthermore,education should be a call to conversion that derives from love. To be a person for others, one has to cultivate
three attitudes: to live more simply, not to take unjust profits, and to change unjust structures.
Soh had grown up in the Confucian tradition; he discussed what Confucian education is all about.This kindof education is more of a moral education that focuses on the training of gentlemen. The goal of Confucian
education is to form people who are of noble character. It also places an emphasis on reflection; it was said that
Confucius took the middle ground between studying and reflecting on what one had learned. Soh mentionedthat Immanuel Kant also believed that a certain “reflectiveness” is needed to educate people. Soh then asked:“Does our education allow for and does it foster a kind of reflective learning?”
The third person that Soh talked about is the current Superior of the Society of Jesus, Adolfo Nicolas.
Speaking at the Ateneo de Manila in July 2009, as the university celebrated its 150th year, Nicolas mentioned
the two frontiers of education today: the frontier of depth and the frontier of universality. The former refers
to the need to produce people who can “decide from the inside,” while the latter refers to the “breadth of
belonging”—belonging in the world—within the realities people live in.
Taking off from the three thinkers he mentioned, Soh then talked about the Ateneo’s student-centeredlearning—to form students into life-long learners—which points to a style of teaching that is “participatory,
critical, and creative.” The challenge here is for teachers to become exemplars and facilitators of learning.
The community, including parents, is also a stakeholder in this kind of learning, where the community has tobe an atmosphere for growth. The government, as a stakeholder, should also provide the proper infrastructure
for this kind of education. The question of whether the government should be involved in service-learning

74
Page

The Role of Education in Forming a Humane Society

remains, as service-learning education is mostly conducted in private universities. In Japan, the International
Christian University (ICU) has a similar program. While the service-learning program at ICU is completely
voluntary, the service learning component at the Ateneo is part of particular courses, such as economics anddevelopment studies, which are, for the most part, required courses, although some are voluntary.
In relation to this, Soh talked about the mistaken notion of youth apathy. He believes otherwise and statedthat the youth needs something to believe in and to work for. In relation to this, he mentioned how students
responded to the recent flash floods in Metro Manila and nearby areas, and how the students showed initiative
to be of service to the victims of the disaster. Soh believes that awareness and change are necessary and that
education can bring about this awareness.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION••

The importance of secularization of the educational system.
The role of education in helping students become more responsible for and engaged in the community.

75
Page

Urban Sustainability:
Governmental and Artistic Perspectives
MARCO KUSUMAWIJAYAALFP 2009 Fellow

HORIUCHI MASAHIRO
Professor, Tama Art UniversityT

he co-speaker at Marco Kusumawijaya’s seminar on urban sustainability was a professor of architecture at Tama Art University, Horiuchi Masahiro, who has also worked as a city planner for 10 years.
Kusumawijaya’s presentation focused on the possible ways in which civil society can contribute to thedevelopment of a sustainable city. Needless to say, structural changes are important, but changes should occur
within oneself, according to Kusumawijaya. There is a need for people to change their consumption patterns;
in order to achieve this, we need democracy that accommodates diversity. He then elaborated on the role of
the arts in promoting this development.
Kusumawijaya said that he has some doubts about the efficacy and sufficiency (as well as limitations) of modern institutions, particularly in education, health, democracy, and response to emergency disaster. He added thatthe state and market mechanism seem to fail people. The state has become more and more independent anddistanced from the people instead of representing fully the collective capacity people may have and accommodating their diverse natures and needs.The problem at the moment, he emphasized, is that people have become
dependent on the state, market, and other institutions for their collective needs to the extent that they are losing
their capacity as original authentic agents, both as individuals and communities. Kusumawijaya believes thatpeople are beginning to realize the need to reclaim that capacity.Yet, it does not mean that people can or should
be totally independent of the market and political sphere; this is an issue of negotiated space in terms of how
much they can do without being very dependent on markets and the political system, Kusumawijaya further
emphasized. If people strengthen their civil society, they will be more in control of the state and market.
People can become agents of change, and these changes may mean returning to good old habits that arepotentially embarrassing because of the shift to an urban lifestyle. These good old practices include handwashing clothes, planting vegetables in one’s own yard, walking and biking to work, and shopping at farmers’ markets. Such practices may have disappeared once, but they are now being revitalized by people. Kusumawijaya
mentioned, in particular, the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize awardee Yuyun Ismawati who introduced
sustainable community-based waste and sanitation management in Bali.
We cannot say that economic growth is wasteful in nature, Kusumawijaya pointed out. However, the question is how to make growth sustainable, especially in cities. There are many initiatives from various sectors andindividuals, including intellectuals, artists, and grassroots organizations, on how to change the world. What isneeded, however, is to bring about change before global warming takes its toll.

PRESENTATION BY HORIUCHI MASAHIRO
Mr. Horiuchi began his short talk by claiming that the role of the media is important in making people awareof certain environmental issues.With this, he handed out copies of a “green map” that was initiated by a citizens’
movement. The green map project promotes local participation in sustainable development using map-making
as a medium. These maps are also helpful guides for locals and tourists. He said that less than one percent ofpeople are aware of the problem of climate change, and he wants to make people fully aware of the problem
and motivated to do something to address it.
Mr. Horiuchi also talked about seeking alternatives to address the issue of climate change. One example isthe use of bicycles: he believes that cycling in Tokyo can be an alternative to driving around Tokyo streets andis, of course, environmentally sound. In line with this, he talked about the cycling map—the Tokyo bicycle
green map—that he created and made available online. The map recommends various routes that cyclists can

76
Page

Urban Sustainability: Governmental and Artistic Perspectives

use to travel easily around Tokyo. Mr. Horiuchi then went on to say that ordinary people have to realize and beaware of what is going on in their neighborhood. He emphasized the role of the media in conveying necessary
information to ordinary people.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION••••

How crucial it is for environmentalists to be politically active and engage the government.
The problem of the shift from natural transport to nonnatural transport in developing countries all over theworld, and how it has to do with the perception of modernity in developing countries as well as with urban
expansion into suburbs.
The responsibility of developed countries toward global warming.
The role of new technologies in leading economic growth that is people- and environment- friendly inthe long term.

