API Regional Project Culminating Event : Proceedings pocket book14... · This report exists solely because of dedicated individuals and organizations that tirelessly worked to make

1 API Regional Project Culminating Event : Proceedings


Acknowledgements

This report exists solely because of dedicated individuals and organizations that tirelessly worked

to make the API Regional Project such a success. Were it not for their commitment and generosity,

there would be very little to reveal in the pages to follow. We extend our sincere gratitude to all

those who took part.

We especially wish to acknowledge all the participants that joined in the API Regional Project

Culminating Event, including: keynote speaker Dr. Sombath Somphone, API Fellows, community

leaders from five countries, moderators and discussants for the public seminar, resource persons from

the various communities, and all colleagues from API Partner Institutions and related organizations.

Members of the Organizing Committee for the Culminating Event and many Thailand Fellows,

serving as local hosts, worked for a number of months to bring this Event together-too many

people to name, but all of whom we offer the utmost appreciation and thanks.

We also recognize the most invaluable role The Nippon Foundation and its Executive Director, Mr.

Tatsuya Tanami and former Project Manager of International Department Ms. Michiko Taki played

in helping to shape the Regional Project from its inception, as well as all those colleagues who

joined the path since to create new models for public intellectuals.

Special thanks to: Mr. Karnt Thassanaphak (API Fellow Year 8), Mr. Pakpong Saengsoi

(Institute of Asian Studies), Dr. Colin Nicholas (API Fellow Year 1) and Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan (API

Fellow Year 5) for their photography; Mr. Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (API Fellow Year 8) for his vid-

eography archiving the Event; Banana Studio, Inc. who collaborated with us in producing the

vibrant exhibition; and especially to the Event’s host Chulalongkorn University and Dr. Sunait

Chutintaranont, Director of Institute of Asian Studies.

Last but not least, our sincere appreciation to Ms. Nantiya Tangwisutijit, rapporteur for the Event

and who assembled this meaningful chronicle of all that took place.

RegionalCoordinatingInstitution(CI)

APIFellowshipsProgram

InstituteofAsianStudies

ChulalongkornUniversity

ii


TableofContents

Acknowledgements ii

PARTI INTRODUCTIONI AboutthisPublication 2

2 AbouttheAPIRegionalProject 11

A New Form of Collaboration 11

The Regional Project Culminating Event 16

About API 16

About The Nippon Foundation 18

PARTII REGIONALPROJECTCULMINATINGEVENTDAY13 WelcomeandOpeningAddresses 20

Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo 20

Prof. Pirom Kamolratanakul, M.D. 21

Mr. Tatsuya Tanami 22

Mr. Yohei Sasakawa 22

4 KeynoteAddress: 24

The Force of Inter-connectedness: Dr. Sombath Somphone 24

5 RegionalProjectProductsPresentation 28

Introduction: Dr. Theresita Atienza 28

The Regional Project Book: Ms. Narumol Aphinives and Ms. Justine Vaz 29

Introduction to Creative Expressions: Asst. Prof. Danilo Reyes 30

Collective Composition Project at Kali Code Site Visit Code Purnama Hatiku 31

[Code, the Full Moon of My Heart]: Ms. Tomoko Momiyama

Water Children Project: Dr. Takako Iwasawa and Khiriwong children 32

6 RegionalProjectDocumentarypremierescreening:

CrossCurrents:JourneytoAsianEnvironments 34

Introductory Remarks: Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan 34

More About Cross Currents: Mr. Nick Deocampo 36

PARTIII CULMINATINGEVENTDAY2,PUBLICSEMINAR7 Overview 40

Dr. Dicky Sofjan 40

8 PresentationsbyCommunityLeaders 41

Mr. Tetsuya Imakita: Biwako, Japan 41

Mr. Yongyuth Krachanglak: Khiriwong, Thailand 42

iii


Dr. Florentino Hornedo: Batanes, the Philippines 43

Mr. Totok Pratopo: Kali Code, Indonesia 44

Mr. Awang Alok: Tasik Chini, Malaysia 45

9 Discussion 46

Dr. Colin Nicholas 46

10CommunityEngagement:TransformingKnowledgeintoAction 49

Introduction: Prof. Koji Tanaka 49

Promoting Ecological Awareness through Music: Ms. Tomoko Momiyama 49

Learning Points from Biwako, Batanes, and Khiriwong Site Visits: 51

Prof. Myfel Joseph D. Paluga

Emergence of Local Initiatives in Natural Resource Management, 52

Reflection from Biwako, Khiriwong and Kali Code Site Visits: Mr. Yuli Nugroho

Experiences & Understandings of Human-Ecological Issues: 54

Tasik Chini and Khiriwong Sites: Ms. Penchom Saetang

Tasik Chini: Policy Capture and Orang Asli Struggle for Land and Identity: 55

Ms. Josie M. Fernandez

Community Voices on the Dawei/Tavoy Deep Sea Port and 57

Special Economic Zone in Burma: Mr. Frankie Abreu

Discussant, The Clash of Global and Local Cultures: Dr. Decharut Sukkumnoed 58

11OpenForum 60

12WrapUp 63

Prof. Koji Tanaka 63

Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo 64

13RecognitionofCommunityLeaders 65

14ClosingRemarks 66

Mr. Herry Yogaswara: API Regional Committee 66

Ms. Michiko Yoshida: API Regional Coordinating Institution 66

PARTIV EXHIBITION15RegionalProjectExhibition 68

PARTV APPENDICES

A Culminating Event Program 74

B Expanded Program for Community Leaders 76

C Key Participants 78

D Profile of Community Leaders 84

E API Milestones 87

F. API Community Vision 89

iv

1 API Regional Project Culminating Event : Proceedings 1 API Regional Project Culminating Event : Proceedings


Since 2008 a leading group of public intellectuals in Asia have worked to pioneer collaborative processes

that support community-based initiatives fostering human-ecological balance. Working under the banner

of the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) Regional Project, five communities in five countries were selected to

serve as project sites. Both within and across these sites this regional effort worked to: document relevant

perspectives on environmental issues facing the region, document local community knowledge and how it

can be used to respond to these challenges, and develop collaborative modalities where the API Community

can assist in responding to regional environmental concerns.

On June 14-15, 2012 the results of these endeavors were featured amidst a variety of venues collectively

comprising the API Regional Project Culminating Event. The following chronicles these proceedings to provide

an official record and to offer a tool for reflection and discussion among those wishing to pursue such

collaborative efforts in the future.

As presented herein, several themes dominated the presentations and discussion: community, culture,

creativity, collaboration and challenges. The Regional Project’s core premise was clearly illustrated-not

only are the threats to human-ecological balance greatest at the community level so too are the solutions

to help restore the balance regionally and beyond. Critical to such restoration is the recognition of place:

the cultures and traditional practices that have evolved that reflect the unique ecological and geographical

constraints and opportunities local communities face. Moreover, it’s important to employ a full range of

creative tools to aid in local educational efforts to transmit knowledge and concerns within communities

and outward. Lastly, collaborative efforts with public intellectuals prove to be a healthy two-way street. Local

communities benefit from outside expertise, while researchers are exposed to age-old knowledge and

cultural practices with a level of generosity and humility-attitudes critical to advancing human-ecological

balance-that are too often overlooked.

However, while significant benefits were achieved through these collaborations, they also helped to highlight

growing challenges ahead. Intellectuals frequently focus on generating results that reinforce their chosen

areas of research as opposed to ensuring their work also has maximum impact in reinforcing community

efforts to sustain human-ecological balance. The vast range of violence-physical, social, environmental

and economic-facing many communities and the world as a whole continues to increase, heightening the

need for public intellectuals in particular to become more active in efforts to reverse these trends. And for

such reversals to occur, community-level leadership and partnerships with communities will remain vital to

assure the preservation of cultures, valuable traditional knowledge, and unique ecosystems in their own

right, and also to illustrate that managing resources from the bottom-up offers the best hope to building a

regional human-ecological balance.

To help set the stage for the findings presented during the Culminating Event, Chapter 2 presents

background information on the Regional Project, its key partners and how the Culminating Event will help

to influence the way forward as public intellectuals navigate their roles in addressing the forces threatening

sustainability in the region.


DayOneFeaturesRegionalProjectOutcomes

Part II chronicles day one of the Culminating Event hosted by Chulalongkorn University. As illustrated

during the opening addresses presented in Chapter 3, the Regional Project was an ambitious undertaking.

Both Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo, Director of the API Coordinating Institutution and Prof. Pirom Kamolratanakul,

M.D., President of Chulalongkorn University pointed out the growing importance of regional collaboration.

From the ASEAN Economic Community scheduled to launch in 2015 to the opening of Burma (Myanmar),

change is only accelerating in the region, inevitably generating diverse impacts on the lives of people,

communities and their human-ecological balance. While it’s natural to address these challenges through

regional collaboration, increasing reliance on technology has come at the expense of fostering the deeper

human relationships necessary for real solutions. That’s why the Regional Project has stressed working with

communities and community leaders to build such relationships as a cornerstone for advancing this much

needed regional cooperation. But as

The Nippon Foundation Chairman,

Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, stressed, this

required a tremendous investment

in time by many people to overcome

many challenges. Nonetheless,

their dedication yielded significant

accomplishments that reinforced

the value of such collaboration and

commitment to local communities

when addressing the challenges to

human-ecological balance.

Dr. Sombath Somphone, Director of the Participatory Development Training Center in Lao PDR and 2005 recipient

of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award delivered the Culminating Event’s keynote address: The Force of

Inter-connectedness. Presented in its entirety in Chapter 4, Dr. Somphone’s remarks framed the landscape

surrounding those advocating development alternatives in the region. As the center of global growth shifts to

Asia, he noted, there are great challenges and opportunities to presenting new ideas. Instead of replicating

the failed development strategies of the past it’s time to advance, “A sustainable education and development

model balanced by four dimensions/pillars: economic development, environmental harmony, promotion and

preservation of culture, and spiritual well-being (or the HEART and HEAD).” The vicious cycle of mindless

consumption and senseless over production must be broken, he argued, and that we must continuously remind

ourselves that everything is inter-connected in a cause-effect relationship. API and others need to work together

to connect the best practices to create a shared vision that makes use of up-to-date technological tools to

disseminate and connect further and also to invest in young people’s holistic education. Education, he stressed,

must promote more experiential and discovery learning so that the next generation will be well prepared to lead

a new development paradigm.

The Regional Project’s outputs and products were then introduced by Dr. Theresita Atienza, Associate Professor

at College of Science, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (API Fellow Year 5). As presented in Chapter

5, she described how the API Regional Project’s approach supports Dr. Somphone’s concept of advancing

a new paradigm through strong support for creative forms of communication and expression including: film,

art installations, dance, music, as well as books and other printed media. The Regional Project’s website


launched in 2009 has served as a repository for many of these outputs. Asst. Prof. Danilo Reyes, of the

Department of English at Loyola School of the Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University (API Fellow Year 3),

further reinforced how art in particular holds a very important place in the API Regional Project. Artists often

work through the unique language of metaphors, he emphasized, helping to answer big social questions

about landscapes and society’s ability to realize the values and possibilities of wise stewardship of natural

and human resources.

Ms. Narumol Aphinives from Thailand (API Fellow Year 5) and Ms. Justine Vaz from Malaysia (Editor of the

Regional Project Book) brought this to life with a stunning slide presentation about their work producing

the Regional Project’s forthcoming book Living Landscapes, Connecting Communities. Employing water

as the thematic link between each of the Regional Project’s five sites, the book captures through vibrant

photography and prose the rich diversity of cultures, values and beliefs which influence human relationships

with ecology, paying special attention to celebrate communities’ capacity for creativity and collective action

against fatalistic views of environmental degradation.

The Culminating Event then featured performances

from two of the five sites. The first entitled Code

Purnama Hatiku (Code, the Full Moon of My Heart)

was introduced by its coordinator, Japanese composer

and artist Ms. Tomoko Momiyama (API Fellow

Year 3). Her project involved mobilizing community

members living and working along the embattled

Kali Code River in Indonesia to travel together and

observe the different ways the river interacts with

people’s lives. Based on their shared experience,

they collectively composed and performed music for

the community (replayed on video) that reinforced

their different perspectives and the value of dialogue

to resolve conflicts. The second performance entitled Water Children, was introduced by Dr. Takako Iwasawa,

Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts and Music, Hokkaido University of Education (API Fellow

Year 7). She worked with youth from Khiriwong Thailand as they conceived and choreographed a performance

emphasizing the importance of water to their community, which had previously been ravaged by floods due to

their own forest mismanagement practices. The dance was performed live and featured large swaths of fabric,

symbolic of Khiriwong’s unique textile handicrafts, to illustrate flowing water and its importance and dangers to

their community.

One of the Regional Project’s most significant contributions toward supporting creative expression was its

documentary film Cross Currents: Journey to Asian Environments, featured in Chapter 6. The evening of the

Culminating Event’s first day provided an opportune venue for the film’s premiere screening. Dr. Yeoh Seng

Guan, Senior Lecturer at Monash University’s (Malaysia) School of Arts and Social Sciences (API Fellow

Year 5), kicked-off the event by describing how the film takes viewers on a 72-minute journey through the

five regional project sites illustrating how these places are bound together by shared stories of struggles and

hopes in the face of ecological challenges experienced by the communities inhabiting them. While the sites

are quite diverse in terms of geology, ecology and culture, the film elegantly waves them together through

their shared reverence for the life-giving forces of water. Drawing on the community initiatives that reinforce

human-ecological balance, the film brings forth lessons from local wisdom, initiatives and experiences that

Artist often worked through the unique language of metaphors... helping to answer big social questions about landscapes and society’s ability to realize the values and possibilities of wise stewardship of natural and human resources.


can be shared with the wider public towards developing better responses to the ongoing threats to maintaining

this balance. Cross Currents, along with short documentaries of each of the five projects, were directed by

Mr. Nick Deocampo (API Fellow Year 1), the Philippines’ leading documentary filmmaker, author, film teacher,

and film historian. Mr. Deocampo was also among API’s first group of fellows, and as such was aggressively

pursued by the producer, The Nippon Foundation, to lead this project. Prior to starting the film, Mr. Deocampo

noted how challenging the project was, but through the commitment and support from the API Community, it was

successfully completed.

CommunityLeadersKickOffDay2’sPublicSeminar

Part IV documents Day 2 of the Culminating Event, which featured the public seminar, In Search of New

Practices: Common Challenges to Human-Ecological Balance in Asia. Dr. Dicky Sofjan, API Regional

Project Manager introduced the first session, Voices from the Local Communities, featured in Chapter 7. He

provided a brief overview and evaluation of the Regional Project and its outputs to date. He emphasized the

need to galvanize, mobilize and utilize the resources within the API Community to realize hidden potential,

especially toward documenting and disseminating knowledge on how community initiatives across

the region address environmental challenges. At all five Regional Project sites there were local leaders

providing a charismatic voice representing the every-day struggles against political, social, economic and

environmental pressures. Several of these leaders joined the Culminating Event to share their experiences

and observations.

Mr. Tetsuya Imakita, from Biwako, Japan, talked about his efforts to revitalize a small community, the demise

of which paralleled the introduction of cedar plantations 50 years ago that replaced a once dynamic forest

ecosystem. Facing an aging population just one-third its size of some years ago, the Harihata community

has come together to support efforts to revitalize their surrounding forests, including support for controlled

burning to return diversity to the forest and to support wild vegetable cultivation. By restoring a more

balanced, traditional ecology to the area the community has become more mobilized and engaged, tourists

more abundant and younger people more motivated to return.

