By Bates Bathan
March 22 marked a turning point in my life, the start of my nine-month exchange scholarship program at Taejon University. The program is sponsored by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations University Network and the Korean government. I'm a student from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos. My time in Korea was a real awakening. I came into contact with other Asian students and their norms, cultures, religions and socio-political stands.
The Bangkok Declaration established ASEAN on Aug. 8, 1967, with the aim of accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development in Southeast Asia. The members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
At the fourth ASEAN summit, the leaders pointed out the importance of building solidarity and development of a regional identity through strengthening the existing network of the leading universities and institutions of higher learning in the region. This led to the establishment of Asian Nations University Network in November 1995.
Later, the ASEAN-Korea exchange scholarship program started at Taejon University. Now in its fourth year, the program has 17 participants, students from Royal University of Phnom Penh, University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, National University of Laos, Universiti Sains Malaysia, University Malaya, University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Nanyang Technological University, Chulalongkorn University, Burapha University and Vietnam National University.
The human mind is the ultimate resource. Singapore is the only ASEAN country that has a university in the top 100 universities for 2005 in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Singapore is also one of the so-called East Asian tigers, alongside Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, because of its high growth rate and rapid industrialization. Singapore maintains closer ties with China than others because of it bilateral free-trade deals with China.
Patrick from Singapore epitomized the qualities associated with his home. He got high grades, had an exquisite lifestyle and introduced us to Chinese exchange students. In his approach being comparable to Singapore's and our responses similar to that of our own countries, can we see a change in the aversion toward China?
Freedom of expression is very evident among Filipinos. We are used of fighting for our rights; either through legal forums like court trials or by street protests and rallies. Asking for wage hikes, condemning murder cases against journalists, resisting tax increases, opposing budget cuts, not accepting of election poll results and subsequently asking for resignation of the president _ all of these are subjects of everyday conversation.
My Malaysian friends helped me understand how freedom of speech works in their country. After reading foreign and local media reports, I got the impression that free speech is suppressed. The Malaysia's Internal Security Act, which provides the government with unrestrained powers to detain individuals for long periods without charge, seems excessive. The disparity between races in Malaysia _ Malays, Chinese, Indians and non-Malay indigenous groups _ is said to be a serious threat to Malaysia's unity.
Although we exhibit deep attachment to our rights, Filipinos have our downfalls. Our aggressiveness and outspokenness perhaps caused us to fall far behind other ASEAN countries, especially in terms of economic development. Because of street protests, foreign investors are afraid of investing. The Philippines is far behind Malaysia in terms of foreign direct investment inflow, not to mention other economic indicators.
Religion is a coalescing and dividing factor in a nation. The EDSA People Power I & II revolutions that overthrew two Philippine presidents prove how religion can unify people.
But Trang and Thu, two other participants in the exchange program, said religion generally resulted in discrimination in Vietnam. Religion as a factor in marriage is still predominant. There are cases where one converts to another religion. Others marry and just continue their lives making their children confused as to which religion to follow. As religion molds our being, once you have differences, it's hard to work things out.
As a result, divorce takes place _ which is pretty much what Nana and Edward from Indonesia told me. Most of the divorces there, they said, result from misunderstandings between a Christian and a Muslim.
Laos, Cambodia and Thailand share similar customs and traditions, as well as territorial discords. Both Cambodia and Thailand have royal families as well as another form of government. Some Lao can speak both Thai and Lao.
Then there are historical disputes. Chorr Yi and Khampaseuth, from Cambodia and Laos, respectively, claimed their countries included more territory before Thailand took the land. They admit that some of their nationals have ill will towards Thais. But it's good that they can acknowledge that history has little to do with the relationship they're building here.
Making these new friends made me realize that ASEAN is more than just a grouping of countries. At some point, we recognized how difficult it is for our leaders to have consensus. We argue on what things to do _ when to go on trips, where to go, which mode of transportation to use and how to arrive at decisions _ but everyone is ultimately satisfied. It has been a learning experience for us. The program helped us open our minds to the diversity that surrounds us and to realize that ``if you can't embrace it, at least respect it.''
The writer is a student from University of the Philippines at Los Banos.