77
Page

Third Wave in Japan
FUJIWARA KIICHI
Professor, University of Tokyo

A

ccording to Professor Fujiwara Kiichi, there is a lot of anxiety, as well as hope, for the new Japaneseadministration, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio. The new government is now
ruled by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), instead of the well-known Liberal Democratic Party(LDP), which had been in power for almost 60 years. There have been, however, occasions on which the
LDP was unseated as the ruling party in previous elections. Hatoyama’s DPJ won 308 seats (joined by three
independents) out of a total of 480 in the lower house, which is by far the largest number of seats won by any
political party in post-war Japan.
Professor Fujiwara believes that the new DPJ government will remain in power for at least four years andthat, in this period, the DPJ will form a budget for the government while the LDP becomes less influential inbudget-making. The big question, however, is whether the DPJ will be able to sustain its momentum if it loses
opportunities and support in the future.With this in mind, Professor Fujiwara said that the DPJ will try to stick
to power as they know that they may lose in the next election.
Before elaborating on Japanese politics, Professor Fujiwara discussed the two basic interests of Japan’s foreign
policy since World War II. One is the government’s security policy, which depends on the United States interms of national defense; the other is the policy on trade and commerce, which focuses on the Asian market.
Professor Fujiwara said that while the United States is involved in Japan’s foreign policy, this involvement is
not enough to support Japan’s economy; hence, access to Asian markets—especially to China—is essential for
Japan’s survival. However, whenever there is more focus on trade, the (security) alliance with the United States
becomes more unstable.This is for the simple reason that the expanding Japanese economy makes it difficult tomaintain the status quo between Japan and the United States. Professor Fujiwara then gave a brief outline of theeconomic and security issues in Japan’s recent, post-war history. He mentioned that, since 1994, along withthe current developments in the global security arena (especially around the Middle East and North Korea),
there has been a shift in Japan’s foreign policy towards more emphasis on security.
Returning to his discussion on Japanese domestic politics, Professor Fujiwara said that the LDP is actually a
coalition of small conservative political parties that are determined to remain in power. In comparison to othergovernments, Japan has the so-called multiple member district system, which prevents the government frombeing controlled by one strong party. This system is akin to proportional representation. It ensures that the small
conservative parties, called factions, inside the LDP maintain integrity. To ensure their success, candidates cannot
rely on the LDP itself, but on the factions within the LDP. It is these small conservative parties that decide thegovernment’s budget, and its distribution. Professor Fujiwara calls this a “government party regime,” wherein theparty (LDP) becomes so closely associated with the government that the opposition forces do not have the power
to contend against the ruling party in the elections. Despite this system, there is a chance that the opposition party
may win more than a third of the seats in parliament. This is why the constitutional amendment is important inJapanese politics. Professor Fujiwara believes that the only way that any non-LDP opposition party could win isby boycotting the amendment of the constitution that requires a two-third majority rule in parliament.
In 1994, the electoral law was changed to a combination of a single vote and proportional representation
system. This, however, did not signify a change in parliament, as LDP candidates who did not win through thesingle vote system won through proportional representation.
Nevertheless, Professor Fujiwara is not optimistic about the future of the DPJ, and said that the party might
fail to sustain its momentum. This is because the DPJ promised to create a welfare state in the current failing
economy despite a bankrupt national budget. Professor Fujiwara believes, however, that the DPJ will win amajority of the upper house seats in the coming upper house elections.

78
Page

Dialogues for Peace and Youth Cooperation
IQBAL HAIDER BUTTALFP 2009 Fellow

I

qbal Haider Butt stated that the organized youth is more likely to turn violent than to resort to procedural
activism if mutual cooperation and connections for the common good are not available. He then posed several
questions that he attempted to answer in his study. Why does youth activism take place? What are the driving
forces and contexts of youth activism? How can we decipher the changing factors (of youth activism) over time?
Adopting the framework for democratic activism created by political scientist Pippa Norris, Butt outlined
the three levels of democratic activism: the macro-level points to societal modernization (i.e., the level of socioeconomic development) and the structure of the state; the meso-level refers to mobilizing agencies, including
churches, unions, and political parties; and the micro-level is the recruitment level. Butt pointed out that at
the micro-level, political activism takes place through the resources available to certain people and the politicalincentives given to individuals. Motivations such as political interest, trust, and values also play a role in politicalactivism. Studying the micro-level is useful in understanding the natural activist.
In an authoritative regime with political parties, different political actors tend to have proxy wars.The youth
is the best candidate in these proxy wars. Street power is demonstrated through the youth, or students. Student
politics is a tool of political communication for mainstream parties and actors, Butt stated. In the educational
structure (especially colonial education) in Pakistan, however, the multi-stakeholder concept is new, and thelack of academic freedom aggravates the situation.
Butt also mentioned that, in Pakistan, political parties and student organizations have thrived in the structural vacuum within campuses. The student-development role at educational institutions, as expressed in nonacademic programs, has been appropriated by political organizations.
In response to this, Butt and his organization initiated a program called “Peace and Youth Cooperation.”
Peace activism was mostly about state issues, such as the Pakistan-India issue, but he believes that even within
campuses, there is a need to institute societies and organizations that facilitate youth cooperation. Butt also
enumerated the milestones and various activities related to youth cooperation held in the past few years.
In this regard, Butt hopes for the empowerment of ordinary students in the future. He also hopes for more
multi-stakeholder consultations, room for greater acceptance for civil society, public-private partnership in
institutions, as well as national reconciliation in the near future.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION
•
•
•
•
•

The complexity of the issues regarding youth apathy and student politics in Pakistan—how it is not simply
the matter of students being uninterested in politics.
The lack of national level of student organizations and the issues of students being always affiliated with
political parties.
The importance of listening to the voices of ordinary students: many expressed in the survey conducted by
Butt that they would welcome the revival of student unions but want a regulatory mechanism, especiallyfor the control of violence, and also include women in the process.
Positive changes that could be brought about by influence(s) at the international level, as the Obama
campaign in the United States (which was able to mobilize youth voters) inspired a lot of young people inother countries.
The power of youth particularly in a country like Pakistan where the number of youth is so high that intheory, a group that can mobilize 50% of youth voters will be the majority.

79
Page

Social Responsibility in (Realizing) a Humane Society
KURODA KAORI AND MA JIFANG
ALFP 2009 Fellow

ALLEN CHOATE
Vice President, Asia FoundationM

r. Allen Choate, the vice-president of the Japan office of the Asia Foundation, joined Kuroda Kaori and
Ma Jifang for a discussion on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Asia, with specific reference toChina.
Ma talked about the work being carried out by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a multi-stakeholder organization. Briefly reviewing the points she raised in her previous presentation on CSR in China, she said that
CSR is a result of globalization, which has brought capital as well as labor issues to developing countries. CSR
addresses the issue of labor rights in these countries, as well as issues such as sustainable development.The CSR
initiative has been taken up by multi-national companies; it requires the implementation of an international
code of conduct, the promotion of the CSR certification system, and the provision of training and capacitybuilding programs to the supply chain and factories. The history of CSR in China, meanwhile, can be traced
from passive, through forced, to active implementation.
The FLA is a non-profit, voluntary-membership organization that was founded in 1999. Among its members are Nike and Adidas; Levi’s was a member but has recently withdrawn its membership, Ma mentioned.
The FLA started out as a roundtable initiative by Bill Clinton in 1996. Its mission is to promote adherence
to international labor standards by combining the efforts of industry, civil society, colleges, and universities toprotect workers’ rights and to improve working conditions worldwide.
The FLA has three groups of participants: 1) industries and companies; 2) the consumer movement, whichmainly includes students from colleges and universities; and 3) NGOs and trade unions. The FLA code of conduct is based on ILO (International Labor Organization) standards and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Ma said that when a company joins the FLA, it has to follow the obligations stipulated by the association: 1) adopt and communicate the code of conduct; 2) train internal compliance staff; 3) provide workers withconfidential reporting channels; 4) conduct internal monitoring; 5) submit to independent external monitoring; 6) remediate non-compliance issues in a timely manner; 7) take steps to prevent persistent non-compliance;and 8) consult with civil society.
The FLA shifted its model from a policing one to a partnership and capacity-building relationship between
factory and brand.The focus right now is on sustainable change, the building of local capacity, and the increased
participation of NGOs, trade unions, and government.
Ma mentioned some of the challenges that the FLA is facing. Freedom of association is a problem in China,
for instance, since Chinese law stipulates that only one union is allowed to function, which is under the government’s control. Also, CSR work is only limited to large, export-oriented enterprises; no national policies
or laws promote CSR practices. Thus, bad companies are not punished and good companies are not rewarded.
The purchasing department in a company is also in conflict with CSR, because although the latter wants highworking conditions, purchasing has more say in the company. The lack in a universal code poses a problem,
Ma continued, as each company has its own code of conduct. Ma added that it has been claimed that 80–90%
of Chinese factories have fake documents.
Adding her views to Ma’s presentation, Kuroda talked about three issues: 1) the Social Accountability 8000
or the SA 8000, which is similar to FLA’s workplace code of conduct; 2) a business case for improving labor
standards, as illustrated by the story of Yin Shi; and 3) survey results on CSR among Japanese companies.
Social Accountability International (SAI) is a non-governmental, international multi-stakeholder organization dedicated to improving workplaces and communities by developing and implementing socially responsive
standards. Launched in 1997, it is based on ILO and UN conventions. The elements of SA 8000 are similar to
FLA’s code of conduct. As of 31 March, 2009, there are close to 2,000 certified facilities throughout the world,