Mr. Yongyuth Krachanglak from the mountain-locked community of Khiriwong in southern Thailand described

a similar transformation within his community, that until 1975 was relatively isolated and extremely self-

sufficient. But by engaging in unsustainable logging practices, devastating floods ravaged Khiriwhong in

1988. From this calamity, however, the community came together to work with the wisdom and practices

of the past. Sustainable natural resources management practice were put in place, especially those that

allowed suan som rom or mixed orchards to be reestablished. Ecotourism was later pursued as a way to

generate additional income from the beautiful mountains, waterfalls and forests. This supplemented income

from produce cultivation as well as Khiriwong’s unique textile handicrafts. This approach to community and

environmental sustainability is now integral to the education of Khiriwong youth to ensure they are prepared

to lead the community along this more balanced path.

Dr. Florentino Hornedo, who was raised in Batanes, a group of small islands in the northeastern Philippines,

spoke of his work to encourage local people to learn about themselves, their oral traditions, belief systems

and ethno sciences to better face the problems of their communities ever changing history. Increased

reliance on outside knowledge and ideas was damaging the local economy, culture and self-determination

as it had little relevance to local needs and long-term sustainability. This resulted in the evolution of the

Batanas Development Foundation, which aided local communities in establishing and running their own


local services, such as water distribution and electricity cooperatives. This also led to the establishment of

the Batanes Heritage foundation, which instituted a graduate school for teachers that was intertwined with

the local educational system. As a result, whatever was known about Batanes culture and local knowledge

was multiplied and passed on through local teachers. The communities are now much better prepared to

balance social and economic needs consistent with the constraints and opportunities of their locality.

Mr. Totok Pratopo from Kali Code, Indonesia then described how a natural disaster-the 2010 eruption of Mount

Merapi leading to sediment clogging a river channel and subsequent flooding-was necessary to galvanize

support to address the varied, and sometimes competing, challenges faced by the diverse communities along

this river corridor. This led to the signing in 2011 of an API-initiated memorandum of understanding between

a verity of government agencies and universities to establish a committee to address Kali Code watershed

issues. Absent such a mechanism to develop a long-term strategic effort, he emphasized, floods, pollution

and slum encroachment will continue degrading the areas human-ecological balance, and a poorly educated

youth will be even less inclined to seek sustainable management strategies for the river.

Mr. Awang Alok, head of the Orang Asli community

of the Tasik Chini, Malaysia’s second largest lake,

discussed how despite ongoing outside interest in the

lake, only recently through the establishment of network

of indigenous Orang Asli does it appear there may be

any real traction toward the area’s protection. While

challenging ongoing mining and plantation activities

they have engaged in mapping the entire watershed to

better communicate to various stakeholders the range

of challenges they face, and the forces responsible.

The findings will be consolidated into a memorandum

that will also highlight their historic land titles so that

these rights are officially recognized.

Dr. Colin Nicholas, Coordinator and Founder, Center for Orang Asli Concerns (API Fellow Year 1) led a

discussion following the five presentations from the community leaders. He first offered three observations

based on the presentations: challenges faced by these community leaders are related to the environment,

reinforcing why communities and their environments cannot be treated separately; to ensure proper

stewardship it’s also important to educate the youth about their heritage and culture so knowledge is passed

on from one generation to the next; and the interconnectedness of everything is critical to addressing

human-ecological balance.

Three issues/questions from the floor were then put to the five community leaders: one, finding common

goals with different stakeholders; two, their experience with corporations; and three, opportunities available

to aid the Tasik Chini.

Mr. Tetsuya Imakita responded that networking with stakeholders was key to them overcoming local

resistance to controlled burning. Mr. Yongyuth Krachanglak, elaborated on this theme noting that support

from all sectors of the community was critical to strong leadership and participation enabling them to

reverse course, and move toward more sustainable agricultural practices. While echoing these sentiments,

Mr. Totok Pratopo cautioned that before collaborating with outside stakeholders, communities must


understand themselves first: their problems, needs and future plans, so that they don’t become reliant on

outside expertise.

In response the question about working with cooperation, Dr. Florentino Hornedo warned that communities

must prepare for problems. In 1996 a foreign corporation tried to construct an extensive resort with gambling

and associated tourism infrastructure on Batanes. Only after the realization that the outside resort operators

would ultimately occupy local elected offices did local leaders concede that they had not consider the range

of social, environmental and economic consequences, but only the potential infusion of money to the area.

Mr. Awang Alok noted that while the ongoing threats to the Orang Asli and Tasik Chini are grave, communities

are escalating their response through their own monitoring, securing their own resources and mobilizing

businesses cooperatives.

TheBenefitsofCommunityEngagement

Prof. Koji Tanaka from Kyoto University introduced the Public Seminar’s second session, Community

Engagement: Transforming Knowledge into Action. A core purpose of this panel, featured in Chapter 9,

is to provide an opportunity for reflection as seen through the observations of five former API Fellows from

various disciplines. Through their site visits to the communities and observations of the work undertaken

they suggested issues that may need to be tackled if work of this nature is to continue.

Ms. Tomoko Momiyama, who during Day 1 presented her work with the Indonesia’s Kali Code communities,

returned to discuss the value of promoting ecological awareness through music. Ecology, she explained,

is a branch of science concerned with the interrelationships of organisms to their environments. By this

definition, music is ecological. It is the study of relationships and a way of communication between humans,

between humans and the physical environment and between humans and their spiritual environment. Eco,

she stressed, is a Greek world meaning home, the place where we live, adding that artistic activities are,

ultimately, attempts at creating a sense of community and home in a contemporary society. When a common

subject is tackled by diverse people, she offered, contrasting perspectives merge and give birth to a multi-

layered narrative that is simultaneously anonymous and identifiable, old and new, or universal and original.

Prof. Myfel Joseph D. Paluga from the Philippines (API Fellow Year 6) then discussed overlapping themes

from his Batanes and Khiriwong site visits. He observed that as global environmental concerns grow, API’s

unit of interaction in pursuit of solutions is decidedly local, and possibly that attention to the “whole” while

tending to the “part” is something uniquely Asian. Furthermore, while the presence of local community

organizations at the sites is critical, absent visionary leaders, impact may be limited. Old terms such

as balance, nature and the environment need to re-conceptualized to reflect present trends and public

understanding. Lastly, he added, while focusing on small villages is important, there must be a more

concerted effort to better connect urban people with nature to create stronger intersections between urban

people and the natural world.

Ms. Penchom Saetang, Director of Ecological Alert and Recovery (API Fellow Year 5), then shared her

experiences and understandings of human-ecological issues via her Tasik Chini and Khiriwong site visits.

First she noted how the ecology surrounding Khiriwong is well protected with community enforced rules

for forest, water and land management. Tasik Chini’s local ecology is, however, suffering from all manner

of external forces: mining, plantations and industrial pollution. Tasik Chini may be designated a UNESCO


biosphere reserve, but she described how any visitor can plainly see an environment on life-support. The

differences in ecosystem health are not surprising, she explained, given that Thailand’s legal system

fosters decentralization and local control whereas state policies governing the Tasik Chini community seem

to afford them far less negotiation power. As such, Khiriwong has developed a high level of economic

self-sufficiency with sustainable food cultivation, ecotourism and textiles. By contrast, many of Tasik Chini’s

men and women now work as labor for palm oil plantation and various factories scattered around the

area. One thing in common between the two communities, she observed, is that they share a respect and

humbleness toward nature, which affords a starting point from which the two communities could benefit

from knowledge exchange, particularly how Khiriwong has been aided by its greater exposure to the outside

world while the people of Tasik Chini have yet to experience such benefits.

Mr. Yuli Nugroho (API Fellow Year 5) then presented his observations on initiatives in natural resource

management when looking at the Kali Code, Khiriwong and Biwako cases. Conflict resolution, especially

surrounding watershed management, was a central theme among the sites. Whether it’s upstream/

downstream, urban/rural or landless/landholders, there are a range of concerns, needs and opinions that

require space for solutions to emerge. He found three key drivers that affect local initiatives: networking,

capacity building and external initiatives. Local communities must work together, within various levels of

government, the private sector, universities and NGOs. They should seek out training to improve advocacy

and conflict resolution, especially mechanisms that encourage people to speak out despite living in a culture

where such openness is discouraged. And communities must beware of how outside certification schemes,

such as the Clean Development Mechanism, can diffuse community efforts.

Asking, “What really is the role of pubic intellectuals?”, Ms. Josie Fernandez, Secretary General, Transparency

International, Malaysia (API Fellow Year 6), then explored the failings of academics and the state as observed

through the Orang Asli’s struggle for land and identity. She pointed out that many government agencies and

public institutions are endowed with human, financial, legal and political resources, but fail to meet their

responsibilities in aiding the communities they profess to assist. Millions of dollars have been awarded to

various agencies on behalf of the Orang Asli, but none has aided building their capacity to improve their own

fate. This is a tragedy as historically the Orang Asli were highly self-sufficient, self-governing, autonomous

communities. But the Orang Asli’s land rights and political power has long eroded away, and they have

received little help in getting it back. In Malaysia, dissent by public universities is still sharply controlled, at

times by self-censorship to ensure political correctness. The state has clearly failed the Orang Asli, but so

too have public intellectuals, she stressed, and this dynamic is certainly not limited to Malaysia.

Given Burma’s advancing role in the region, Mr. Frankie Abreu, a veteran activist of ethnic Karen origin, was

asked to share his observations and experiences in the Mekong region similar to the other Regional Project

cases. He summarized the challenges communities are facing surrounding the industrial corridor emanating

from Burma’s Dawei/Tavoy Deep Sea Port project spanning 350 km2. Project officials have only informally

suggested to local people that they must relocate, causing communities to be distressed, especially about

social disruption and lost livelihoods. Efforts to learn more about their fate or question plans have been

met with intimidation. And while it’s been accepted that Burma cannot bypass globalization, sufficient time

needs to be given to determine how to do it best. If communities must adapt, he posed, why can’t the state

adapt the project to respect the communities’ adaptation needs and desires?


To help frame some discussion, Prof. Decharut Sukkumnoed, Department of Agricultural and Resource

Economics, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University then offered views on the clash of global and local

cultures as pertaining to the implementation of the Regional Project. The degree to which local communities

have power is largely influenced by the level of institutional power exercised by national governments. This

unfair institutionalization is based on three pillars: authority, knowledge, and possibly most critical, social

thinking/behavior. However, it’s also important to look closely as to how public intellectuals can influence the

knowledge aspect. Governments typically pursue quantitative approaches through planning efforts. Public

intellectuals, however, typically try to advance knowledge from the qualitative and bottom-up approach

with the local people. So the challenge to the API Community is not only cultivating and documenting

old and new knowledge, but to advance this knowledge inside and outside communities while respecting

community views, feelings and the natural resources they rely on. Even more important, however, is

that public intellectuals utilize this knowledge in a synchronistic and strategic fashion to influence social

perceptions and build and sustain power for self-determination.

ViewsfromtheFloor

Prof. Koji Tanaka then opened the floor for discussion. During this

Open Forum, featured in Chapter 11, several themes emerged

raising provocative questions that the API, the Regional Project

and public intellectuals generally might wish to tackle to better

address the challenges to human-ecological balance.

First up was the role of violence in all its forms impeding

communities’ ability to advance human-ecological balance.

While the scale of social and environmental violence in the

region has not necessarily increased from previous decades,

desensitization to it has. Governance is the root of this violence

and must be addressed. Bad governance begets bad policies

and inappropriate development models fueled by skewed social

perceptions. For example, it’s assumed by many that people

can be easily moved to make way for immediate development,

despite widespread evidence to the contrary. Unless such basic

misconceptions are addressed, violence and exploitation by those who want rapid change will persist.

Violence whether it be physical violence or created by knowledge systems should be a central theme as

API moves forward. A new conceptualization of violence needs to emerge that links local experiences with

global experiences. For example, Tasik Chini has been transformed into an arid landscape and in Batanes

a bottle of Coke is much cheaper than a bottle of drinking water, two different cases, but nonetheless critical

to defining the spectrum of violence at hand.

Modernization surfaced as another key Open Forum theme. While the Culminating Event has reinforced how

local communities struggle to preserve customs and culture in the face of globalization, these communities

must not be characterized as victims. Modernization should not be seen as a binary argument. Everything

has good and bad. Burma is going to develop and many sympathize with that, but a better job can certainly

be done should the opportunity arise. Public intellectuals should work to portray as outdated the prevailing

views of modernity and development. These development approaches are not creative any more. In the


case of Khiriwong, they did not preserve the old ways, but evolved new paths from them. Developmentalism

is not necessarily bad, but how might the API Community help put the voiceless and powerless at the table–

wielding similar influence as those who currently drive the process?

A likely barrier to more widespread understanding of the value of human-ecological balance is the need

to reconceptualize terms such as nature and ecology. Japanese tourists visiting Biwako see greenish

mountains, greenish paddy fields, small villages and think that’s natural-but it’s not. And the concept of

“ecology” has arguably lost traction in the public sphere over the past decade or two. As Khiriwong illustrates,

communities are not necessarily engaged in the protection of nature, but transforming it. And this is not

necessarily bad.

Examination of the Regional Project’s future also surfaced, mainly the value of emphasizing how its research

and products might more directly bring about beneficial social change. Can the Regional Project, and public

intellectuals generally, become more active as advocates, namely what more can be done to influence the

broader public.

The last topic discussed surrounded whether a unique Asian perspective on the environment exists. Might

Asians be more in touch with spirituality or traditional knowledge providing motivation to pursue less harmful

development strategies promoting stronger human-ecological balance? While no answers were offered, the

topic was seen as reasonable for the API Regional Project to consider.

WrappingUp

Prof. Koji Tanaka began the Wrap Up session, featured in Chapter 12, by reinforcing that API should

further define what it really means by community-building, especially among public intellectuals and how

this relates to the Regional Project going forward. Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo added three themes the API

Regional Project should also consider. First, there are multiple time scales to manage in the quest for

human-ecological balance, ranging from those pushing to go ever faster in the pursuit of profit to those

working to inflict minimal pain and violence to human beings and ecology. Second, there is no community

without solidarity. The responsibility of public intellectuals is not limited to their professional duties, but to

connect hearts and minds across borders and to not harm others in the process. Lastly, a broader voice

must be cultivated to speak and share with people outside the API Community.

Chapter 13 highlights the tributes that were then awarded to representatives of each of the five community

leaders who presented during the morning session. Mr. Herry Yogaswara and Ms. Michiko Yoshida then made

closing remarks that are presented in Chapter 14. Mr. Yogaswara stressed that the Regional Committee has

worked to aid API Fellows in guiding the API Community in achieving its collective aspirations by applying

API’s vision toward activities that yield tangible and intangible products. The Regional Project recognizes

the existence of significant regional knowledge gaps for responding to real life issues of public urgency

and the need to create and strengthen regional togetherness. Ms. Yoshida added that the Regional Project

demonstrated a real journey that deepened API’s understanding surrounding the human dimension of the

global environmental crisis in different communities across Asia, and that the public seminar offered a

useful platform for further contemplation on future collaborative opportunities.

Throughout the two-day Culminating Event a beautiful, creative and informative public exhibition of the Regional

Project, including exhibitors from each of the five sites, was operating. Chapter 14 offers some of the content

presented along with accompanying images to convey the lively atmosphere of this unique, interactive venue.


NewFormofCollaboration

In 2008, after more than eight years supporting ground-breaking work by dozens of intellectuals,

The Nippon Foundation’s Fellowships for Asian Public Intellectuals (API) initiated a new program to engage

its fellows in a collective effort to bring about greater regional awareness of environmental challenges

through the experiences of local communities.

