In an Era of Globalisation, ASEAN’s Top 10 Writers Call for Peace
‘JJ’ Jeremy Johanson
The Oriental Hotel created the Southeast Asian Writers awards in 1979 to help promote literary activities in the ASEAN region.
This year, the 23rd annual S.E.A. Write Awards pays tribute to the regions 10 outstanding writers. Each one of our scholars proclaimed that as writers, they each have a responsibility to use their talents and understanding to help people realize that the most important thing is to cultivate peace, friendship and cooperation, no matter what religion a person might be.
2001 SEA Write Award Winners
1st Row: HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn
2nd Row: (from left to right) Rahim M.S. (Brunei), Mao Ayuth (Cambodia), Saini K.M. (Indonesia), Somsy Dexakhamphou (Laos), Zakaria Ariffin (Malaysia), M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra (Chairman SEAWA), Pico Iyer, U. Htin Gyi (Myanmar), Felice P. Sta. Maria (Philippines), K.T.M. Iqbal (Singapore), Chokchai Bundit (Thailand), Nguyen Duc Mau (Vietnam).
K.T.M. Iqbal (Singapore)
“I feel very sad when there is terrorism, when Islam is connected directed or indirectly, because I am Muslim. Muslim means peace. Nobody wants to be involved in all of this today. We all want to live in peace.
There is a famous poem in Tamil, written some two thousand years ago by the philosopher poet, Kaniyan Poongkundran, “To us, All nations are one, all men are kin.” This philosophy was developed 2000 years ago, but today it is still valid and can help us unite people.”
U. Htin Gyi (Myanmar)
“Our religion (Islam) says tolerance. We never say that our religion is best. We don’t object to any religion at all. In fact in Myanmar, we tolerate the belief in all religions. So I think there is nothing against other religions at all. There should be peace. We need peace. We need peace more and more.”
Zakaria Ariffin of Malaysia believes that, “As writer, though our writings, we can try to persuade the younger generation to love peace… human peace. Though writing, you can disseminate our love to make peace in the world.”
Nguyen Duc Mau of Vietnam realises that he; “wrote about war, but people should now make peace because we are now more and more close with each other.”
The writers also stressed that all of us in the world are much closer than ever because of ‘globalization’. We all have access to information from all parts of the world.
It is now more important than ever that we all learn to understand each other and our differences.
Pico Iyer
“In the age of global communication, sometimes we notice how little real communication we have. I think that as somebody who travels a lot and writes about it, the great adventure of life is trying to imagine how the world looks to somebody from very different circumstances.
As more and more people have access to so many different cultures, they can make new kinds of fusions within themselves.
People in one corner of the world seriously have to think about the needs and demands of those in another corner. They should try to bridge the gap, to think about global conscious and global responsibility and try to move towards a newer harmony.
I’m a great advocate for the virtue of travel. So I would tell Americans to travel as much as you can. See the far corners of the world, and whatever you bring back from your travels, you will probably bring back a little bit of greater understanding of how the people think on the far side of the world. I would tell that to the enemies of America too.”
Saini K.M. (Indonesia)
“Islam is currently developing a new philosophy, what we call the Perennial Philosophy. This Perennial Philosophy considers that every religion has the same tenants, essence. So it is also called essentialism. You should try and find the essence of every religion. What is that essence? Love!
We are now in the era of globalization. But sometimes globalization comes to us though virtual reality, though mass media. And that’s not truth. Truth is what you sense, what you touch and what you feel. In this era of globalization, think globally but act locally. This is one of the best truths. I realized it myself. I can not love men, without loving my neighbour.”
Felice P. Sta. Maria (Philippines)
“The call for global peace and harmony is expected considering the grave perils of the world today. I do not think that there is anyone within our group, regardless of nationality, religion, social or educational background who is not concerned with the imbalance of the world today.
The world, planet earth, must find its soul. And like all souls, a soul is complex. The world’s soul is complex. It’s made up of fragments from different parts of the world, different types, levels of cultural development coexisting. Unless the soul of the world can transcend these complexities, or different levels of cultural development, then we do not reach the compassion that we need. This moves from developed nations to underdeveloped nations and from underdeveloped nations that have great lessons that they can also teach to developed countries.
There is no one language that dominates the world. Until there is a way for us to share all of these ideas, we are never going to come together. Remember it is one thing to share ideas in the leadership level. It is another thing to share ideas in the academic sector. But it’s another thing to get to the general public, to get to the heart and soul and mind of the regular people, of the common people.”
“May our writing make peace.”
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