80
Page

Social Responsibility in (Realizing) a Humane Societyin 65 countries and 67 industries. Kuroda added that the apparel and textile industries together account for
one-fourth of certified facilities.
Kuroda then talked about the Yin Shi garments factory in Kaiping City in Guangdong Province, China.
Of its 500 workers, 98% are internal migrants, and over 90% of the factory products are for export, supplying
brands such as Timberland and Michael Kors. In November 2004, 54% of the workers were female, and nearly
half of the workforce was below the age of 25.Yin Shi began to receive social audits in 1998, as Timberland hasa policy for its suppliers to receive social audits.Yin Shi was at first reluctant to be audited.The initial findings ofthe audit revealed that the workers were paid below the legal minimum wage and worked excessively overtime
during peak seasons with high turnover rates.
SAI established a partnership agreement with both Timberland and Yin Shi, and a 12-month long training
program started in early 2004, after negotiations with the factory’s management. This training was conducted
for both managers and workers. One of the outcomes of the training was the improvement of working conditions with a decrease in the turnover rate and an increase in productivity.Timberland was happy with the results
and set up similar training programs with other suppliers.
Kuroda also mentioned some of the challenges faced by the SAI, such as the replicability of training programs,
the impact of standards on the workplace (as there is little evidence for it) and the limitations of social audits,
especially in terms of budget and time. Nevertheless, the SAI and SA 8000 have to overcome these challenges.
In the Japanese context, Kuroda talked about the survey conducted by the committee of the Nippon
Keidanren (the Federation of Economic Organizations) in September 2009 on the behavior and views on
CSR of their affiliated corporate organizations. The survey (in which 437 companies out of the 1,297 polled
responded) showed that companies have various reasons for implementing CSR. One of the questions exploredthe significance of CSR in their companies; respondents were asked to choose three answers that best described
their ideas. The results showed that 39% implemented CSR for risk management, 76% for corporate branding,
68% in response to expectations from stakeholders, 11% as investment for future benefits, 82% to contribute tosustainable development, 5% for employment and maintenance, and so on.
Mr. Allen Choate added his views and comments to both Ma and Kuroda’s presentations, focusing particularly on the Chinese context.With regard to the issue of China’s migrant workforce, Mr. Choate said that there
are probably more than a hundred million of these migrant workers. Migrant workers in China are classified
as such if they are living and working outside the area of their household registration. The system of household registration is called the hukou system, under which the migrant moves out of the area where he or she
is originally registered to work in another location, through registrations. These migrant workers are, however,treated as second-class citizens in the location where they are working, and are not entitled to public services,education, and health. However, there are efforts by the government to change this system.
Regarding the characteristics of civil society in China, Mr. Choate pointed out that the notion of a civilsociety still is ill-defined and restricted. For NGOs to register their activities, they have to undergo a processthat is often difficult, opaque, and sensitive, particularly in the area of supporting labor reform. They need tomake sure that the local authorities are fine with what is instituted in various kinds of labor reforms and supplychain compliance.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION
•
•
•
•
•

Issues of some social auditors in terms of how they only observe the working conditions in the wellfurnished factories and fail to look at the production capability as compared to that of the factories withhorrible working conditions.
The difficulty of monitoring subcontractors with the same standards as full-time employees.
Issues concerning supplier companies that supply to a number of brands simultaneously (while having toeither deal with many codes of conduct or follow the code of conduct created solely by a leading company).
The lack of an independent trade union and workers associations in China.
The question of how far we can depend on international standards, while acknowledging that they are notnecessarily the optimum standard and that the framework (e.g. G20) in which international standards are
set is important in creating effective forms of authority for new, diverse economies.

81
Page

Security Perceptions: Obscuring Visions for Dialogue
JENNIFER SANTIAGO ORETA
ALFP 2009 FellowT

he entire notion of security is socially constructed. It depends on factors that affect how the individual
perceives reality. Jennifer Santiago Oreta said that the broad notion of security, human security, is related
to personal and state safety as well as to access to social services and political processes. While the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that security matters most, especiallyto the poor and to vulnerable groups such as women and children, who suffer disproportionately from crime,
insecurity, and fear, Oreta emphasized that her presentation would focus on the physical security and safety of
individuals. Following this, she defined security as the reduction or absence of threat, or the absence of actual
conditions of physical violence against an individual or a group. Physical violence is understood as being theimminence, the threat, or the actual use of physical force, usually with the intention of injuring or damaging
others or taking away their possessions (such as personal belongings, land, or dignity).
Oreta put forth two arguments in her presentation: 1) the physical security of people should be articulated
as a fundamental right, because if a person’s physical safety is assured, he or she can consider his or her basic ordevelopment needs; and 2) the social construction of security is the very thing that obscures meaningful dialogue. This is because, borrowing from Michel Foucault, the construction of the Other strengthens the deepseated prejudices created and nurtured through generations of structural wrongdoing.
One’s social construction of security depends on how he or she evaluates the situation given. Oreta notedthat there are grey areas and nuances in how safety and danger are perceived; they cannot solely be seen as total
opposites of each other. Moreover, the social construction of security is affected by one’s gender and socialization, as well as by the context and the place one is in. Studies show that more women are concerned with safety,
but in reality more men are victimized than women. Socialization based on gender affects one’s perception of
security.
Malaysia and the Philippines offer interesting insights on the concept of security with regard to both countries’ majority-minority dynamics and how these two countries have conceptualized their security vis-à-vis
the Other, Oreta claimed. In the Philippines, political power is in the hands of the colonized majority, with theminority of its population on the periphery. In Malaysia, on the other hand, the Muslims comprise the majority and dominate the state. Power and conflict dynamics are more observable in the Philippines, where conflictexists between the government and the different threatening groups (i.e., Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro
National Liberation Front, and Abu Sayyaf). The continuing conflict between the government and these Muslim groups can be traced to the perception of persecution and deprivation of the Muslims by the non-Muslims.
This persecution is manifested in the Muslims’ lack of economic opportunities and political access, the failure
to respect Muslim culture and tradition, and the prejudice of non-Muslims.
In Malaysia, on the other hand, conflict is subdued because the minority has been accommodated or
co-opted by the majority. It is actually the majority status of the Malays that is seemingly threatened. They
believe that allowing the minority more concessions will threaten the Malays’ privileged position.
The perception of security by the majority and the minority in both Malaysia and the Philippines is determinedby a confluence of factors both domestic (social memory, conception of place, socialization) and international,
especially with the occurrence of the 9/11 attacks and the demonization of the Muslims by the United States,
which has further worsened the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in both countries.
Meanwhile, in a study that Oreta conducted, respondents stated that security is the concern of the individual
rather than of the community; the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own safety.This individualistic attitude toward security reflects the liberalist bias of modern society, which places the burden of security on
the individual, consequently puts pressure on him or her to secure instruments for defense, and thus stimulates