Employing holistic approaches, the API Community has longtime stressed the socio-cultural contexts of

environmental problems, thus it was only fitting that its first region-wide undertaking invoked the theme:

community-based initiatives for human-ecological balance. By communicating the experiences of local

communities, and their relevance to national and regional trends and challenges, the API Regional Project

aimed to understand the common threads that bind communities within the region and the policy space

surrounding these threads where solutions to environmental problems might be sought.

The API Regional Project is a unique experiment. It brings together API Fellows from a variety of disciplines,

bridging academics with activists and artists to collaborate with one another in highlighting the relevance

of applying age-old wisdom from local communities when responding to regional environmental problems.

At its core, such knowledge often stresses the importance of maintaining a healthy human-ecological

balance, thus it must not be marginalized or forgotten. It must be preserved and passed along with the

environments and cultures that shape it.

With these ideas in place the API Regional Project set forth the following objectives.

• Learn, document, and promote local community

knowledge and responses to environmental problems;

• Develop networking and mobilize collaboration

within the API Community in response to regional

environmental challenges, and

• Identify relevant perspectives in Asia

on environmental issues confronting the region.

As noted in the preceding acknowledgments, many people and organizations influenced the success of the

API Regional Project and this Culminating Event including the API team, its fellows, The Nippon Foundation

and Chulalongkorn University among them. It is hoped that these proceedings will offer a valuable resource

to them and others working to meet the challenges to human-ecological balance in Asia.

...the API Regional Project

aimed to understand the common

threads that bind communities

within the region and the

policy space surrounding

these threads where solutions

to environmental problems

might be sought.


In working to fulfill these objectives, the API Community shaped the Regional Project ito allow participating

API Fellows to provide direct, strategic benefits to the local communities they engaged.

Following preliminary research and deliberation, the API Community formed working groups for each of the

five countries in which API operates: Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. The groups

selected and initiated contact with local communities in their respective countries to serve as project sites,

including:

Batanes is the Philippines’ smallest province. It consists of ten islands at the northern edge of the archipelago

and is often viewed as one of the country’s last frontiers. Batanes people have utilized cultural adaptive

strategies that guarantee their food security and survival. Their unique approaches are easily observed in

their shelter, technology, productions activities, access and utilization of resources, indigenous practices

and beliefs.

National pressures toward urbanization had for

several decades contributed to ecological and

cultural degradation in Batanes. More recently,

however, local and national efforts have emphasized

protecting the area’s unique environment and

heritage. The Regional Project aimed to learn

from the symbiosis between Batanes people and

their environment to then showcase the Batanes

experience as a successful example of government-

community-indigenous people collaboration toward

environmental protection.

The Kali Code is a river that bisects the municipality of Yogyakarta in Indonesia. The river originates on the

southern part of Mount Merapi, an active volcano that erupted in late 2010 sending cooled lava cascading

down the channel causing flooding that forced people from their homes. This recent disaster represented

just another in the growing list of challenges to Kali Code’s environment and the communities that rely on it.

Physically, the Kali Code River has been narrowing for years, impeding drainage. Once 40 meters wide,

encroachment on Kali Code’s banks by poor and landless people has reduced this width by half. These

settlements have also compounded water pollution problems. Furthermore, forest degradation, industrial

pollution and the drying up of many springs entering the river have also contributed to Kali Code’s

deterioration.

API Regional Project fellows set out to understand the local approaches and barriers within Kali Code

communities to protecting their river, and to work with community representatives in identifying collaborative

strategies to bring together all stakeholders to devise long-term solutions for the river’s restoration and

sustainable management.

Lake Biwako, located at the heart of Shiga Prefecture, is Japan’s largest freshwater lake. It is surrounded

by mountains and fed by approximately 460 streams. For centuries Lake Biwako communities coexisted

sustainably with their environment, but post-World Wart II industrialization and life style changes disrupted

this balance. Water quality in particular has suffered due to agricultural and industrial waste. Alien fish

species introduced for sport fishing drove down stocks and diversity of indigenous fish in the lake. Villages


throughout the area experienced a net outflow of population

caused by rigid national agricultural and forestry policies.

To tackle these problems, a growing effort has been underway

to conserve water and the environment in and around Lake

Biwako. There are a number of local authorities and local

communities working to rehabilitate their environments,

including forests, streams, grasslands and the lake itself.

In so doing, communities are also identifying economic

activities that reinforce their conservation efforts and that

can help to reverse the outmigration trend. Regional Project

teams aimed to document these initiatives, particularly at

two villages, Mukugawa and Harihata, to illustrate how applying old practices to new problems does not

only help restore human-ecological balance, but contributes to the revival of traditional lifestyles and the

preservation the area’s unique culture.

Tasik Chini is the second largest fresh water lake in Malaysia. It’s actually a chain of 12 interconnected lakes

that form an ecosystem that was once extremely rich in biodiversity. Several decades of unconstrained

economic development has ravaged the lake, its surrounding area and its indigenous Orang Asli inhabitants.

Sixty percent of the catchment forest has been cut to make way for mainly palm-oil plantations. Ever-

expanding mining operations has further transformed the landscape and added to the vast amounts of

pollutants degrading the ecosystem’s health.

The Tasik Chini’s aesthetic values did not go unnoticed by the tourism industry. This too brought further

consequences for the local communities and ecosystem upon which they relied. A dam and weir constructed

to maintain the lake’s level brought about the complete hydrologic transformation of this freshwater

ecosystem. The deteriorating state of the lake has been so bad that tourism too has been on the decline.

Nonetheless, the Tasik Chini’s unique ecology led to its designation in 2009 as a UNESCO biosphere

reserve. The problems, however, persist as there are no national or local provisions to assure its protection.

The API Regional Project team aimed to learn more about the Tasik Chini’s degrading environment and its

implications for the Orang Asli communities, specifically how they have been responding to these changes,

and what role if any the Orang Asli play in efforts to manage the further development and/or restoration in

and around the lake.

Khiriwong, in Southern Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, was until recently a relatively isolated

community hemmed-in by mountains of lush tropical rainforests. With limited routes to the outside world,

Khiriwong people lived quite sustainably passing on age-old water and land management practices from one

generation to the next. Ideas changed, however, once a good-quality road was completed in the 1970s. The

arrival of the chainsaw was particularly significant, providing additional income to some, but contributing to

floods experienced by all. After one particularly deadly deluge in 1988, Khiriwong people began a process

of reflection. Some elders encouraged consideration of the old ways, which residents were eager to explore.

Now, just a generation later, Khiriwong has become a case study in applying past knowledge to current

problems leading to a restoration of the community’s human-ecological balance. Forest restoration, the

return of suan som rom (mixed orchards), development of ecotourism infrastructure and indigenous textile

products have combined to support much more ecologically-balanced livelihoods and lifestyles in Khiriwong.


The Regional Project team sought to document how local

wisdom is intertwined in Khiriwong’s responses to outside

influences, which enabled them to strike a balance between

human survival and protecting nature based on respect of

community rights and dignity.

Through visits to each of these sites, the API Fellows

interacted with local communities, serving as mediators

and linking local people from one API country to another.

This approach enabled the API Community to mobilize

itself to contribute to the regionalization of ideas and the

integration of information networks. By drawing from local wisdom, and from the practices and perspectives

of communities at the five country sites, API Fellows sought to formulate innovative regional perspectives on

the issues. These regional perspectives reflected the spirit, ethos, and cultural diversity of Asian societies. A

common theme connecting all these project sites was water.

The API Regional Project involved a process of mutual learning. It emphasized seeking partnerships with

various stakeholders at different levels, ranging from local communities in the project sites to civil society

groups, academic institutions as well as government authorities. As a result, initiatives and activities were

developed and sustained through continued engagements between the API Community and the project

site communities. The rich resources of API, enhanced by the strong commitment of Fellows, being public

intellectuals from various fields, now offer the potential to use these experiences and findings as inputs and

potential courses of action for public policy advocacy.

Key Regional Project outcomes from the project sites include:

The Philippines-Batanes: Following the Regional Project site visit to Batanes in April 2010, API fellows

supported the local Ivatan community in organizing teacher trainings, a public forum, and a heritage-

building workshop. The workshop had two objectives: raise awareness on the potential for an Ivatan

community museum that celebrates their rich local heritage, and second, to develop community strategies

for supporting Batanes’ bid to attain UNESCO Cultural Heritage status. An art installation developed by

one of the API Fellows during the site visit remains as an important part of API’s continuing engagement

with the local Ivatan community. This installation located in the Mahatao Church, which takes the form of a

community library, is filled with blank, hard-covered books into

which residents can write or draw “living memories” to share

with the local community and visitors.

Indonesia-Kali Code: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

on the Planning and Revitalization of Kali Code was developed

in conjunction with, then signed by, several key stakeholders:

Directorate of Research and Community Service, Indonesian

Islamic University; Institute of Research and Community

Service, Yogyakarta Technological University; Institute of Research

and Community Service, Atma Jaya University; Faculty of

Engineering, Gadjah Mada University and the API Community


of Indonesia. The MoU’s signing was witnessed by the Deputy Mayor of Yogyakarta City and the Provincial

Secretary of Yogyakarta on behalf of Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwano X. The parties agreed to

collaborate with the Pemerti Kali Code (Yogyakarta Code Community Forum) in planning and revitalizing

Kali Code through the following activities: institutional capacity building of the Pemerti Kali Code; mapping

and disaster mitigation-based spatial planning; drafting of a community-based Kali Code master plan, and

empowering the Kali Code community socially, economically and culturally.

Japan-Biwako: The Japan Working Group undertook extraordinary efforts in preparing for their site visit. In

order to establish mutual trust with the people residing in the small mountain villages, the working group

rented and cultivated a community paddy field in the Mukugawa community. The shared experiences of

working the paddy field helped to establish a solid foundation from which to pursue further collaborations

between API Fellows and the community. Following the site visit, a photo exhibition in the community of

Mukugawa was organized. This exhibit provides ongoing opportunities for the community to reflect on its

rich cultural assets, potential, and ideas for future development. A bilingual book was published providing

an additional resource and a record of the community’s engagement with the API Community.

Malaysia-Tasik Chini: A number of Malaysian API Fellows

supported Tasik Chini communities in advocating their

concerns to civil society groups and the media. This

produced several outcomes. The Forest Governance

Integrity (FGI) Program of Transparency International

Malaysia (TI-M) embarked on a fact-finding trip to assess the

condition of Tasik Chini through geospatial technology and

meetings with representatives from the local community.

A conference involving Orang Asli communities was held

to examine strategies to reverse the degradation of the

lake. A Workshop entitled “Care to Action: Multi-Pronged

Strategy needed to Reverse the Decline of Tasik Chini”

brought together stakeholders from federal and state

government agencies, local community representatives,

NGOs, academia and media. A memorandum containing a number of resolutions and action plans was

produced and endorsed by stakeholders. Eleven representatives from the local community and six civil

society activists submitted this memorandum to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. The District Office of

Pakan and the Department of Orang Asli Development have been charged with acting on the issues raised

in the memorandum, and have started to monitor and coordinate with the Chief Minister of Pahang.

Thailand-Khiriwong: The Thailand API Fellows supported the Khiriwong community in their efforts to protect

the biodiversity of local plant species and fruits. The API Fellows recruited several experts to assist in a

DNA research project. One finding suggested that there are 26 different varieties of durian, which could

be classified into three categories. A durian contest was also supported by the API Fellows. It helped to

identify the most delicious variety with which Khiriwong could promote itself. Other activities included the

enhancement of youth leadership training, natural disaster surveillance and response strategies (relocation

plans, monitoring, drills, etc.), and fundraising events for Khiriwong during the flood. Several other API

Fellows’ organizations, including the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, helped to address additional

thematic concerns.


TheRegionalProjectCulminatingEvent

The Regional Project (RP) Culminating Event was organized to address regional concerns and to exchange

knowledge derived from API’s three-year regional collaboration with local communities in five countries:

Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. This public event comprising of a public seminar,

exhibition, documentary premier screening and performance art all aimed to further establish collaborative

action in response to various regional challenges.

Integral to the Culminating Event’s success was the participation of community representatives from each

of the five project sites. Their contributions included the following activities:

• Orientation and exchange with the API Community.

• Field visit to Mae Klong community in Thailand’s Samut Songkram Province.

• Celebration Event, including the regional premier screening of the main Regional Project documentary film.

• API Public Seminar, where the first session entitled “Voices from the Local Communities” featured

community representatives sharing their visions for their respective sites along with their thoughts and

experiences on engaging with the API Community.

• Recognition Ceremony, which involved presenting tributes to the participating communities from the

API Community.

AboutAPI

Recognizing that Asia faces political, economic, and social challenges that transcend national boundaries,

the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) Fellowships Program was launched in 2000 to create and nurture a

community of public intellectuals in Asia; to promote mutual learning among Asian public intellectuals;

and to contribute to the growth of public spaces in which effective responses to regional needs can be

generated. Public Intellectuals-academics, researchers, media professionals, artists, creative writers, NGO

activists, social workers, public servants and others with moral authority-are those committed to working

for the betterment of society by applying their professional knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Under the

partnership of The Nippon Foundation in cooperation with key academic institutions in Indonesia, Japan,

Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, the Program has focussed during its initial stages to work toward

these goals by providing fellowships to qualified individuals from the five countries and, since 2010, from

three additional countries: Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

In 2006 the second stage of API’s activities began in which API Fellows were encouraged to formulate

a networking body that would allow them to work together collectively. As a result, the API Regional

Committee was launched. Represented by Fellows of various disciplines and background from the five

countries, the Committee initiated the API Regional Project through numerous processes of consultations

and engagement via country- and regional-level discussions and dialogues. The API Community Vision

articulates the spirit of the API Regional Project.

API is a community of multi-disciplinary intellectuals committed to issues related to and affecting

Asia. API recognizes its diversity as a strength, respect the freedom and autonomy of its work,

and desire to work with others who share similar commitments.

Introduction from “API’s Community Vision”


API is committed to knowledge development beyond traditional institutionalized boundaries, and to exploring

the meaning and place of Asia in a global context. In its work, API aspires to bring together thinking and doing

imbued by accountability and transparency in addressing issues of social, cultural and political significance.

The API Fellowships Program is a regional program currently operated by five Partner Institutions supported

by The Nippon Foundation. In addition, one of the Partner Institutions plays the role of Regional Coordinating

Institution. The Malaysia Partner Institution served as the Regional Coordinating Institution between 2000

and 2005; thereafter, the Thailand Partner Institution has been the Regional Coordinating Institution.

The collective undertakings of some 300 Fellows to date, and growing every year, to encourage increased

networking and collaboration to address regional challenges, has become an important focus for API as a program.

The API Regional Project launched in 2008, and running for three years, was an experimental endeavor in many

ways that mobilized a large number of Fellows and other members of the API Community in its implementation.


AboutTheNipponFoundation

The Nippon Foundation was established in 1962 as a non-profit philanthropic organization, active in Japan

and around the world. Initially our efforts focused largely on the maritime and shipping fields, but since then

the range of our activities has expanded to education, social welfare, public health, and other fields—carried

out in more than 100 countries to date. Together with our more than 20 partner organizations in Japan

and worldwide we are funding and assisting community-led efforts aimed at realizing a more peaceful and

prosperous global society.

Since its founding, The Nippon Foundation has pursued the fundamental aim of realizing a peaceful and

prosperous global society, in which no one needs struggle to secure their basic rights. This pursuit has been

guided by the belief, handed down by our founder Ryoichi Sasakawa, that the “world is one family and all

mankind are brothers and sisters.”

Based on this outlook, The Nippon Foundation’s approach to engaging in and supporting activities

underscores the need to respect the different value systems embraced by the world’s many cultures,

and at the same time seeks to transcend the political, religious, ethnic, and national boundaries that

divide the world.

Similarly, The Nippon Foundation’s methodology is founded on a continual effort to grasp the world’s

evolving trends and social conditions, and to ascertain the global community’s most urgent needs.

The Foundation’s prime concern is to grasp the essence of the problems faced by humankind, then to select

those that best match the Foundation’s own priorities, addressing them in a systematic and effective way.

The Nippon Foundation feels a strong sense of responsibility as is pursue activities aimed at helping people

care for the world, and will continue to draw on the wisdom found in communities throughout in order to

transform society for the better

The Nippon Foundation

International Program Department

Address: 1-2-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku,

Tokyo 107-8404

Japan

Tel: +81-3-6229-5181

Fax: +81-3-6229-5180

E-mail: [email protected]



Timing is crucial given how fast things are changing in Asia,

especially in response to the ASEAN Economic Community

scheduled to launch in 2015, the rapid opening of Burma

(Myanmar), the opening of the labor market in Vietnam and

ongoing massive infrastructure construction in Laos in an effort

for the country to serve as a regional transportation hub. It’s

time for us all to adapt to these changes, especially to their

pace. Such change inevitably generates diverse impacts on

the lives of people and communities working to maintain a

human-ecological balance, which is the theme of this event.

As we are all connected within this region, it’s natural to pay

attention to these challenges through regional collaboration.

But too often we rely too heavily on technological connectivity,

and discount technology’s limitations to foster deeper human relationships. At this forum we have community

level participation, which is our focus for the future, as such relationships and information sharing has

become increasingly important.

During the past 12 years of the API Fellowships Program and the three years of Regional Project in

collaboration with communities in five countries, our Fellows aspiring to be public intellectuals have learned

much from local communities. And we’re trying to encourage more people of different backgrounds to

interface on the key challenges we face with eyes toward mutual relationships and regional connectedness.

On this occasion, API is very pleased to present the results of the Regional Project in their various forms,

including a book, documentary and website. We will further discuss the role of community voices, community

engagements and future actions with the community leaders in attendance.

We welcome all of you to participate and share your experiences and hopefully we will be able to identify

more insights together that further the community engagements that have emerged in response to the

common challenges confronted by the region.


On behalf of Chulalongkorn University, I would like to extend a

warm welcome to all the participants of the Regional Project

Culminating Event of the Asia Public Intellectual Fellowships

Program. Chulalongkorn University being one of the partners of

the API Fellowships Program, we are very honored to be able

to co-host this significant event. As Thailand’s first institution of

higher education founded nearly a century ago, Chulalongkorn

University has been a national intellectual center and has been

committed to ongoing development of Thai society in every

aspect. It has also been contributing to find solutions in response

to key challenges emerging in the region as well as in Thailand,

under the credo “The Pride of Chula is in Serving the Public”.

The API Fellowships Program shares a lot in common with

Chulalongkorn University in its mission. Supporting the pool of public intellectuals in Asia for the past

12 years, API has succeeded in the accumulation of knowledge and experiences on multiple levels of

professional activities. These are important assets in responding to local and regional challenges, thus it is

a great opportunity for us all to gather at this Culminating Event.

Amidst the recent changes in our region including the coming ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, I am

confident that we will all benefit from sharing our key challenges and experiences in order to find the most

effective solutions for various issues in the region and the way for a sustainable future.

We wish to be engaged in more regional cooperation for a better future of Asia and Chulalongkorn University

looks forward to playing an important part in such endeavors in support of regional integrity.


It is my great honor and pleasure to be standing in front of

you on behalf the API Executive Committee and The Nippon

Foundation to celebrate together the great accomplishments of

the API Regional Project. I have brought a video message from

Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of the Nippon Foundation.

For those people who are not familiar with The Nippon

Foundation let me briefly explain. The Nippon Foundation is

a private non-profit foundation based in Tokyo, Japan. It was

established in 1962 and is one of the largest grant-making

operational foundations in Asia and the world. Our interests

range from humanitarian aid to human resources development

to intellectual exchange. Though we work worldwide our main focus is here in Asia. The API Fellowships is one

of the major initiatives and since its initiation the Chairman, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, has been a strong supporter

of the program. He is not able to join you here today so he wanted to talk to you through this video message.

API Fellows and local representatives from five Asian countries,

everyone in the API community and distinguished guests, as we

enter the 13th year of the Asia Public Intellectuals Fellowships

Program, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to the

Culminating Event of the API Regional Project aimed at sharing

the fruits of the largest collaborative undertaking by API Fellows

to date.

I truly regret that I cannot be there with you today, having followed

with great interest the dedicated efforts of the fellows from the

outset of this project. I would, however, like to convey my sincere

congratulations through this video message to all those involved.

I would like to express my deep admiration and gratitude to the Fellows who have shown great initiative

in making the project a great success. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to the many

people who have been instrumental in providing support including: Regional Project Manager, Dicky

Sofjan; API Program Coordinator, Michiko Yoshida, the Program Coordinators for each country as well as

the members of the API Executive Committee. I am also extremely grateful to the representatives in the

local communities in each country. The collaboration between local communities and the API Fellows was

a very important aspect of the Regional Project. It simply could not have been possible without the kind

understanding and cooperation of the communities.

As you know the API Program through its fellowship scheme initially provides support for fellows for

conducting research in their various specialized fields. However, the purpose of the program is not to


provide training for ivory tower academics but to nurture individuals dedicated to utilizing their knowledge

and expertise for the greater good of society.

We encourage these like-minded fellows to form a community so that they can work with each other, and

together with local communities seek solutions to pressing issues facing our world today.

The Regional Project, which was launched at the API Regional Workshop held in Indonesia in 2008, reflects

the spirit of the API Program and Community. Under the overarching theme, community-based initiatives to

add human-ecological balance the project brought together members of the API Community from across

countries and disciplines so that they could work together towards a common goal.

This Culminating Event is an opportunity to share the

knowledge that the fellows gained through working

with local communities at the five sites where their

fieldwork was carried out through the generous

cooperation of the local people.

I understand there were many challenges that had to

be overcome. However, with the combined effort of

everyone the project was successfully completed. The

fact that we are able to hold this Culminating Event

today is a reflection of the great determination and

commitment of everyone involved. Therefore, I would

once more like to express my utmost respect for your

endeavors. I hope that the documentaries and books

that have resulted will be widely circulated.

Once again I offer my congratulations on the successful completion of this dynamic project that has been

carried out with great dedication by the API community over the past few years. I hope that this gathering

will be productive and thought provoking. It is also my wish that the fellows, using the lessons learned from

this Regional Project, will redouble their efforts for the creation of a better Asia. This, after all, is the reason

why API was established.

In closing, I would also like to thank everyone at the host institution Chulalongkorn University, especially

their President, Prof. Pirom Kamolratanakul; the API Regional Coordinating Institution Program Director

and the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies Director, Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo; the Institute of Asian

Studies Director, Dr. Sunait Chutintaranond; the API Program Coordinator, Ms. Michiko Yoshida as well as

all those dedicated staff who have prepared for this event.

Finally, I wish you good health and all the best for your future endeavors. Thank you very much.

...the purpose of the

program is not to provide

training for ivory

tower academics, but to

nurture individuals dedicated

to utilizing their for the greater good

of society.


TheForceofInter-connectedness

If we look back over the last 2-3 decades, we must acknowledge

that there have been amazing advances in technological

and industrial development, and with globalization, many of

such advances have spread even to many parts of the less

developed world. In general more people are living longer and

enjoying more affluent life styles. Unprecedented advances

have been made in agriculture and aquaculture, yet more

people go to bed hungry each day. Many nations have become

very powerful, but the world has become ever more insecure.

Now with 7 billion habitants, we begin to be concerned if we

are overshooting the carrying capacity of the earth. The urban

population has now overtaken that of the rural. The gaps between the have and have-not continue to widen.

Climate change resulting from industrial pollution is threatening the life-support system of planet earth.

Everyone wants to make more money, and everything is monetized.

The bulk of the growth and progress comes from exploiting and extracting our finite resources from

nature. With addiction to growth comes addiction to consume, and addiction to consumption has led many

countries - as we now see happening in Europe and the US - into debt and financial instability. Now the

center of growth has shifted to Asia, or the East, with China taking the lead, but the fundamental model

of development has remained basically the same. Now we must ask, can the Asian nations follow such

unsustainable patterns of development based on economic growth as originated in the West?

It seems to me that the shift of center of growth from the West to Asia presents both a great challenge as well

as an opportunity for us to re-examine the model of development and growth and to do something right and

sustainable. Many of us have, over the past decades, pioneered alternative and more sustainable models of

sustainable livelihoods and development. But many of such models are generally small, isolated and quickly

overwhelmed by major interest groups and corporations, many of whom control our politicians and influence

development policies. To overcome such stranglehold, we should make more effort to link the innovative

elements of our research and practical experiments of alternative development better and weave these into a

fabric of sustainable livelihoods and development. We need to collaborate with your peers and associates and

break away from the traditional individualized and compartmentalized modes of conducting our lives.


Aconceptualframeworkofamorebalanceddevelopmentmodel:

I would like now to share with you a conceptual

framework of a more balanced development

model which I have used to guide all aspects

of my work in education and development

over the past 20 years, and which I have

and many of my colleagues have found quite

useful. After years of working on various

educational and development approaches, I

have come to the conclusion that education

and development need to go hand-in-hand

and need to be more integrated and holistic.

Unfortunately, we often leave education to schools and specialized institutions and then development to

development planners/specialists and then wonder why people coming out of educational institutions seldom

link what they learn with what they do in life. Hence, as educators and development practitioners we should

be stressing the inter-connectedness between four areas of education and development mainly: Economy,

Well-being, Nature, and Society as the fundamental building blocks of sustainability and happiness. In

summary, how we live and how we educate (ourselves, our children, and our peers) will dictate our future.

A sustainable education and development model is a model that has a balance between the four dimensions/

pillars of economic development, environmental harmony, promotion and preservation of culture, and

spiritual well-being (or the HEART and HEAD).

The model of development I propose is one that stresses human dignity and “happiness. This model was first

initiated in Bhutan, but is now taken seriously by many countries. In other words, the goal of development

cannot be based only progress in GNP (Gross National Product), but also improvement in people’s well-

being or GNH (Gross National Happiness. In such a model of development, education is conceptualized

as the foundation for development. The four pillars representing the different dimensions of development

are anchored and are part of the education process. Here we clearly see the inter-connectedness between

education and development. The two are inter-dependent and supportive of each other. At the base of the

model is “good governance”, which supports justice and fairness for all.

Let’s look at our model of development as it exists today. The development model that is widely practiced

today is not very sustainable. So many things do not fit, thus so many “failures” just like in our “schooling”.

For example, the world is so rich and yet there is widespread poverty. One can be so rich in material wealth,

but yet so poor emotionally and spiritually.

Boom:Unbalancegrowthanddevelopmentisunstableandunderstress

A common model of today’s development stresses GNP or economic growth as its ultimate goal. This

growth comes from the over-taxing our environmental capital, human capital, and cultural capital. Everything

is monetized, including “Schooling”. The media takes over the time parents and grandparents normally

spend with the kids. We hand over the intergenerational and societal transfer of knowledge, history, and


wisdom to our young to the media. But we know, the

media is supported by business corporations whose

interest is in promoting their bottom-line - hence the media

promotes and shapes the viewers either towards mindless

consumption or reduces the notions of greed and violence

as entertainment. The media has become a very powerful

instrument for shaping societal values.

And how can we blame the parents. They have little time

for their children. They have to work very hard to support

the kids through school as well as to satisfy their material

needs.

government too joins hands with the corporations to make

sure there are enough business activities to create jobs and income. And that is not to say that creating

employment and opportunities for livelihood is not an important function of government. However, oftentimes

corporate interests are given higher priorities to other areas, such as ensuring adequate environmental

protection, and investments in social development, including investment in education, especially quality and

relevance of education.

Without safeguards for balance in the development system, development processes will put stress on the

system, leading to imbalance and instability, which may not be apparent in the short-term but certainly will

lead to systems failure in the long-run. Imbalances are often witnessed in the form of cycles of boom and

bust - a way for the system to re-adjust itself. This cycle of boom and bust has been very prominent in our

recent human history.

Bust:Collapsingtoreadjust

Clearly this model promotes production and consumption as main activities. It is a system of consumerism.

The globalization of consumerism is happening at such a rapid pace that the planet can no longer sustain

it. According to Global Foot Print Network, we have been consuming more than what the planet earth can

regenerate since the 1970’s. At the moment we are consuming 150% of our only planet earth. In about 30

more years we will be consuming 200%, or twice what the planet can reproduce. Essentially we are killing

our planet and in the process killing ourselves along with it.

A wake up call has been way overdue:

We need to break the vicious cycle of mindless

consumption and senseless over production. In order

to wake up and break the cycle, we should begin with

recognizing the interconnectedness of all things, mainly

the Heart, the Head, and the Hands. To do this, we need

to consciously remind ourselves and reflect regularly

that everything is inter-connected in a cause-effect

relationship. Such creates an internal force of internal

peace, which will drive the sustainability of the world.

Peace starts with us and with our every step.


In a world that is changing at such an incredibly pace and distractions, that internal peace is hard to come

by. We can however try to cultivate inner peace through regular practice using techniques of reflection and

meditation and appreciating nature, according to your own cultural orientation and faith. These practices are

acts of internal peace building and can help us to develop self confidence, dignity, wisdom, compassion,

acceptance of others. With the development of these inner strengths comes the foundation for reducing

violence, and developing the insight to good decision making and reconnect us to our human spirit or our

humanity. All faith and religious beliefs have these qualities.

Summary:

I hope that over the next few days as we discuss the various development issues and challenges facing our region,

and witness many good practices. We should also reconnect with ourselves and with each other and try to:

• Work together to connect the best practices and to create a shared vision over the next few days so

that you can go back to your home countries and convince others and you have each other to continue

to support you on the journey;

• Make use of the up-to-date technological tools to disseminate and connect further. Social media has

helped the Arab Spring revolution. In a similar way we can use it to revolutionize the region’s holistic

transformation.

• Invest in your country’s young people’s holistic education and development as they are potential agents

of change to gaining momentum behind the new balanced model of development. We need to focus

on youth because they have less baggage to unlearn. They have energy and curiosity to learn and to

experiment with new ideas. We have been saying for too long that youths are the future and they are

agents of change. But so far we have not engaged them and give them enough space to participate in

education and in development. It is time to give them greater role to discover their own potential and to

plan for their own future.

• Education must promote more experiential learning and discovery learning so that the head, heart, and

hands of the students are strengthened simultaneously. This way they will be well prepared to lead the

new development paradigm.

In closing, I would like to quote His Holiness, the Dalai Lama:

Man, sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.

And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; The result being that he

does no live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never

really lived. The Dalai Lama

Thank you for allowing me to share these experiences and connect with you all and to learn from your

valuable practical experiences from community leaders and the all of you. Together let’s start and expand

our ecology of learning for New Practices through more of this type of sharing and inter-connectedness. Let

each one of us steer ourselves, our family, colleagues, and communities toward a more sustainable path

way where young people, local knowledge, and practical life skills are fully recognized and utilized.

Thank you very much for your very kind attention. I am looking forward to learning more from your practical

actions and exhibitions in the next few days. Wish you all good health and happiness.

Thank you.