82
Page

Security Perceptions: Obscuring Visions for Dialogue

the proliferation of arms in the hands of civilians. This then leads to a breakdown of community and social
cohesion, as well as of community authority and leadership.
The beliefs about security—that the state has a monopoly over violence and that one’s security ultimately
rests in one’s hands—perpetuate and impose themselves on every member of society through socialization,
gender, and the concept of place, Oreta reiterated. These are hegemonic beliefs that create boundaries between
permissible and non-permissible actions for everyone. These beliefs are a clear manifestation of a sociallyconstructed power. On the other hand, Oreta said that these beliefs and structures are created by people;
therefore, it is also in the hands of the people to recreate these constructions and concepts.
According to Oreta, the challenge is to understand how power is constructed, distributed, exercised, andhow it limits one’s actions. It is also important for the people to understand the discourse of security in order
to effectively identify the gaps through which they can intervene and challenge the margins.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION••••

The problem of suspicious attitudes of all members of ASEAN towards each other and how they negatively
affect themselves in terms of ensuring the security of Asia.
The importance of having people aware of the origin of the nation-state and the possibility that within
our own societies, there are alternative, sometimes competitive, structures of powers that we need toreconcile.
The challenge in establishing a mechanism in which traditional values and national law coexist in themodern state and democracy can manifest itself.
Differences in the power and the effectiveness of individuals and that of organized groups when trying
to bring about changes, and the importance of having the two sides: the state that is conscious of public
opinion, both local and international, and those who constantly challenge the state.

83
Page

Introduction to CIVICUS:World Alliance for Citizen Participation
IMATA KATSUJI
Deputy Secretary-General, CIVICUS

M

r. Imata Katsuji of CIVICUS began his involvement with the non-profit sector when he was based in
the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s. In 2000, he returned to Tokyo and worked with the CSO(Civil Society Organization) Network Japan; in 2004, he became its co-director. In 2007, he became
involved with CIVICUS, and from October 2007 onward, he has been positioned in the organization’s headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.
CIVICUS, established in North America in 1993, focuses on strengthening civil society through the promotion of the so-called 3 Es: civic existence, civic expression, and civic engagement. The organization started as acollection of individuals from North American foundations who felt a need to globally convene different civilsociety organizations. Despite its North American origins, CIVICUS is now known as a Global South entity,
which identifies itself as an “international alliance of civil society organizations” rather than an international
NGO. CIVICUS boasts a global membership alliance from 110 countries. Working more as an intermediary,
CIVICUS works in partnership with other organizations in other countries in order to meet their objectives,protect the rights of civil society actors, and strengthen good practices within civil society as well as their ability to influence policies. Mr. Imata believes that the goal of CIVICUS is to play a convening role in the global
civil society space.
Mr. Imata then talked about five observations and issues related to civil society around the globe. He said
that there is much more attention given to the issue of rights (human, economic, social, cultural) by NGOs
nowadays. However, he observes that the civil society space is under threat and that there are more restrictions on civil society’s activities around the globe. CIVICUS works with local and international NGOs toraise concern for issues of civil society and NGOs. The second issue is the accountability and effectiveness of
CSOs and NGOs. The effectiveness and legitimacy of these CSOs and NGOs should be demonstrated in a
sophisticated manner. Hence, they need to reflect themselves and be mindful of their approaches as effective
organizations. CIVICUS initiatives include the Development Effectiveness Agenda, as well as hosting networks
such as AGONA (Affinity Group of National Associations)—an umbrella of NGOs and CSOs, with around54 countries in the network. The third issue is participatory governance. Mr. Imata said that more and more
NGOs and CSOs feel the need to engage different government actors. The key is to balance collaboration
and advocacy, he said. As civil society, CIVICUS has felt the need to engage with different actors and has
thus decided to work with them. Global governance comes in as a fourth concern; with this, CIVICUS tries
to mobilize voices from CSOs on the governance issues of big players and entities. Global governance is a
CIVICUS issue because the group has a role to play in the global arena, as part of civil society, in facilitating
the process of civil society participation. The last issue is development effectiveness. With CIVICUS’ focus on
strengthening civil society, the development agenda is not too large for the organization, Mr. Imata claimed.
However, with a focus on the Global South, the development agenda undeniably looms large. One of the key
questions tackled by CIVICUS is that of country ownership, which refers not only to the ownership of thegovernment, but also to how civil society can be involved in the crafting and implementation of proper policies
in that country. Overall, CIVICUS provides a space for engagement, advocacy, sharing, and learning on key
civil society issues across different regions (between national and global), themes, and sectors.
CIVICUS is not well known in Japan partly due to the consciousness of Japanese people. With regard toissues on human rights, for instance, while the Japanese understand these issues, the general public has mixed
feelings about human rights. Civil society accountability and legitimacy is also an important question that will
only be raised when civil society is recognized as an important player in policy formation. Mr. Imata believes
that CSOs need to have a substantial political voice in Japan.

84
Page

Introduction to CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

POINTS OF DISCUSSION••••

The idea of new mechanisms set up as international NGOs accountability charters, with CIVICUS serving
a convening role: self-reporting and making it public.
The question of the availability not of the tools to establish participatory governance but of the informationin the public domain that would help people or organizations find the right tool(s) for them.
The importance of the government’s capability to make sure that people’s voices are heard before decisionmaking could take place.
The dilemma in present-day Japan that the use of the political system is necessary for the people to makechange happen while the lack of change in the political system inevitably results in more opportunities insocial entrepreneurship than in advocacy and change-oriented policy reform.

85
Page

Retreat and Day Trip
Johanna O. Zulueta, Rapporteur, ALFP 2009

Weekend Retreat

T

he Fellows had a three-day retreat workshop at Shonan Village in Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture; there,
they shared their current research interests with other participants.