Introduction

For the past three years almost 70 API Fellows visited five project sites and

took part in collaborative activities that addressed various environmental

challenges. When unraveling the complex relationship between local

communities and their environment a range of opportunities emerged for

interaction with the API Regional Project. Some of their products included:

• In Biwako Japan an art installation and pictorial book illustrated the

environmental and social challenges facing the communities.

• In Khiriwong Thailand youth training on geography was applied to music

and art that included a youth-conceived and produced performance on

local hydrology, and a Thai-language book published that showcased

the unique community of Khiriwong.

• In Batanes, the Philippines, an art installation was undertaken that took the form of a blank-book library;

a teacher-training program on sustainable development and environmental management was

implemented; a heritage-building workshop was organized and a short book was published.

• In Kali Code, Indonesia, a memorandum of understanding between stakeholders was developed and

implemented and a musical and dance performances developed and performed.

• In Tasik Chini, Malaysia, a pictorial book and postcards were produced to advocate the care and protection

of this fragile native community.

At the regional level various products have evolved.

• A website was launched in 2009 to raise awareness of the

Regional Project and serve as a repository for country outputs.

• A regional documentary, Cross Currents, as well as individual

country documentary videos have been produced.

• A book entitled Living Landscapes, Connecting Communities,

is scheduled to be released in October 2012.


RegionalProjectBookMs. Justine Vaz and Ms. Narumol Aphinives (API Fellow Year 5), Editor

and Associate Editor respectively of the Regional Project Book described

the forthcoming publication in more detail. Living Landscapes Connecting

Communities highlights a three-year journey of exploration to deepen

understandings of the human dimension of the global environmental

crisis among the five communities involved in the API Regional Project.

From remote shores to inland lakes and dense urban settlements, these

communities showcase the different ways to strive to maintain social and

cultural integrity even as they respond to challenges and opportunities,

and pursue new approaches to develop their economies.

The book contains 50 contributors comprising API Fellows, invited resource people, and other experts.

Reflecting the Regional Project’s multidisciplinary community of academics, artists and activists the book

brings a wide palette of skill sets and experiences to the challenge of exploring and contextualizing local

experiences. Through an innovative series of analytical essays, personal reflections, poetry, music and

dance, and beautifully-illustrated with powerful images, Living Landscapes, Connected Communities

encourages readers to broaden their understanding of peoples’ changing relationship with nature to

encompass essential elements of spirituality, identity, belonging, and wellbeing.

With all their complexity, each of these communities has something meaningful to convey about the

human–environment connection and the common threads that link people across the region. Their stories

tell of how community governance of resources and participation in decision-making can make a real

difference in safeguarding living environments and natural resources.

The book helps to foster a better understanding of the role local wisdom, cultural practices and traditions

offer as communities face change. By capturing the strategies being taken by local communities to conserve

nature, preserve environmental health and improve their lives, the book also helps to broaden perspectives

of the people-environment linkage across contemporary Asian landscapes.

Employing water as the thematic link between each of the five sites, the book endeavors to capture the rich

diversity of cultures, values and beliefs which influence relationships with the living environment, paying

special attention to celebrate communities as they increasingly assert their right to develop in ways that are

meaningful to them. In upholding what they most value, these communities offer insight into what inspires

collective action even in situations that appear grim

and hopeless and gives us hope for the future.

A brief slide presentation offered some of the

“simple truths” the book’s editors found present

within the communities that will be represented in

the published pages:

• Children know instinctively how to enjoy the

environment;

• Connecting with nature is remembering how to

play;


• Living with Nature means respecting its power;

• Communities that strive to live in balance with nature practice reverence, and value their elders;

• Beliefs and traditions preserve shared identities and nurture passionate leaders;

• Strongly-rooted communities weather change and face challenges to come out stronger;

• Thriving as a community requires supporting one another and making new partnerships, and

• Traditional knowledge hold secrets to sustainability, abundance and diversity.

Living Landscapes, Connected Communities is a tribute to the diverse communities that challenge life.

The book is designed to reach a broad audience: anyone interested in the dynamic intersection of people,

culture and environment in Asia. It is also a thank you to the people who hosted members of the Regional

Project participants.

IntroductiontoCreativeExpressionsArt holds a very important place in the API Regional Project. The

participating artists travelled back to the five countries: Indonesia,

Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Each community

revealed to them its unique spirit and place. Through film, art

installation, dance and music, the artists involved wanted to reflect a

world of many colors and important images. In many ways they have

explored art to understand these communities.

Art is refreshing because it works through the unique language of

metaphors, helping to answer big social questions about landscapes

and society’s ability to realize the values and possibilities of wise

stewardship of natural and human resources.

Among the artists who participated in the Regional Project were:

• Mr. Toshiya Takahama got his inspiration from the cedar groves in Mukugawa, Japan. He used wooden

blocks to collect different memories from the community and to display them so that people could assemble

and dismantle the blocks to share and understand these memories.

• Mr. Jay Ticar gave blank books to people in Batanes, the Philippines, so they could write down and share

their personal heritage and island wisdom.

• Ms. Michi Tomioka, a Japanese dancer, worked with a village in Kali Code to develop a dance performance

depicting an entire village taking care of each other.

• Two other artists, Ms. Tomoko Momiyama who worked with Kali Code villagers, and Dr. Takako Iwasawa,

who worked with children in Khiriwong, presented their creative expression projects to the audience as

described below.


Code Purnama Hatiku,(Code, the Full Moon of My Heart)The Code River runs through the center of the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

It is located near places of political and economical importance, such as

the royal palace, the central station, and various touristic sites including

Malioboro Street. The population density is very high due to urbanization.

There are communities of informal settlers along the river banks. Many

artisans along the river craft souvenir goods from local materials. There

also are various groups of amateur and professional artists, in folk,

traditional, and contemporary fields. So the Code River has tremendous

environmental, political, economic, cultural and spiritual significance.

A key project theme emerged around inter-village conflicts that arose from perceived inequities in

reconstruction support resources following the eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010. The lava and fallout from

this eruption contributed to massive flooding along the Code River in 2011. There was therefore an urgent

need expressed to empower the local riverside communities and give voices to the marginalized people,

expressed by Pemerti Kali Code, a community-based organization and project partner.

The project’s approach employed recruiting people from various backgrounds to travel together along the

river. Based on their shared experience, they collectively composed music for the community. By weaving

together different perspectives through dialogue, music with multiple layers was created. Those who

composed the music also performed it. Because they understand the meaning of the music, the resulting

performance was convincing and powerful.

In addition to encouraging dialogues between residents from various villages along the river, the project

aimed to expose and share different perspectives so participants better understood their collective struggle

to better empower marginalized people to improve their environment.

During the field trip along the river participants were invited into one

another’s homes, listened to stories, took note of what they saw, heard,

smelled, tasted, thought and felt.

“I thought our village had the worst condition until visiting this village,

but now I know we are not alone.”

“It is unfair that Terban received stronger embankment of rocks and wires to

prevent flood, while we got only 38 sandbags from the local government.”

They also collected materials from the journey to create sound. In the process, upstream residents learned

how the trash they were dumping in the river was being used to make crafts downstream.

The participants then sat together to exchange their observations and ideas, shared how their perceptions

changed during the field trip, and crafted a collective vision for the river that could form the basis for their

musical composition. Instruments were created from the objects collected, lyrics developed and after five

days of preparation and a three-day creative workshop, a 20 minute piece of music was created: Code

Purnama Hatiku (Code, the Full Moon of My Heart).


Traveling through their communities with a goal of composing music together was the most important part

of the process. By visiting one another’s villages, participants saw the problems in their own villages from

new perspectives. Through intimate encounters and exchanges with their neighbors, they learned about

themselves. Knowing that they shared the precious river with each other, they became more conscious of

how they wanted to treat it. They understood why they shouldn’t throw trash into the river and grasped the

importance of recycling. Despite all the differences and jealousy, despite all the oppression and injustice,

despite all the sorrow and anger, everyone wished for peace.

The performance took place in village with a housing project. Because the participants played the music

that they themselves composed, the resulting performance was very powerful and convincing. The

audience joined the musicians by singing the children’s song “Padang Bulan” (the Field of Moon). At the

end of the piece, there was a moment of solidarity. Personal stories of connections to the river were woven

with universal dreams to form a colorful tapestry of music, from which a multi-layered soundscape of the

collective mind emerged. Many people in the audience approached Ms. Momiyama after the concert and

embraced her with tears in their eyes. As the first cultural event in the region since the volcanic eruptions

and the flood, the concert was quite successful in bringing the traumatized community together.

Feedback was quite positive with people noting it was the first time they thought about the river in a holistic

way, and became aware that a shared vision among the residents along different sections of the river was

indeed possible: one big family connected by a river.

Water ChildrenProjectThrough the initiatives and desires of a local Khiriwong youth

group, Luk Khun Nam (Children of the Headwaters) Dr. Takako

Iwasawa (API Fellow Year 7) came to assist in a conceptual

and participatory processes to create a community-based

performance, during which local youth could develop an holistic

understanding of the need for ecological balance.

The Khiriwong community in southern Thailand has longtime

had a strong relationship with water: rivers, heavy rains and

floods. The Water Children Project evolved around two main

themes: the impacts from a massive flood that destroyed

much of the community in 1988, and the desire to illustrate

the uniqueness of Khiriwong’s natural environment and the

livelihoods and culture that have evolved from it.

As a result, the project became a very intense form of environmental

engagement. Water emerged as a core subject: indispensable to

the human body and the environment, ever-present on land and

in the air, whether liquid (water), vapor (steam/gas) and solid (ice).

Rain too as experienced in Khiriwong has many forms: soft, heavy,

typhoons and floods. Water is in the rivers, resides in lakes, the

sea and oceans. There’s also tap water, drinking water, sweat and

tears. Water must be carefully considered at all times.


Dr. Iwasawa designed a five-day program: two days for the workshop, two days for the rehearsal, and the

premiere on the fifth day. About 40 local school children, from elementary to high school, took part in this

project. The workshop had two components. The first involved knowing the natural environment, history and

culture of Khiriwong village – by drawing a map and singing a traditional lullaby taught by local women. The

second component called for representing water through words, sounds and body movements. The children

responded with a surprisingly varied and vividly descriptive list of words. They then listened to water sounds,

which they found easily identifiable, and from which they began experimenting with accompanying body

movements.

By way of illustration, Dr. Iwasawa played for the Culminating Event’s audience several audio tracks: a

waterfall, light rain, typhoon and rain drops. It was pointed out that from these sounds many images can be

conceived. Such imagery may be hard to translate into ordinary expressions, but that was the challenge

posed to the youth in the Water Children Project. Drawing from the experience of the 1988 flood, Dr.

Iwasawa designed the production with five scenes: Khiriwong, the beautiful village; rain; flood, the threat

of water; darkness; and hope. Although she served as the creative director for the project, she ensured

the children and their ideas shaped the final product. In addition to the two themes referenced above, the


children also wanted the production to reinforce two

key components of their local livelihoods: suan som

rom mixed orchard cultivated within their natural

forests and handmade textiles that have become

quite marketable.

They then performed for the Culminating Event’s

audience. They held long cloths, umbrellas and

green handmade pots on stage, while youth leaders

narrated in Thai and English. They simulated and

performed flowing water by holding 10-meter-long blue cloths. It appeared as if the blue cloth was water,

and the youth playing within the cloth were elements of water, and thus indeed “water children”.

The performance was simple and short-only ten minutes. When undertaking creative work with youth, says

Dr. Iwasawa, the creative process is more significant than the production itself. With the completion of the

Water Children Project, she trusts the youth not only learned to create a performance but also developed

a deeper way of ‘living’ with water.

IntroductoryRemarksGood evening! On behalf of my colleagues in the Regional

Committees past and present of the Asian Public Intellectuals

Fellowships Program who gave birth to the Regional Project and

the Organizing Committee of this event, I warmly welcome you

to the Premiere Screening of Cross Currents: Journey to Asian

Environments.

In this documentary, you will be taken on a synoptic journey to

five places in Asia. Although they have different environmental

geologies and histories, all these places are bound together by

humanly shared stories of struggles and hopes in the face of

ecological challenges experienced by the communities which live

in them.

This film documentary is actually one of three outcomes of a collective journey embarked upon by numerous

API Fellows that formally began in November 2008 and ended in April 2011. Besides the film documentary,

there is a book (to be published very soon) and a website (www.apirm.com) that act as repositories of the

many insights learnt by the API travelers. What is this journey of epic proportions that I speak of? And what

were its key objectives?

This journey has a name. It’s called “Community Based Initiatives towards Human-Ecological Balance”.

In this journey, the API travelers were guided by the following signposts.


• Identify relevant perspectives in Asia on environmental issues confronting the region.

• Learn, document and promote local community knowledge and responses to environmental challenges.

• Develop networking and mobilize collaboration among the API Community in response.

The journey drew in API Fellows coming from five different countries and who were trained in different

academic and intellectual disciplines. There were sociologists, anthropologists, art scholars, performing

artists, installation artists, musicians, activists, environmentalists, policy makers and film-makers among them.

The places that we stayed for up to ten days were equally diverse in terms of their ecology although they

were unified in terms of the life-giving natural substance of water: the serene Biwako Lake or Biwako in

Japan; the finely balanced mountain forests of Khiriwong in Thailand; the rugged terrain of Batanes island

in the Philippines; the powerful Code river or Kali Code in Indonesia and finally the mythical Lake Chini

or Tasik Chini in Malaysia. In this documentary you will get to see and experience in slightly less than 80

minutes what actually took nearly 3 years to accomplish for the different batches of API Fellows.

Even though your journey will be vicariously through the magical medium of film, we hope that you will be

awed and inspired by what you see and hear. In this filmic journey, you wiII be guided through the eyes,

ears, mind and heart of Mr. Nick Deocampo, the maker of this documentary and also an API Fellow himself.

I will introduce you to Mr. Deocampo properly afterwards.

But for now I would like to acknowledge the presence of community leaders from these five sites without

whose contributions the documentary would be impossible to make. Please recognize: Pak Totok Pratopo

from Indonesia, Tetsuya Imakita-san from Japan, Batin Awang Alok from Malaysia, Dr. Florentino Hornedo

from the Philippines, and Ajarn Yongyuth Krachanglak and Ajarn Wirat Srichote from Thailand.

Introducing the Executive Producer, Mr. Tatsuya Tanami.

Mr. Tatsuya Tanami is currently Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation, the funding body to the Asian

Public Intellectuals Fellowships Program.

To many of us API Fellows, he is considered to be a “god-father” or a “big brother” depending on how

chronologically old one is I suppose. But certainly, he was right there in the beginning asking us difficult

questions during the interviews before we got selected and inducted into the Asian Public Intellectuals

Fellowships Program.

Mr. Tanami joined The Nippon Foundation in 1999 and has held several positions before becoming Executive

Director in 2005. He also holds several other responsibilities. Among others, he is Steering Committee

Member of Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund; Secretary of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA; Vice

Chairman, Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation; Member of the Board of the Great Britain Sasakawa

Foundation; and a Member of Board of Directors, Forum 2000 Foundation.

Mr. Tanami holds a B.A. from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He has also studied in the Universidad de

Granada in Spain and Wittenberg University in Ohio, USA.

Introducing the Film Director, Mr. Nick Deocampo.


Mr. Nick Deocampo is the Philippines’ leading documentary filmmaker, author, film teacher, and film

historian. He is currently director of the Center for New Cinema.

He has won several awards for his gritty documentaries and personal films beginning with his trailblazing

trilogy about life during the military dictatorship in the Philippines. He has also won the National Book

Award three times for his publications on Philippines cinema. Recently, Mr. Deocampo has embarked on a

national film literacy program which develops teaching modules using film and digital media technology in

the production of knowledge.

Mr. Deocampo has a Master of Arts degree in Cinema Studies from the New York University under a Fulbright

Scholarship Grant. He also has a Certificate in Film from Paris as a French Government scholar. He was

awarded Scholar-in-Residence from New York University, recognized as Chancellor’s Most Distinguished

Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine; and was also an International Fellow at the University of lowa.

In 2001, he was among the first batch to be awarded the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) Fellowships.

IntroductiontotheScreeningofCrossCurrentsAs I reflect on the 10th anniversary of API, I cannot help but

also think about my upcoming 30th year in making films that will

happen next year. For 30 years, I made films about dictatorships

and politics; I made films about history and gender, about the arts

and matters of spirituality. But I must say that none of those was

more challenging than the documentaries I recently made for API.

These documentaries which you are all about to see tonight are

about the environment.

In the three years following my being vetted to make the Regional

Documentaries as part of our Regional Project, I, together with

a team of young artists, dedicated my time, effort and resources

to coming up with a set of documentaries addressing regional

ecological concerns. The task ahead for me was to discover and document local community responses to the

ecological challenges facing the region. And in those three years, many devastating occurrences convulsed

Asia. There were the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the series of damaging typhoons in the Philippines.

Floods that inundated Thailand threatened to overwhelm Bangkok. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions

shook Indonesia. A lake lay dying due to pollutants and other man-made intrusions to nature in Malaysia.

Indeed, nature was on a rampage during the past three years when I was making this documentary.

Unlike the scientific and rational approaches to solving problems about the environment such as those

which we saw in Al Gores’ documentary, The Inconvenient Truth, I was instead introduced to ways of

thinking about nature that oftentimes defied scientific thinking. Instead of presenting scientists’ rational

way of looking at nature, our documentary is therefore about common people facing problems and finding,

through their local wisdom, ways of solving ecological issues that affect their lives very seriously. For,

instead of scientists, I met shamans and activists, survivors and healers.

In the course of these meetings, I came to see the significance of unseen spirits, the counting of waves and

the reading of clouds, the divination of animal sacrifices, the potency of activism, and the importance of


human mediation in the face of social apathy and natural calamities. In short, I met courageous, although

very ordinary, people. I was energized by community leaders who, despite the scarcity of resources and

lack of funds, bravely provided for their community’s needs in times of natural and man-made calamities.

What you are about to watch tonight is a 70-minute documentary about local communities and the

indigenous responses to ecological challenges. Two local responses stand out, leaving lasting impressions

on me. The first response is “spirituality”, the other is “community action.”

Spirituality has left in me the deepest mark. All across Asia, I witnessed how spirituality has marked our

relation with natur-although this may come in varying degrees of intensity. But the strongest affinity with

nature comes from communities that have their local traditions intact. This may take the form of shamanism

in a fishing village in Batanes where shamanic knowledge of the environment became the most profound

experience I had ever encountered. Through his teachings and divinations, a village shaman preserved

marine resources. But look at us - how little we appreciate local wisdom! And what utter disregard we have

for such wisdom as we devise our government’s environmental policies.

Spirituality may also be seen in Indonesia and Thailand where local celebrations are meant to honor water’s

central role in shaping the ecological life of these communities. Spirituality may also take the form of healing,

of ethno-medicine, as that which we will find among the orang aslis in Tasik Chini in Malaysia.

Before anyone begins to think that I met only superstitious people whose lack of access to science and

education forced them to resort to other-worldly spirits, may I hasten to add that these are the same

people who equally take up the task to clean up their rivers with their bare hands. While spirituality forms a

pervasive practice across Asia, local peoples are practical enough to take physical action in order to effect

change in their communities, whether it may be through their observance of merti code (or river cleaning)

in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, suan som rom (or mixed orchard farming) in the mountain orchards of Khiriwong,

Thailand, or the practice of soma no kai, which is the setting up of a cooperative to take care of forest

management in Harihata in Japan.

The past three years when I made this documentary, I could not but be humbled by the strength of the

human spirit to overcome both natural and man-made disasters. I stand before you tonight with much

humility having been in the presence of real heroes of our time. And so I wish to salute the communities

which I had the honor of visiting and would like to give them a little token of appreciation: copies of DVDs

and posters, which are but mere shadows of the beneficial and admirable work they do in real life.

From Thailand, may I call on Yongyuth Krachanglok. From Japan, may I call in Tetsuya Imakita. From

Malaysia, may I call on Awang Alok. From Indonesia, may I call on Totok Pratopo. And from the Philippines,

may I call on Dr. Florentino Hornedo.

But, all these work could not have been made possible without the inspiration and guidance of one

person-Tatsuya Tanami, whose understanding and patience saw us through hard times and good times.

May I call on Tanami-san to join our local leaders.

Thank you!


AboutCross CurrentsThrough The Nippon Foundation, Mr. Nick Deocampo was contracted to produce environmental

documentaries for the API Regional Project: one regional documentary and five country documentaries. The

72-minute regional film, Cross Currents: Journey to Asian Environments, was premiered for the audience.

Cross Currents and its offshoots represents three years of research and production that transports its viewers

to five ecological sites in Asia namely Batanes (the Philippines), Biwako (Japan), Kali Code (Indonesia),

Khiriwong (Thailand) and Tasik Chini (Malaysia). Central to the study of the region’s environments is the

discovery of how local communities developed indigenous ways to respond to environmental challenges.

Drawing on the community initiatives made by five characters facing the brunt of nature’s calamities, it is

hoped that lessons can be drawn from local wisdom, initiatives and experiences which can be shared with

the wider public towards developing better responses for the future.

With water as its central theme and imagery, the documentary takes its viewers across five Asian ecological

sites and shows how local inhabitants, often without scientific help, have developed indigenous ways in

taking care of their environments in the face of natural and man-made calamities. Two characteristics

stand out among the region’s most notable responses: spirituality and community action. Across the

region, spirituality has been seen as Asian people’s first line of action toward environmental threat, finding

expressions in various ways from the shamanism observed among native Ivatans in a fishing village in

Batanes (Philippines) to the ethno-medicine practiced by orang aslis, or “the original people,” in the lakeshore

community in Tasik Chini (Malaysia). But while spirituality forms a pervasive practice, local peoples are

practical enough to take physical action in order to effect real change in their communities, whether through

the observance of merti code (or river cleaning) in Yogyakarta (Indonesia), suan som rom (mixed orchard

farming) in the mountain orchards of Khiriwong (Thailand), or the seasonal cleaning of irrigation canals in

a farming village in Mukugawa (Japan). All these practices enjoin participatory community engagement in

order for spirituality to become potent and for community actions to mitigate the adverse effects of climate

change. Heeding local environmental solutions practiced by ordinary people living

in communities that bear the brunt of nature’s destruction, these bearers of local

wisdom may yet provide new perspectives that will give hope for survival in the

evolving field of new ecology.

While Cross Currents embodies all the Regional Project sites, it is just one

of six documentaries within a series created by Mr. Deocampo. Five country

documentaries, of an hour-long each, have also been created.


Visiting the Philippines’ northernmost island, Batanes, the documentary discovers a

world of hiwaga, or enchantment, wrapping the island’s human, physical and spiritual

ecologies. While documenting the Ivatan fishing practice called mataw fishing, the

documentary strays into the world of native shamanism, whose power to divine through

symbols human-nature relations, and provides a unique insight on how ordinary

people are able to co-habit and preserve the natural world together with unseen

spirits. Through a belief system that gives primacy to “danas” and “senyales,” the

documentary opens up to new perspectives in looking at nature as an environment

where humans and non-humans co-exist in an ecology that binds everyone and

everything together.

Following the flow of water from melted ice, the documentary journeys from the

mountain forests of Harihata near Kyoto in Japan to the rice fields of Mukugawa valley,

where a group of fellows from the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) gathers to research

on local responses to ecological challenges. Meeting local residents, one character

stands out, Tetsuya Imakita, a forest steward, whose beliefs and practices in preserving

the natural forest offers valuable insights not only toward forest management but

to human survival as well. Establishing “soma no kai”, a cooperative movement to

manage the forest, Imakita-san advocates for forest biodiversity to counter the adverse

effects of the state-instituted policy of mono-cropping that has only forced wild animals

to leave the inner forest, or okuyama, and has caused an imbalance in the local forest

biosphere that may be hard to reverse.

Kali Code is a disaster-prone area in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, that sees its land and river

community continually disrupted by natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions coming

from Mount Merapi resulting to devastating floods accompanied by destructive lahar.

Faced by intermittent calamities, river dwellers resort to spirituality in order to appeal

to native deities to mitigate the destruction to human lives and properties. But they are

also a practical lot that calculates their risks and initiates ways, such as the annual merti

code (river-cleaning ritual), in order to dredge and clean the Code river of waste so that

the inhabitants may be spared from devastating effects of constant flooding.


Khiriwong is a site that is constantly visited by destructive floods, a seasonal calamity

that may be traced to the geology of the place. Khiriwong, a valley surrounded mostly

by a mountain range made of granite that cannot absorb large amounts of rainwater,

its residents have developed a local culture that makes them preserve their natural

resources if they were to survive in this high-risk environment. The practice of suan

som rom (mixed orchard) allows fruit farmers to exploit the mountains’ rich, volcanic

soil while also devising ways to preserve the topography from soil erosion. The result

is a place which, although touched by aspects of modern technology, has stayed true

to its nature-based tradition of fruit farming.

Tasik Chini is a dying lake in Malaysia. Once before, it was known for its beautiful

lotus flowers and water lilies. But now, the lake is slowly dying from pollution due

to many factors like open-pit mining, logging, and vast tracks of rubber plantation

whose fertilizers seep into the lake basin. In this lake, too, live the orang asli, or the

original people of the land. With no fish to catch, the orang aslis blame another culprit

for the lake’s slow demise: the weir, or dam, that chokes the river of its natural water

flow which comes in and out of the lake to its surrounding rivers. The film describes

the environmental problems plaguing Tasik Chini and how local inhabitants cope with

the environmental deterioration. While the orang aslis practice ethno-medicine to heal

their bodily ailments, it is a big challenge whether they can ever heal the dying lake.



The API Regional Project came about as an idea to galvanize,

mobilize and utilize the resources within the API Community and

bring out the real and yet concealed potentiality and modality of the

API Community and its members. The Regional Committee also felt

that a platform was needed that could serve as a positive force for

change in Asia. Three objectives were formulated:

• Identify relevant perspectives in Asia on environmental issues

confronting the region;

• Learn, document and promote local community knowledge and

responses to environmental challenges, and

• Develop networking and mobilize collaboration within the API

Community in response to regional environmental challenges.

After much deliberation the Regional Committee concluded that five sites would be selected based on:

• Familiarity of API Fellows with respect to the sites;

• Variations in the ecology of the sites (mountains, upstream rivers, downstream rivers, lakes, islands,

shorelines, from which emerged one unifying element: water)

• How community initiatives address environmental challenges at the sites, and

• Value added to researchers due to the site’s uniqueness, scientific challenges and issues that researchers

were passionate about.

Five sites were selected. Khiriwong, Thailand; Batanes, the Philippines; Kali Code, Indonesia and Tasik

Chini, Malaysia

Biwako, Japan: API Fellows worked in two villages, Mukugawa and Harihata. Traditional paddy cultivation

was undertaken to learn the benefits of these practices. A photo exhibition and art installation was organized.

Numerous community meetings and discussions were also organized in and around Biwako area.

Khiriwong, Thailand: There was figure-making training for the youth, and a youth performance on water

choreographed and performed by Khiriwong youth that emphasized the community’s experience with

flooding. And API fellows provided support and assistance to maintain and sustain Khiriwong’s biodiversity.

Batanes, The Philippines: A heritage building workshop raised awareness of the importance of the area’s

history and culture. An art installation helped to illustrate the areas local knowledge and wisdom to the

communities and tourists. A teacher training on environmental conservation was offered to local educators.


Kali Code, Indonesia: Capacity building assistance was provided to the Kali Code communities to aid them

to constructively engage with the various stakeholders to develop solutions to the environmental challenges

facing the communities.

Tasik Chini, Malaysia: A youth photography workshop was organized, as were trainings with local artists

and the community on devising public awareness programs to respond to the environmental degradation in

and around Tasik Chini.

Critical to the API Fellows’ approach was to be very cautious and aware of the potential sensitivities

to them working within these local communities. But as it turned out, the API Fellows felt they learned

more from the communities than they were able to offer in return. At all five sites there were local leaders

providing a charismatic voice representing the every day struggles against the political, social economic

and environmental pressures. And it’s these voices whose presentation we look forward to hearing.

Biwako,JapanAs a landscape architecture student in the 1970s, Mr. Tetsuya

Imakita stayed in Kutsuki village in the northeastern part of

Shiga prefecture. At the age of 29 he migrated to the Oisugi

village in Harihata where he worked to establish an enterprise

that connects consumers in the urban areas with local

producers of organic farm produce, wild vegetables and

local handicrafts. In 2005 he initiated the establishment of

Hinoyama-Hiroba, a group practicing mountain burning to

reestablish forests and communities.

Harihata is facing an aging society. Some years ago there were 20 households, but this has now decreased

to one-third, threatening the sustainability of the village. While remaining homes are quite large, only one

or two elderly people reside. By addressing the environmental challenges in the surrounding mountains

it is hoped that the community can be revitalized. Upstream watersheds still have 100-year old trees and

riparian habitats that provide footholds from which restoration can occur.

The key challenges to restoration are:

• Fifty-year-old cedar plantations established adjacent to the community have transformed the environment.

Previously, there were no cedar forests-some natural cedars, but not plantations. With focus on

plantations, there’s been no attention to the remaining broadleaf tree species, many of which have

become old and diseased.

• These changes have caused local wild vegetables to disappear as well as wild game including pigs and

deer. Remaining game now looks to village gardens and paddy fields for food.

• Trees in excess of twenty years old used to be harvested for local needs, which also helped maintain

forest health and sustain the community. The practice was to keep the mountains young.


The most appropriate way to revitalize the area is

manage the forests through a practice of controlled

burning to spawn rapid growth and regeneration. A key

complimentary benefit is the ability to employ swidden

cultivation practices to produce local vegetables. Grasses

also return around the remaining healthy trees, which

provide viewscapes appreciated by tourists. The older

trees are removed, with the lower one-third used for

charcoal production, the middle third for mushroom

cultivation, and the tops for fueling the fires.

By restoring a more balanced, traditional ecology to the area the community becomes more mobilized and

engaged, tourists become interested and younger people are motivated to return.

Presentation assistance provided by Prof. Fumio Nagai, Japan Regional Project Working Group leader.

Khiriwong,ThailandThe community of Khiriwong of is located 20 kilometers west of

Nakhon Si Thammarat city in southern Thailand. It rests just below

Khao Luang, the region’s highest mountain. It was believed to have

been established more than two centuries ago when Bangkok

dispatched a group of soldiers to battle in Syburi, today part of

Malaysia. Those who fled conscription from Burma were believed

to be among Khiriwong’s first settlers. The community was originally

known as Baan Khun Nam or the village of the watershed.

Until a major flood half a century ago, recalled Mr. Yongyuth

Krachanglak, a community leader, the only way to enter or depart the community was a canal. Throughout

their history, Khiriwong people have been practicing suan som rom or mixed orchard cultivation within the

forest. It was a close-knit community under a kinship system where most residents belonged to only seven

or eight major clans. The Buddhist temple of Wat Khiriwong was the center of the community.