SESSION I: SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES(Moderator: Kumaoka Michiya, Board Member, Japan International Volunteer Center)
Climate Change and Sustainability: A New Cause for Global Collaboration, the Role of Cities and Citizens
Marco Kusumawijaya (Indonesia)
Marco Kusumawijaya focused on climate change and the role of cities in climate change adaptation andsustainability. He said that climate change mitigation requires radical changes in cities, and these radical changes
need to be massive. As such, Kusumawijaya believes that civil societies living in cities have a big role to play.
Cities in Asia have been condemned as being physically, environmentally, socially, and culturally unsustainable,
as they are notorious for traffic congestion, air and water pollution, the demolition of buildings and heritage,
and the destruction of old neighborhoods. He mentioned Indonesia as a case in point and how, at the moment,
democratization has enabled the emergence of civil society groups as well as citizen groups that are concerned
about urban and environmental issues.
Kusumawijaya emphasized the need for concrete, participatory processes in addressing the issues of climatechange and sustainability. Sustainable changes involve not only new steps but also a “relearning” of the practicesof old. A change in habitat (i.e., cities) is not sustainable without a change in habitus (i.e., the collective characterof the cities’ inhabitants). The key to this is to create a critical mass within societies, and this change must be
sustained by the whole of humanity.
Socially Responsible Multi-stakeholder Processes for a Sustainable Community
Kuroda Kaori (Japan)
Kuroda Kaori talked about multi-stakeholder processes and sustainable development, and she discussed threecases of local initiatives in Japan. She started her presentation by defining three key terms: multi-stakeholder
processes, sustainable development, and social responsibility. Multi-stakeholder processes point to responsible
practices that support sustainable development. Sustainable development, meanwhile, refers to a form of development that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Social responsibility,
finally, refers to the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society
and the environment; it takes into account the expectations of stakeholders and is consistent with international
norms of behavior.
Local initiatives have been developed at the community level, and the following three were highlighted
by Kuroda: 1) the Kawasaki Compact, which calls for cooperation among the city government, citizens, andbusinesses to work together to address environmental issues affecting Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture;2) the Ibaraki Social Responsibility Network, which was formed in the spring of 2009 with the aim of providing
a forum through which different groups could deal with issues in the community; and 3) the support system forJapanese language learning for foreign nationals in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. Kuroda emphasized that civil

89
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Reportsociety can be expected to play a role in connecting with different groups and in ensuring that marginalized
and vulnerable peoples can participate in these kinds of processes.
CSR in China: Implementation of Corporate Code of Conduct and Improvement of Labor Conditions
Ma Jifang (China)
Ma Jifang talked about the introduction and implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in
China, as well as its stages of development since its inception. Defined as the responsibilities of corporations
to produce high-quality products with the least amount of environmental impact and the most benefits for its
stakeholders, the concept of CSR was introduced in China in the mid-1990s, with the entry of foreign capital
into the country. However, CSR in China is notably different from that in Western countries: CSR in China
focuses more on tax payments, corporate governance, and charity; CSR in the West, meanwhile, focuses primarily on corporate citizenship, labor issues, and environmental protection—all of which are seen in China as
secondary priorities, according to Ma.
Nevertheless, since its introduction in the 1990s, CSR in China has developed and been positively received
by Chinese enterprises. CSR practice in China has evolved into a system that features concrete implementation
procedures and guidelines. Ma also said that CSR implementation has helped mitigate poor labor conditions in
China, although some areas still have “a long way to go,” as monitoring agencies have limits and are not awareof occurrences in some factories of discrimination and abuse.

SESSION II: PEACE AND CONFLICT: GENDER AND YOUTH PERSPECTIVES(Moderator: Shimada Yoshiko, Visual Artist; Art Activist)
Small Arms and Gender:What’s the Connection?
Jennifer Santiago Oreta (Philippines)
Jennifer Santiago Oreta talked about the relationship between small arms and gender in the Philippine context. Small arms are hand-held weapons that fire a projectile using an explosive; these weapons may be legally
manufactured or homemade, and can be operated by a single person. Oreta then elaborated on the sources ofthese arms, the dilemmas associated with gun proliferation, and the issue of gender in conjunction with arms
proliferation.
Oreta emphasized that civilian gun possession must be understood within the context of the individual’s
perception of security—or lack thereof—as one’s interpretation of a situation can motivate him or her to possessa gun. Based on the interviews she conducted, she said that women believe themselves to be more vulnerable
than men, and despite the fact that there are more male victims of gun-related violence than female victims,
it is women who are actually more fearful of being victimized. This “victimization syndrome” of women
further marginalizes them and acts as a barrier that prevents them from fully participating in security debates.
The de facto exclusion of women in this debate also reflects the notion that issues of security tends to be theconcerns of males. Women who wish to be part of the security arena must therefore assume a male-posturing
orientation and be seen as “more male than male.”
Youth Apathy and the Search for Political Engagement in Pakistan
Iqbal Haider Butt (Pakistan)
Iqbal Haider Butt argued that the political apathy attributed to Pakistani youth is a manifestation of the
youth’s disengagement with formal political structures, rather than an expression of their rejection of politics
per se. Based on the results of the two national-level surveys he had conducted, Butt talked about changes in
the nature of the democratic and socio-political activism of youth and pointed out that youth are rejecting pastand mainstream forms of politics.
Butt also pointed out the increasing role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) andthe media play in youth networking and political action. These tools are effective in encouraging participative
democracy, thus allowing diverse and marginalized groups to advance their causes.

90
Page

Weekend Retreat

SESSION III: BELIEFS AND PRACTICES(Moderator: Ashiwa Yoshiko, Professor, Hitotsubashi University)
Dao-de and Cura Personalis
Andrew K. L. Soh (Malaysia)
Andrew K. L. Soh’s presentation focused on his attempt to synthesize the Chinese philosophy of Daoism
and Western, Catholic Jesuit doctrine. He talked about two concepts of Daoist philosophy—the notion ofwu, which emphasizes a certain non-coercive disposition that leaves one open to cooperation, and that of wei
ziran, which refers to acting with and for the sake of ziran (self-so-ing). He then connected these two with the
Ignatian pedagogy of holistic education, or the formation of persons. He said that the key is to look into thesephilosophical concepts for certain principles of learning and cultural teaching.
Soh placed emphasis on the need for a holistic education—i.e., an education that shapes not only professionals and people with expertise, but also persons who are grounded on the concept of a cura personalis (carefor the person) and can work for others. In relation to this, he talked about the service-learning component oftraining at Ateneo de Manila University. Service-learning plays a role in integrating students in the community,
as it incorporates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection, thereby enriching the learning experience.
Presentation on Humanist Values Found in Folk Cultures
Tanvir Mokammel (Bangladesh)
Tanvir Mokammel talked about the significance of culture in creating a humane society. Culture is theessence and quintessence of the people; one concrete component thereof is language, which is the source andmanifestation of a country. He focused his discussion on folk cultural traditions by showing a film about the
Bauls, a traveling group of minstrels. The Bauls, also as an indigenous sect in rural Bangladesh, have a special
belief system that supports the idea that god lives within people’s bodies—something that, as Mokammelmentioned, is seen as a materialistic and radical view. However, he emphasized that it represents an indigenous,
home-grown, and rural way of Bengali humanism.

91
Page

Field Trip
Johanna O. Zulueta, Rapporteur, ALFP 2009

Field Trip to Yamagata and Aomori
October 12–15, 2009F

rom October 12 to 15, the Fellows went on a four-day field trip to the Tohoku region of Japan, largely
to the Yamagata and Aomori Prefectures. This annual field trip was meant to supplement the lectures andseminars that the Fellows attended throughout their two-month program and also to give them first-handinformation about Japan’s various social issues, such as problems faced by agricultural communities.

DAY 1: YAMAGATA CITY, YAMAGATA PREFECTURE (OCTOBER 12)
The Fellows arrived at Yamagata station and proceeded to attend the Yamagata International Documentary Film
Festival (YIDFF). In 2009, this bi-annual film festival was held from October 8 to 15. It featured 15 international films that had been selected from among the 1,141 films entered in the year’s international competition
from 110 countries and areas.
The Fellows watched three featured films: “Encirclement: Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy,” a documentary about neo-liberal ideology, as well as its origins and criticisms, which won the grand prize in the competition; “Tanaka-san Will Not Do Calisthenics,” an Australian film depicting the daily life of a former Japanesecompany employee named Tanaka, who has been protesting in front of his company for 25 years; and “Nagai
Park Elegy,” a film about people living in blue tents in Nagai Park in Osaka, under threat of eviction.
Ms. Fujioka Asako, Director of the YIDFF’s Tokyo office, shared her time with the Fellows when they interviewed her over lunch. Yamagata City is said to have a long history of being a film-loving city. Ms. Fujioka
traced the origins of the film festival to Ogawa Shinsuke, a documentary filmmaker who for many years lived
in a rural area in Yamgata Prefecture, filming the lives of farmers. He was said to have been engaged in a communal kind of filmmaking, and was seen to be a charismatic person; this endeared him to a lot of film fansin Yamagata. This excitement over Ogawa and his films were a far cry from how documentaries were usuallyregarded in comparison to conventional films—that is to say, boring.
New types of documentary films, however, were at that time being made in Europe, and it was thought that
hosting a film festival would be a good opportunity to show these films to the Japanese public. According to
Ms. Fujioka, when the festival started in 1989, the organizers were able to gather around 300 films. Most of thefilms from Asia were propaganda made by governments, nature films, anthropological films made by academics
for research purposes, or tourism films by foreigners. The kinds of documentary films that came out of Asia at
this time disappointed Ogawa and the festival team. Consequently, they were prompted to support Asian films
more. A symposium that addressed the lack of documentary films in Asia was then held, and film critics andfilmmakers from all over Asia were invited to discuss the issue.
Ms. Fujioka joined the festival in 1993, the year when the Asian Program section of the festival started. The
Asian Program is not part of the main competition section, but it has become a venue for young and emerging
filmmakers to screen their films.
The film festival receives 90 percent of its funding from the Yamagata City government; it also receives
subsidies from the Agency for Cultural Affairs as well as from the Japan Foundation. The festival is said to be
integrated into the community, and many of its operations are performed by local volunteers. The Yamagata
office, according to Ms. Fujioka, is unique in the sense that it buys the film prints of the films shown for theinternational competition, and these are kept in the office’s library for renting.The office also holds film workshops in other cities and rural areas, as well as outdoor screenings in rural areas that lack movie houses.

95
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Report

DAY 2: HAGURO TOWN AND SAKATA CITY, YAMAGATA PREFECTURE(OCTOBER 13)
The Fellows went on a day tour of Mt. Haguro in Haguro Town, Tsuruoka City, and Sakata City.
A cruise along the Mogami River was first on the agenda; the rainy day did not hinder the Fellows fromenjoying the cruise, especially with the lively river boatman entertaining the tourists while answering their
queries. Mogami River is 224 km long and runs across Yamagata Prefecture from the south to the northwest,
finally flowing out to the Japan Sea at Sakata. It was once a major artery for the trade and transport of local
products, including rice and safflower.
After lunch on the boat, the Fellows visited the Haguro Shrine on Mt. Haguro, one of three mountains
that comprise the Dewasanzan (the Three Mountains of Dewa); the other two are Mt.Yudono and Mt. Gassan.
Mt. Haguro is famous as a site where yamabushi or mountain ascetics practice a form of religious practice called
Shugendo, which is a way of practicing or mastering magico-ascetic powers. One characteristic of this movement is the locations of where training takes place—namely, on sacred mountains. Shugendo was said to havebeen founded by En no Ozunu, a practitioner of magic, in the seventh century. It was also said that the blendingof Japanese sangaku shink (mountain beliefs) with foreign religious influences, especially Buddhism and Daoism,
led to the formation of Shugendo.
Haguro Shugendo is said to be one of the two lines of Shugendo in Japan. It was founded 1,400 years ago
by Prince Hachiko, the eldest son of Emperor Sushun, the 32nd Emperor of Japan, who reigned in the sixth
century. Prince Hachiko was said to have been engaged in severe ascetic practices on this mountain and wassaid to have seen an incarnation of Buddha—a vision that inspired him to build shrines on each of Mt. Haguro,
Mt.Yudono, and Mt. Gassan.
A short tour around Sakata City was the last item on the Fellows’ itinerary before boarding a train boundfor Aomori. The Fellows were able to visit the Sankyo Rice Storehouses, which date back to the Meiji Period
and are still in use today. In one of the storehouses is the Shonai Rice Historical Museum; another contains
the Hana no Yakata, a museum that introduces the history and culture of Sakata through the works of national
puppeteer Tsujimura Jusaburo.

DAY 3: MISAWA CITY AND ROKKASHO VILLAGE, AOMORI PREFECTURE(OCTOBER 14)
The Fellows left for Misawa City, which is less than a one-hour train ride from Aomori station. Misawa City ishome to the Misawa Air Base, the northernmost U.S. air base in the country. On their way to Rokkasho Village,
the Fellows had the opportunity to see the outskirts of the air base from the bus.
Rokkasho Village is situated at the neck of Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture. It has a population ofaround 11,280. Known for its natural scenery and agriculture, Rokkasho is also the location of the first commercial nuclear reprocessing plant in Japan, the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant—the construction of which has
sparked a protests from several people, mostly local citizens.
Japan Nuclear Fuel, Ltd. (JNFL), in its aim to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign energy sources, hasbeen active in promoting the reprocessing of uranium and the effective use of plutonium through mixed oxide(MOX) fuel fabrication. JNFL started its nuclear business in Rokkasho in April 1985, when the governor of
Aomori and the mayor of Rokkasho accepted a request from the company to build three nuclear facilities in
Rokkasho: a reprocessing plant, a uranium enrichment plant, and a low-level radioactive waste disposal center.
The construction of the uranium enrichment plant began in 1988, and the low-level radioactive waste disposal
center was built in 1992.The construction of the reprocessing plant commenced in 1993, and at the time of theFellows’ visit in fall 2009, the plant was scheduled to start its commercial operations in October 2010.
Before visiting the nuclear facilities, the Fellows met Mr. Ohmori Takeshi, the Deputy General Managerof the Planning Department of the Corporate Planning Office of JNFL, over lunch. He was accompanied by
Mr. Mizuno Takashi, the Manager of the Fuel Cycle Business Group of the Office of Nuclear Fuel Cycle of the
Kansai Electric Power Corporation, Inc., who served as interpreter throughout the whole tour, and Mr. Hayase
Masahiko, the Leader of the Fuel Cycle Business Group of the Kansai Electric Power Corporation, Inc.
The Fellows first stopped by the public relations center of the Rokkasho Nuclear Reprocessing Plant andwere greeted by Mr. Kaizu, the head of the center. The public relations center, built in 1991, is open to visitors

96
Page

Field Trip to Yamagata and Aomori October 12–15, 2009and provides information about the plant. Approximately 100,000 people visit the center every year.Visitors to
the center are given a virtual tour of the reprocessing plant, which acquaints them with the processes involvedin the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Equipment inside the plant are recreated, with simulations that showeach step in the reprocessing of uranium and plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, and the method of burying
low-level radioactive wastes. Visitors are also informed about how the company manages the facilities. The
Fellows were privileged to receive a tour of the actual nuclear reprocessing facilities, with JNFL employees
cordially answering every question the Fellows asked.
The Fellows then headed back to Misawa City for dinner at Aomori-ya, where they were feted with Aomori
specialty dishes. People at the restaurant were treated to entertainment that showcased Aomori’s three big summer festivals (Aomori sandai natsu matsuri), as well as musical performances featuring the Tsugaru shamisen. The
Fellows enjoyed themselves by dancing and trying out some musical instruments, such as the taiko (Japanesedrum).