In spite of its relatively mountain-locked geography (where it got its name - ‘khiri’ meaning mountain and

‘wong’ meaning circle), the Khiriwong community was in close contact with outside communities through

trade (barter) activities. Khiriwong’s topography did not allow rice farming so inhabitants exchanged fruit

and other produce for rice.

Khiriwong’s first road was build in 1962 after the village was hit by a storm that damaged orchards as well as

its canal to the outside world. The temple abbot led community efforts to build a road that has since evolved

into the concrete artery in use today.

This ecologically-balanced livelihood persisted until 1975, when a major political conflict was playing out

in Thailand that caused the national government to declare Khiriwong a red (Communist Party) zone.

Khiriwong people were introduced to tools such as chainsaws that proved far more effective at forest

clearing, and thus causing serious flooding. The climax came in 1988 when national media reported a

major catastrophe in which the entire village was flattened by floods, landslides and thousands of logs

rolling down the mountainside.


In 1989, the community undertook a rehabilitation

process in which royal projects, government

agencies and charity foundations provided support

toward their rebuilding efforts. The community

undertook an intense analytical evaluation of their

situation and concluded that greed was the root

cause of their problem. Absent collective efforts

to protect the forest, floods from storms from both

the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand would

continue to ravage their community.

This reflection process helped establish leadership and community efforts to restore livelihoods that reflect

a commitment to living with, rather than taking from, nature. The community initiated sustainable natural

resources management practice that utilized local wisdom that elders had passes on, but had recently

been ignored. Ecotourism was later pursued as a way to generate additional income from the beautiful

mountains, waterfalls, forest and produce cultivation, as well as unique textile handicrafts. This approach

to community and environmental sustainability is now integral to the education of youth to ensure they are

prepared to continue leading the community along this more balanced path.

Batanes,thePhilippinesDr. Florentino Hornedo was raised in Batanes, but left to study

foreign languages and European studies. Given his university’s

desire for more experts in Philippine studies, he was asked to return

to Batanes. He observed that like himself, many of his countryman

paid more attention to foreign cultures than his own, which he

attributed to the country’s embracing of the American educational

system. As a result, much of his work involved consciousness

raising, making people learn about themselves to better face the

problems of their communities’ ever changing history.

He began by studying the oral traditions: belief systems, ethno sciences including reading the weather,

agricultural calendars, fishing calendars and so on. The people of Batanes had their own practical scientific

knowledge, but this was not taught in the local schools. Much of this could not be expressed in words, but

through rituals and actions. Thus it was difficult to put into the educational system. So instead of students

being trained to be efficient citizens of their locality, they were learning to become “minor encyclopedias”

of general information that did not apply to where they lived. This also forced those young people who

succeeded in higher education to leave Batanes.

Dr. Hornedo saw his role as encouraging local people to know themselves, know there problems and to

become confident in solving their own problems. Since academics tend to think along the lines of cause and

effect, he looked at past history, its impact on the present, and what that foretells for the future of Batanes.

Around 1980 his studies began to receive broader attention, aided by growing media interest in local

Philippine people. Dr. Hornedo was recruited by television stations as a consultant, resulting in Bantanes


people seeing their lives, communities and customs

appear on television. This caused them to afford greater

importance to some of the things they did. It was maybe

not the best way, but such television exposure did nurture a

rising interest in local culture.

This resulted in the evolution of the Batanas Development

Foundation that aided local communities in establishing and

running their own local services, such as water distribution and

electricity cooperatives. These ultimately got taken over and

managed by the government allowing the foundation to move

to another level. The Heritage Foundation was then established

to create a graduate school for teachers in Batanes.

The graduate program began in 1991 with three students, and has since produced a total of 61 graduates, all

of whom wrote thesis. Dr. Hornedo personally directed their learning of Batanes culture, and strategies for the

graduate students to input their studies into the local educational system. Thus whatever was known about

Batanes culture and local knowledge was multiplied and past on through local teachers. Now, most principles

in the public school system as well as district supervisors and master teachers are graduates of this system.

With this foundation in place, more emphasis is now placed on transmitting knowledge about crafts.

KaliCode,IndonesiaMr. Totok Pratopo, of Pemerti Kali Code, stressed that a key

challenge for Kali Code communities is flooding. Addressing this

problem increased in urgency following the late 2010 eruptions of

Mount Merapi. In 2011 sediment from the eruption began clogging

the river channel exacerbating annual flooding throughout the

watershed. This natural disaster has, however, helped to mobilize

greater community and government cooperation to work toward

a functional management strategy. This need was reinforced by

experts advising that 50-year-eruption events should be planned

for, resulting in upwards of one million tones of sediment deposits

introduced into the watershed.

The impacts of these and smaller flood events are exacerbated by ongoing development and population

growth causing a narrowing of the river channel as it approaches Yogyakarta city.

Since 2001, efforts have been underway to organize communities upstream and downstream about the need

for improved river management. This has included educational activities, such as an annual river festival

to promote the need to address pollution and unregulated encroachment along the banks. Additionally, a

community-based enterprise to distribute water to approximately 100 families has been established that

offers water at one-third the price of local government rates.

Overall, it’s recognized that during the past decade the results toward improving Kali Code’s management

have been negligible. A much more strategic effort must be devised and pursued else the problems will


only worsen: more flooding, polluting, slum encroachment, and a poorly educated youth who are even less

inclined to seek sustainable management strategies for the river.

API Fellows have helped to galvanize organizing efforts for Kali Code communities by: strengthening

capacities on a range of issues including environmental protection, water management, human resource

development, small scale business improvement, negotiation skills, and political capabilities; encouraging

communities to embrace their independence and work to minimize dependence on the government, and

lastly, to network with other stakeholders.

This led to the signing in 2011 of a memorandum

of understanding between a verity of government

agencies and universities to establish a committee

to address Kali Code watershed issues. Some

48 people representing 63 stakeholder groups

from government, universities, NGOs, the private

sector and local communities have since become

officially involved. The credibility of this new

committee has generated interest and support

from international experts from institutes in the

United States and Australia.

Presentation assistance provided by Mr. Yuli Nugroho.

TasikChini,MalaysiaSome years ago an NGO came to help organize an action group to

reverse the degradation of the Tasik Chini lake and the communities

that rely on it. Unfortunately, this initiative was unsuccessful.

Recently, a new effort was launched that focuses on establishing

a network of indigenous Orang Asli people throughout the country.

The focus has been resource protection to ensure that mining

activities and plantation activities no longer impact their land. In

addition to mapping the areas surrounding the Tasik Chini, they are

also mapping the entire watershed so that they are better able to

communicate to various stakeholders the range of challenges the

Orang Asli face, and the actors and forces responsible. By creating

a strong network on the ground throughout the watersheds feeding

the lake, they hope to fully assist GPS teams in developing the detailed mapping the Orang Asli desire. They

are undertaking these activities independently of, and without any desired assistance from, the government

and its Orang Asli department. The Orang Asli intend to formulate their findings into a memorandum to

the government that both outlines the environmental threats, but also their historic land rights inside and

outside the watershed, and demanding that these rights be officially recognized.

Presentation assistance provided by Dr. Henry Chan.


Dr. Colin Nicholas introduced the discussion by noting that in

thinking about the Seminar’s theme, common challenges to the

human-ecological balance in Asia, it’s important to reinforce

that humans are indeed part of the ecology. This has often been

overlooked. Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo was particularly vocal about

this need during API’s first Regional Workshop 11 years ago.

Communities and human wellbeing should indeed take precedence

over statistics and academic pursuits. It’s important to keep in mind

the proverb: we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we

borrow it from our children.

As illustrated by the community leaders’ presentations, many of their challenges are related to environment,

reinforcing why communities and their environments cannot be treated separately. This interconnectedness

works both ways. Communities depend on their environment, but the health of these environmental

resources depends on how people manage them.

To ensure proper stewardship the youth must be educated about their heritage and culture, and that they

understand the issues that affect them as a people rooted in a particular place. Such a commitment assures

the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next and assures continuity as a people.

The goal of API Fellowships is to encourage the growth of individuals who will be a benefit to the community,

and opportunities like today allow us to also hear back from the communities about their concerns and the

role of API in helping to address them. So what have we learned? What should be the role of API Fellows:

to articulate and inform; to motivate the impacts for change or to directly effect the change itself? Also, how

can communities share the opportunities that API Fellows enjoy? And lastly, what’s next for the Regional

Project: will life go on as before for both the API Fellows and the local communities?

While there may be a variety of stakeholder interests (government, business, communities, etc.)

there is generally a common goal to improve communities and community livability. But the biggest hurdle

to achieving this goal, and the human-ecological balance it entails, is recognizing the interconnectedness

of everything. As the children stated in their performance Thursday afternoon, “We need to work together

to make good things”.

The floor was then opened for questions from non-API Fellows to the five community leaders. Three

were put forth:

1. Has there been much engagement with corporations whose activities are affecting their

communities?

2. Opportunities available in the Tasik Chini

3. How can/do communities work on common goals with different stakeholders.


Mr.TetsuyaImakita,Biwako,Japan

Japan’s difficulties are not nearly as challenging as those of the other community leaders here. People

need to own their plots so that they can employ the fire management techniques discussed, but the plots

are owned by the local government. Since common people think such fires are bad for the environment, the

government has been reluctant to support burning. However, by illustrating that some 50 years ago another

village employed these practices, and working to join forces with a representative from that village to help

publicize this historical precedent, local people at Harihata and the government became more supportive.

Only through such networking has Biwako been able to pursue its fire management and restoration

strategies.

Mr.YongyuthKrachanglak,Khiriwong,Thailand

Khiriwong survived by turning crises into opportunities. The community was once wiped out from a natural

catastrophe and it embraced a rebuilding process to create strong leadership with community participation.

The people of Khiriwong created community activities based on reviving culture, tradition and local wisdom

to nurture a sense of community ownership from generation to generation. They have also learned from past

mistakes, which caused the destruction of their forests and hence leading to a major human catastrophe.

Learning from such mistake helped them to shift toward more sustainable agriculture. They also learned

to generate additional income through ecotourism, as opposed to abusing the land beyond the forest’s

sustainable limits. Their goal is now to live sustainably through forest protection and cultural preservation

that together can assure ongoing kinship and sustained livelihoods for future generations in Khiriwong.

Dr.FlorentinoHornedo,Batanes,thePhilippines

When you have to deal with corporations coming into communities you have problems. In 1996 a foreign

corporation was trying to come into Batanes and they wanted to transform the whole island into a casino

resort, and a neighboring island developed into a golf course. This would cause tremendous impact to both

the environment and the communities. Extensive social disruption would occur as gambling and its associated

activities took hold, while fertilizers and pesticides required to maintain a golf course jeopardized local

fishing. Fisherman will become security guards and janitors, while women become maids and prostitutes.

When asked by local residents to comment on this proposal,

Dr. Hornedo cited findings from a survey of the cultural and

human costs associated with resort developments elsewhere

in the Philippines that he took part in. When hearing about the

displacement of people, the social transformation of people

becoming functionaries, and that the power of the economy

and political control will change and shift away from the local

inhabitants, dissent began to form. Of major concern was

the reality that resort operators will ultimately occupy elected

offices and the local people will become slaves in their own

homes.

Local leaders were forced to concede that they did not foresee such consequences, but only thought about

the potential infusion of money to the area. The result was that this development did not move foreword

and a piece of rushed (and thus weak) environmental protection legislation was passed. However, these


events helped to advance a longer-term cooperative effort with local businesses to recognize that beyond

being profitable, they need to operate within the parameters of religious, cultural, social and environmental

justice, and where possible provide support for programs that work for the betterment of Batanes. So if local

businesses pursue tourism development, they should do so consistent with those principles.

Mr.TotokPratopo,KaliCode,Indonesia

The cooperation between Kali Code people and other stakeholder is very important. In fact it is hoped such

networking will improve the credibility of their concerns among all stakeholders to help avoid disasters such

as that which led to the loss of life of one community leader who did not believe the lava from the Merapi

eruption would hit his home.

But before cooperation and collaboration with other stakeholders begins, communities need to understand

themselves first: problems, needs and future plans. They also need to educate themselves on issues of

culture, economy and environment and not just rely on outside experts. Furthermore, internal consolation

amongst themselves must occur first, prior to recruiting other stakeholders to take part. The multi-stakeholder

effort launched by the Memorandum of Understanding last year has empowered Kali Code communities to

be more vocal in challenging unnecessary studies or policy implementations, as they are no longer acting

as a single voice but can have matters addressed by the larger committee. So this networking has been

very valuable.

Mr.AwangAlok,TasikChini,Malaysia

The problems facing the Tasik Chini are not the result of natural disaster but are man made. Everyone has

to come together to develop a common understanding, position and approach. To aid in this cooperation

they have established a separate committee that oversees the development and monitoring of an action

plan. They also have a trust fund that seeks support from every household to help finance their projects.

Additionally, organizing is underway to help form cooperative businesses to further strengthen the collective

atmosphere within Taski Chini communities.

While the situation that they face is very bleak, they know

they must have hope. Through cooperation, consensus

and common understanding they believe they can address

the challenges facing the Orang Asli and the Tasik Chini.

Additional questions/discussion points:

1. What strategies can be put in place for communities to

screen outside influences?

2. How to require the state to accept and institutionalize

traditional knowledge, as opposed to ignoring it outright?

While the situation that theyface is very bleak, they knowthey must have hope.Through cooperation, consensusand common understandingthey believe theycan address the challengesfacing the Orang Asli and theTasik Chini.


IntroductionUp to this point the material presented over the past day and a half

highlighted the importance of pursuing the Regional Project and the work

and products generated. This last session provided an opportunity for

reflection, as seen through the observations of five former API Fellows from

various disciplines. They have undertaken site visits to the communities so

that they could offer their perspectives on the work undertaken so far and

the issues that may need to be tackled if work of this nature is to continue.

In addition to their presentations, an activist in API’s network was added to

the agenda to present on the evolving situation with a mega-development

project now underway in Burma (Myanmar).

Promoting Ecological Awareness Through MusicEcology is a branch of science concerned with the interrelationships of

organisms to their environments. By this definition, music is ecological.

It is the study of relationships and a way of communication between

humans, between humans and the physical environment and between

humans and their spiritual environment. Festivals, rituals and prayers

often employ music directly to communicate with, show respect for, and

allay fears of, the physical and spiritual environment.

For example, Bon dances are practiced all over Japan as a way to

communicate with ancestral spirits by dancing and singing with them all night then sending them back to the

other world. These dances are unique to each location. So in Mukugawa and Harihata areas of Takashima city

Bon dances reflect the communities’ unique traditions with local-specific lyrics, choreographies, and music.

These dances also are mechanism for the transmission of knowledge, worldviews and values, and are a way

to strengthen community bonds. But due to the aging population in Harihata, this practice is going extinct.

As a contemporary composer, Ms. Momiyama promotes ecological values by creating music that reflects

interactions between people and their environments; questions their relationships with the air, land, water,

animals, plants, etc. within a particular area and on this planet; and lastly, encourages people to reevaluate

their beliefs, perspectives, and the role of nurtural diversity.

Music also reinforces the act of listening, which is an important form of engagement and knowledge transfer

with the environment/soundscape and neighbors/communities. Moreover, listening to nature helps promote

a more ecocentric as opposed to anthropocentric relationship with the world around us by teaching us that

nature has a way of finding equilibrium with a much larger time scale than observed by humans. Being

aware of different realities can help us shift paradigms and envision alternatives.