DAY 4: TOWADA CITY AND ROKKASHO VILLAGE, AOMORI PREFECTURE(OCTOBER 15)
The last day of the field trip saw the Fellows going on a short tour of the Oirase Stream and Lake Towada in
Towada City, before heading off to the Flower and Herb Garden in Rokkasho Village for an interview with
Ms. Kikukawa Keiko and Mr. Yamauchi Masakazu, protesters against the planned operation of the Rokkasho
Nuclear Reprocessing Plant.
The Fellows arrived at the Flower and Herb Garden and were welcomed by Ms. Kikukawa and Mr.Yamauchi,
along with Mr. Takasaka and a Thai student, both of whom are staff members of the Garden. Ms. Kikukawa
told the Fellows that she is still lamenting the fact that the reprocessing plant’s plans to start its commercial
operation were still scheduled for October 2010. However, she said that troubles involving the plant’s operation
still continue, so she believed that the actual operation date would be delayed. She added that the radioactive
consistency of the sea water near the Rokkasho plant was reportedly higher since the test operations started.
She stated that the plant has the responsibility to control the radiation being emitted—even though the plant
would not see operation in the near future—and that the number of workers exposed to the plant’s radiationneeds to be reduced. In line with these assertions, she stated that there had been five cases of accidents inside theplant; in July 2009, for example, a worker’s toe reportedly became infected with radiation. Accidents involving
workers inhaling radioactive fumes were also reported in April and May of the same year, and similar accidents
had also occurred in 2006 and 2007. Most of the victims were workers in their 20s and 30s. Contrary to JNFL’s
claim that plant-related accidents had not occurred, Ms. Kikukawa said that these accidents were reported innewspapers.
Unfortunately, no one in the municipal administration is against the operations of JNFL, so it was difficult
to ask for their support in protesting the planned operation of the reprocessing plant in 2010, according to
Ms. Kikukawa. On a prefectural basis, however, only a few people are against the site. As the plant is consideredbeneficial to the village economy, it is expected that many people support JNFL. The company also supports anumerous events in Aomori Prefecture, and so people tend to support the company. Nonetheless, Ms. Kikukawa
hopes that national policy regarding the construction of nuclear plants will be reformed.
Ms. Kikukawa said that she and the people at the Flower and Herb Garden have called for a nuclear-freevillage and are making every effort to build a deeply rooted movement in the local community. One of her
efforts is the Tulip Festival, which is held as a protest of the plant operation. Although at one point she wasincapacitated and thus unable to plant tulips for the festival, others helped her and the festival was held; for this,she is grateful. She hopes to plant more radiation-free tulips as a testament to her continued struggle against theoperation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant.
Moreover, Ms. Kikukawa hopes that more people will become aware of the issue of nuclear reprocessing in
Rokkassho. There is also a network of people, mostly involved in NGOs, who support her case and are also
involved in exchanges of information regarding it. Ms. Kikukawa is also grateful that the 2006 film, Rokkasho
Rhapsody, has made many of the younger generation aware of and interested in the issue. She believes that theissue concerning the nuclear reprocessing plant in Rokkasho is not a problem to be borne solely by the village;rather, she believes, it is a problem that touches everyone in Japan.

97
Page

Trip to Takahata Town, Yamagata
October 10–11, 2009T

he Fellows experienced the lush Japanese countryside and were taught the rudiments of organic farming
when they visited Takahata Town, Yamagata Prefecture—an agricultural community famous for its
production of apples and a kind of pear called La France. Until 35 years ago, the town had produced rice,
apples, grapes, and pears with the help of chemical fertilizers. Recently, however, Takahata has become famous
for its organically grown agricultural produce.
Addressing the need for higher volumes of agricultural products, the government’s agricultural policy has
centered on the use of new technologies and agricultural chemicals to boost production levels. However, thesechanges have damaged crops and endangered the health of farmers in Takahata. The cold summers that thefarmers in the town have been experiencing recently have also affected the crops. For all these reasons, in 1973,
Mr. Hoshi Kanji, a farmer and a poet, along with 41 fellow farmers, started to use compost instead of chemicalfertilizers. Organic farming, however, took a toll on them, as they had to produce compost by themselves andmanually weed the fields almost every day. Nevertheless, organic rice proved to have greater sustainability thanrice grown with chemicals.This then enticed many people in the community to follow suit and start practicing
organic farming. Also, in 1992, Mr. Hoshi and his colleagues established the Mahoroba no Sato Agricultural
School to accommodate people from urban areas who sought to learn about and experience organic farmingin Takahata.
The Fellows joined Professor Ashiwa Yoshiko of Hitotsubashi University and her students for a two-day stayin Takahata, where they were welcomed by Mr. Hoshi and Mr.Watanabe Tsutomu, the local farmer leader. Bothtalked about the origins of organic farming in the town and the present state of Takahata.
According to Mr. Hoshi, Takahata had at that time 2,000 farming households. Most are rice farmers, butthey also grow a particular kind of seedless grape called Delaware. Other agricultural products being produced
are apples, La France pears and, recently, cherries.Vegetables, too, are grown in the community, for which 250
hectares of land has been allocated. Meanwhile, 470 hectares have been allocated for growing grapes, and 2,000
hectares are available for rice production. Takahata has also traditionally been active in the processing industry,
particularly the canned fruit industry; however, it has recently been processing jelly and salad dressings andproducing wine with organic grapes.Takahata wine is highly regarded and renowned for its quality, and it often
wins prizes in national wine competitions.
Mr. Hoshi then talked about the 37-year history (as of 2009), of Takahata’s adoption of organic farming.
The switch to organic farming was also prompted by a need to revert to the “old ways” of farming—that is,
to use more natural methods of farming. He then talked about how he and a group of farmers turned to thealternative route of organic farming and mentioned the “five pillars” that prompted this: food safety, restorationof soil fertility, restoration of peoples’ self-sufficiency, protection of the environment, and the independence of
farmers. He hopes for a paradigm shift and would like to see changes in peoples’ lifestyles and ways of thinking,especially in terms of the environment. He also hopes that a kind of “Asian family farming (Ajia-teki kazoku
nougyou)” will be promoted and sustained, as he believes that an abundant natural world is the most important
heritage that could be left for future generations.
The next speaker was Mr. Watanabe, who, like Mr. Hoshi, has also been involved in organic farming for thelast 37 years. He started farming when he graduated from a farming school at the age of 18 years. Initially notkeen on farming, but wanting to contribute something to society and improve himself, he took an interest in
farming and has continued his work for 42 years. He shared with the audience how people, especially his fellow
farmers, were at first skeptical of organic farming. Nevertheless, people realized the value of organically farmed
products, and consumer demand increased as people took an interest in safe food products. He adds that one

98
Page

Trip to Takahata Town, Yamagata October 10–11, 2009of the important things that they must also consider is the establishment of personal, face-to-face relationships,
and building trust with consumers; to this end, they have invited consumers to their own houses and fields.
Furthermore, he writes letters every month to his consumers, to inform them about his rice fields and any
problems and issues concerning them.
Mr. Watanabe added that the biggest problem that organic farmers face—and which has not been resolved
over the years—is the problem of weeding, which is still largely done manually by farmers. He believes that thisissue should be carefully researched. He also added that since fruit is vulnerable to disease and insect attacks,
it is impossible to grow fruit without the aid of chemicals; to reduce their toxicity, they mix compounds
based on Chinese medicine with the chemicals that they need to use, to produce a certain Chinese medicine
agricultural chemical (kanpou nouyaku).
Moreover, Mr. Watanabe said that a big challenge that farmers face at the moment is the continuity of the
farming industry. He emphasized that if, especially today, a person does not have the will to do farming, thenit will be difficult for younger generations (particularly older sons who traditionally inherit the family line) toensure its continuity in the farming industry. Nevertheless, he believes in the power of new technology, such asthat involving the internet, to spread information about organic farming.
The Fellows joined the students in farm work the next day.With the entire day devoted to harvesting grapes
and apples and threshing rice, among other things, the Fellows clearly savored a small piece of the Japanesefarming life, capping the day with eating, drinking, and singing.

99
Page

Trip to Hakushu Town, Yamanashi
October 16–17, 2009T

he Fellows left for Yamanashi Prefecture to attend the Dance Hakushu 2009 festival in Hakushu Town,
Hokuto City.
Since its inception in 1988, the annual festival has been held only in mid-summer. In its 21st year, theorganizers decided to hold the festival with the theme of the four seasons, to offer visitors “richer experiences”—
namely, “the sensation of mud and freshness of rice-planting in June, the magnificent view of harvest and ripened plants in October, stern white mountains, and crisp air and sky in February.” The festival also featured
hands-on farming activities and workshops.
Butoh artist Tanaka Min’s dance performance opened the festival in the early afternoon of October 16.
Mr. Tanaka is also a farmer, having practiced farming since 1985. He also founded the Body Weather Farm, acooperative of artists and dancers, in Hakushu Town, to explore the origins of dance through farm life. He considers himself an “avant-garde who crawls the earth”; as such, he dances in tune with nature and explores themeaning of the body. He is said to have developed a new method for the traditional Japanese dance of Butoh,
in which dancers connect themselves to the natural environment around them. In 2004, he started performing
outdoors, in urban spaces, shrines, hills, fields, and at the seashore. He also established a nonprofit organization,
the “Forest of We’ll,” in 2006.
The Fellows also had the opportunity to exchange words with Kobata Kazue, a professor at the Tokyo
University of the Arts and former Secretary General of Dance Hakushu, who has worked closely with
Mr. Tanaka on several projects. She talked about the festival as well as Mr. Tanaka’s various projects.
The Fellows were billeted at nearby Verga, a forest park, where they spent the rest of their stay enjoying thenatural scenery and dipping into the natural hot spring.

100
Page

Public Symposium
Johanna O. Zulueta, Rapporteur, ALFP 2009

Public Symposium
November 6, 2009T

he 2009 ALFP Public Symposium cumulated the Fellows’ two-month sojourn in Japan, where they
engaged in active intellectual exchange with academics and resource persons from nongovernmentalorganizations and civil society groups through seminars, lectures, and field trips. Mr. Ogawa Tadashi, Managing Director of the Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange Department of the Japan Foundation, gave
the opening remarks. Mr. Ishizuka Masahiko of the Foreign Press Center acted as moderator. Focusing on thisyear’s symposium theme, “Action in Dialogue: Towards a Responsible Society,” the presentations were divided
into three sessions, as follows.

SESSION I: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR A HUMANE SOCIETY
1.“Multi-stakeholder Processes for a Responsible Community”− Kuroda Kaori (Japan), Co-Director, CSO Network of Japan
2.“Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Implementation of Corporate Code of Conduct and Improvement of Labor
Conditions”− Ma Jifang (China), Coordinator, China Independent External Monitoring, Fair Labor Association
3.“Collaborative Civil Society towards Sustainable Cities”− Marco Kusumawijaya (Indonesia), Architect; Urbanist; Director, Jakarta Arts Council
The first session had a common theme: responsibility to one’s community and accountability to one’s environment and society. In her presentation on Multi-Stakeholder Processes (MSPs), Kuroda mentions that MSPs
have now developed at the community level. She cited the case of Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture, where a
support system for Japanese language learning was developed to cater to the needs of foreign workers. Citing
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a response to the increasing power of capital, Ma talked about how
CSR has developed in China and how working conditions have improved in Chinese factories. Kusumawijaya,
meanwhile, looked at the role of civil society in achieving a responsible society, in the context of urban sustainability. He argued that civil society needs to reclaim its role (in society) and not rely solely on economic andpolitical actors to affect change.

SESSION II: DARKNESS AND LIGHT: SOME CONCERNS OF ASIA
1.“Gun Proliferation in Asia: Limits to Dialogue, Challenges to Action”− Jennifer Santiago Oreta (Philippines), Assistant Professor, Ateneo de Manila University
2.“Problematics of Cultural Activism in Building a Humane Society”− Tanvir Mokammel (Bangladesh), Filmmaker; Author; Director, Bangladesh Film InstituteThe second session addressed difficulties inherent in aspiring for a responsible and humane society. Oreta’s
paper looked at the limits of dialogue in achieving a responsible society—in other words, a society that takes
care of its people. However, the feeling among people that there is a lack of insecurity has prompted them totake up small arms in response to society’s apparent incapacity to provide security for its citizens. Meanwhile,
Mokammel mentioned the role that culture has in exposing the social ills of a community. In the process, these

103
Page

Asia Leadership Fellow Program: 2009 Program Reportcultural activists also become political activists. However, the challenge facing these cultural activists is bridging
the gap between profit-making and the art/culture arenas.

SESSION III: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
1.“Education: Forming Persons in a Dialogue of Life”− Andrew K.L. Soh (Malaysia), Instructor, Ateneo de Manila University
2.“Dialogues for Peace and Youth Cooperation”− Iqbal Haider Butt (Pakistan), Senior Partner, Development Pool
The final session focused on the role of the future generation—especially, youth—in building a responsible
society. Soh looked at education, focusing particularly on “engaged” education, with the belief that education
should not be solely of the mind, but also of the heart, and it needs to be relevant if it is to address the needsof the times. The role of youth was given further significance when Butt emphasized the need to empower
ordinary students through memberships in university associations and clubs; this would then provide an opportunity for these students to lead and be part of the political process.

104
Page