The Zoo, the Ship and the Beggar: Sharing Art Garden and Festival of Ocean Mountain in Borobudur,

Indonesia

This community has experienced conflicts among villagers following forced dislocation by the government

in the 1970s. Encouraging dialogue between people who have lost their lands, and between old and

new residents, is crucial. A local temple used to be the central pillar of the community’s identity, but

became fenced-off and isolated from people’s lives. So the plan was to develop a performance that would

actually take place at the temple to return it to public prominence. Twenty-five children from Bhumi Indria,

an interfaith kindergarten, and two teenage (brother & sister) from the neighboring village took part in

creating and performing a three layer production:

1. Talking to the temple reliefs (its three physical layers)

with non-linear stories with imaginary words;

2. Creating a voice orchestra of daily sounds (pagi,

siang, sore, and malam) that offers a soundscape

of different times from everyday lives, and

3. A violin duet based on the modes of Wayang Kulit

going backward in time.

Ballade of Lost Water: Collaboration with a visual artist and a sound artist, in cooperation with the

municipal government and the water management institution of the Hague.

Employed hydrophones to record the different sounds of water that has become physically separated from the

human environment with dykes, pipes, barriers and channels. These recordings were merged with percussion

and electronics to formulate a composition that brings the flow of water back into people’s consciousness.

Eco is a Greek world meaning home, the place to

live. Collaborative processes in artistic creation and

performance can further understandings between

varying standpoints and raise a collective awareness

of the environment. Artistic activities are, ultimately,

attempts at creating a sense of community and

home in a contemporary society. When a common

subject is tackled by diverse people, contrasting

perspectives merge and give birth to a multi-layered

narrative that is simultaneously anonymous and

identified, old and new, or universal and original.

Such music, that is both folk (of people) and

contemporary (of now), may reflect where people

come from, and inspire them to imagine where they

want to go together.

Examples:

...listening to nature helps promotea more ecocentric as opposedto anthropocentric relationshipwith the world aroundus by teaching us that naturehas a way of finding equilibriumwith a much larger time scalethan observed by humans. Beingaware of different realitiescan help us shift paradigms andenvision alternatives.


LearningPointsfromBiwako,Batanes,andKhiriwongSiteVisits

Scale

Contemporary environmental challenges in the 21st century

requires simultaneous actions on different scales: village,

city, nation state, region, and the planet. The three-year API

regional project opted to study at the ‘village’ scale. With global

environmental concerns growing ever more important, the

frame of reference for many problems should indeed be global,

but the ‘unit of study’ or ‘unit of interaction’ perused by API was

decidedly local. Moreover, when combining the outputs from the

five sites API hoped to develop perspectives that were indeed

global (regional).

‘Part’for‘whole’

Perhaps this approach of working amongst the small parts (villages) to impact the whole (global) reflects

something Asian? As reflected in this Buddhist sutra: As in one atom, so in all atoms, all worlds enter

therein. A 21st century translation might read: As in a particular scale, so also in all scales, as all worlds

enter therein-by globalization or the dynamic of Capital.

Are there not lessons to be learned, and opportunities for modified replication of experiences, from one

community to the next? Moreover, do not many ‘individuals’ and ‘villages’ often show a strong affection or

concern for their own place, treating this particular space as the ‘world’ itself? So, isn’t it true that there

really is no other pathway to the global than through the transformation and intersections of local sites?

CollectivesandIndividuals

The presence of local community organizations at the sites is critical. But their presence does not necessarily

guarantee positive ecological influences. Many constrains could impede progress, be they social, political,

technical capacity, financial resources, leadership and so on.

Visionary individuals play important adaptive roles. They help to connect the local ideas and concerns to the

larger social landscape. API Fellows, for example have sought out such individuals to help gain information

quickly about the area, information that would have required far more time and effort to obtain otherwise.

Perhaps more investments (grants, trainings, social trips, technical support, etc.) should be made to support

such leaders for the services they provide to outside researchers? Such support would also contribute to a

broadening of the network and dissemination of its knowledge across desperate sites, as illustrated by the

morning session.

Re-conceptualizingoldconcepts

There’s a growing need to re-conceptualize and modularize vocabulary for sharing ideas and approaches

across spaces for varied forms of reuse. There are old terms such as balance, nature and the environment

that too need to be re-conceptualized. For example, the language of the Philippines has no word for nature.

And while there may be green grasses and trees in Biwako that tourists identify as “natural”, is it really?


Furthermore, nature is as much about economy

and modes of production and consumption as it is

about landscapes, forests and animals. Additionally,

careful attention must be paid when assessing a site

to identify those strategies and approaches that may

be applicable elsewhere. Are there good transferable

practices?

Townsandcities

The five local sites presented here may have a strong

relationship with natural environments, but they are

nonetheless tied to urban centers. And while efforts

to fend off encroachment and other development

challenges to protect their ecological resources are

important, part of the larger challenge is to better

connect urban people with nature, to the non-human elements that surround us. It’s a vital task to bring

nature back to people, putting plants and animals back into urban environments and shaping buildings and

landscapes that create stronger intersections between people and the natural world.

Science fiction writers have referred to the scale of human impact on the planet as “terraforming” the Earth,

shaping a planet. Without some cooperative efforts to push back these forces and develop greater common

appreciation for the benefits of the natural world, this shaping will remain the dominant paradigm.

EmergenceofLocalInitiativesinNaturalResourceManagement,ReflectionfromBiwako,KhiriwongandKaliCodeSiteVisits

In addition to his extensive work at Kali Code, Mr. Nugroho has visited

Khiriwong in Thailand and Biwako area in Japan. Since there has

already been quite a bit of information shared on Khiriwong and Biwako

cases, he focused his remarks on the community-led efforts to address

resource management challenges at Kali Code.

Among the key resource management issues shared by the Kali Code

community and the other two sites are the upstream/downstream

conflicts in water basin management. At both Khiriwong and Biwako

upstream management is key, whereas at Kali Code, the focus is

downstream. This lower basin emphasis is due to the large population in

Yogyakarta city which the Kali Code river bisects. In fact this has created some urban rural challenges with

the less densely populated areas upstream.

Water uses range from domestic services, aquaculture, urban agriculture and home-scale industry. Key water

resources management problems include: decreasing number of water springs, ground water shortages,

water debt and deteriorating water quality. The human/ecological habitat is threatened by: urbanization,

poverty, sanitation, crime, housing/land occupation, limited public spaces and food security.

The presence of local communityorganizations at thesites is critical. But their presencedoes not necessarilyguarantee positive ecologicalinfluences. Many constraintscould impede progress, bethey social, political, technicalcapacity, financial resources,leadership and so on.


Addressing these concerns is difficult due to conflicting interests among communities on opposite sides of

the river, upstream and downstream conflicts, native and migrant water users, and the differing priorities of

the various government agencies involved. Moreover, planning horizons seldom exceed political terms (five

years) and there is no master plan for the basin as a whole.

To address these challenges a variety of initiatives have emerged from the communities themselves. A

community water user group was formed for domestic water distribution to combat both the high price

and poor quality of water provided by the public utility. Advocacy efforts for the river’s health were pursued

through advancing creative livelihoods along the river in Yogyakarta including: tourism, arts, informal

sectors and home made industries. Cultural preservation in conjunction with water resources stewardship

was promoted as a binding force throughout the watershed: merti-code, river community empowerment.

These efforts have been aided by external actors including a consortium of seven universities, NGOs,

the Yogyakarta river forum, and government development programs. Additionally, the green movement in

general has supplemented efforts through the promotion of organic agriculture, compost and floriculture,

generating products from inorganic rubbish and establishing waste management sites.

But efforts such as these can be hindered by a lack of coordination between university research and

government policy, the lack of cooperation and inequality between the informal and formal sectors, particularly

among those who do and do not hold land title. There’s no leadership or clear designation of authority for

water resources management: local, regional or at the central government. The central government has

limited interest in such a small river. The provincial government defers to the central government. And

locally, the conflicts between the east and west bank inhabitants impede local government initiative.

On reflection, whether it be Kali Code or other sites, there are three key drivers that can affect local initiatives:

1. Networking: among communities, within various levels of

governments, the private sector, universities and NGOs.

2. Capacity building: training, advocacy and conflict resolution.

The latter is particularly important as societal pressures

discourage people from speaking up publicly about a

problem, thus limiting opportunities to address conflicts.

3. External/international initiatives such as: CDM, PES, CSR,

REDD++, the Kyoto Protocol, certification schemes,

premium prices, etc, can diffuse community efforts by

highlighting benefits that won’t necessarily be realized by

the communities themselves.

But efforts such as these canbe hindered by a lack of coordinationbetween universityresearch and governmentpolicy, the lack of cooperationand inequalitybetween the informal andformal sectors, particularlyas among those who do anddo not have land title.


Experiences&UnderstandingsofHuman-EcologicalIssues:TasikChiniandKhiriwongSites

This comparison looks at government policies, legal frameworks

and political structures that enable or impede a community’s

power to affect natural resources management. It also offers

recommendations for knowledge exchange supported by tangible

cultural activities between the two communities, Tasik Chini in

Malaysia and Khiriwong in southern Thailand. The information

and analysis is derived from Ms. Saetang’s brief field trips,

interviews, observation and desktop studies.

Tasik Chini is the second largest lake in Malaysia. Two rivers

feed into the lake, which is surrounded by mountains and lush

green tropical forest, making it one of the region’s popular

tourist attractions. Surviving adjacent to the lake’s ecosystem is

a community of some 500 indigenous Orang Asli, who are also reputed traditional medicine men. The

lake also supports their daily diet from small-scale fisheries and forest vegetation collection. Nonetheless,

because of the degraded natural resources around the lake, many men and women from the village now

work as labor for palm oil plantation and various factories scattered around the area. Some are able to

derive income from small tourism services activities.

Khiriwong is an economically better off community in comparison. Located in a valley surrounded by high

mountains. People there practice sustainable fruit plantation that co-exists with the natural forest vegetation,

also known in Thai as suan som rom or mixed gardens. With some 3,000 inhabitants, Khiriwong community is

largely self-reliant as their fruit gardens provide steady cash flow. Their textile artistry with natural-dyed fabric

along with ecotourism enterprises offer additional income. Moreover, Khiriwong people have developed a Bt60

million (US$2 million) community saving fund to finance community-led activities and projects.

One thing in common between the two communities is that they share a respect and humbleness toward

nature since their livelihoods are so intertwined with their local ecology. Differences in political, social and

economic contexts, however, have yielded different destinies.

The ecology surrounding Khiriwong is well protected with community enforced rules for forest, water

and land management. Tasik Chini’s local ecology is, however, suffering. The forests within one of the

catchments has fallen victim to commercial logging, land clearing for palm oil and other large-scale mono-

cultured plantation. A small dike that was built by the state to regulate water levels in the lake for tourism

activities has disrupted the natural ecosystem. Moreover, due to mining runoff and factory effluents, the lake

has been heavily contaminated. This area may be designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve, but any visitor

can plainly see an environment on life-support.

The differences in ecosystem health are not surprising given the disparity in the capacity of local governance

to manage their resources. Thailand’s Constitution and other legal mechanism that foster decentralization

have allowed communities having the capacity to do so to organize themselves to protect natural resources

locally, and to participate in decision-making in government development policies that affect their livelihoods.

Khiriwong has demonstrated how such policies can be put into practice, including negotiating with the state


on key livelihood issues such as state forest

vs. community land demarcation. State policies

governing the Tasik Chini community seem to

afford it far less negotiation power, although

residents clearly have the desire for a larger

say.

Despite the differences on political and legal

grounds, the two communities could still

benefit from knowledge exchange. Khiriwong’s

community strengthening process has been

aided by its extensive exposure to the outside

world while the people of Tasik Chini have yet

to experience such benefits. For example, the

people who visit Khiriwong are academics or

tourists who are interested in their ecological

and cultural practice, visitors to Tasik Chini are

mostly tourists with little interest in getting more

deeply immersed in the areas human-ecology.

Exchanges between the two communities could further enable their self-empowering potentials. Capacity

building exchange can include learning from Khiriwong’s saving group, self-directed handicraft enterprises,

sustainable produce cultivation and marketing, ecotourism strategies, sharing of traditional medicinal

skills, conservation and rehabilitation strategies, youth group organizing, and effective negotiation and

communications skills.

TasikChini:PolicyCaptureandOrangAsliStruggleforLandandIdentitySo what really is the role of pubic intellectuals? While many

attendees at the Culminating Event undertake research, this

does not necessarily translated into public action. This is not a

criticism, but something that should be recognized as requiring

attention. API and its network needs to look at itself as playing

a more public role. Why? Because one key issue that failed to

be addressed during this workshop is the role of the state. Many

government agencies and public institutions are endowed with

human, financial, legal and political resources that for better or

worse are brought to bare in the areas API Fellows work, but

how well are they meeting their responsibilities, and how well are

public intellectuals pushing them to do so?

Malaysia’s Tasik Chini and the Orang Asli case illustrates these failings rather well. Many government

agencies have been given millions of dollars to work for the Orang Asli. These agencies should be building

up the capacity of communities to challenge state failings, but instead the Orang Asli must contribute funds

from their own limited resources. Moreover, while money may flow in for developing handicraft projects,

there is no support to aid them in assuring their own self-determination.

The differences in ecosystem healthare not surprising given the disparityin the capacity of local governance tomanage their resources... Thailand’sConstitution and other legal mechanismthat foster decentralization haveallowed communities having the capacityto do so to organize themselvesto protect natural resourceslocally ... State policies governing theTasik Chini community seem to affordit far less negotiation power, althoughresidents clearly have the desirefor a larger say.


This is a tragedy. Historically the Orang Asli were highly self-sufficient, self-governing, autonomous

communities. The mainstay of their economy was fishing, hunting and gathering of forest produce. They

were there long before other Malaysians arrived. They provided crucial military and economic support

during the formation of the Johor and Malacca Sultanates, part of the emerging Malay states. Even now

as minorities numbering approximately 150,000, the Orang Asli find themselves as a potential actor in the

Prime Minister’s constituency given that he won the past election by only 286 votes.

But the Orang Asli’s political power has long eroded away, and they have received little help in getting it

back. A public university led the effort to get the Tasik Chini classified as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve,

the only site in Malaysia to be conserved as a biosphere, but this designation has brought little change.

The failure of the state, public institutions and academics have led to a very uncertain future for both the

ecosystem, the lake, forest resources and the communities. A community resident describes her lifestyle

as, “living in a box,” as every direction she turns

her surroundings have been devastated, be it by

plantations, mining or the polluted lake. Her life

and livelihood grows increasingly uncertain.

Despite numerous international bodies and

court decisions reinforcing that the Orang Asli

have rights, they are not being exercised and/or

respected. To help them claim back these rights

academics should be assisting them in capacity

building to undertake their own advocacy in

addition to assisting them with livelihoods.

First and foremost, efforts should target securing land title, which despite occupying the area long before

other Malaysians came, land rights for the Orang Asli remain denied by the state. British Colonial land

policies granted land titles to logging companies, and the Malaysian state has continued in kind. Mining

companies with support of powerful elites have since come in.

There’s a new generation of Orang Asli that understands their rights, and have taken to organizing to get

them back. This was made clear in a recent memorandum submitted to the prime minister documenting the

blatant violations of laws and regulations related to governance of catchment areas and the need to protect

the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

The memorandum told a much different story than reports submitted to the Prime Minister’s office by the

public university and research institute set up to protect and rehabilitate the Tasik Chini area. Even the

research center’s own reforestation efforts were allowed to be thwarted by loggers coming in and removing

the trees. The research center has been summoned to appear before the human rights commission, but

has not changed its behavior.

In Malaysia, dissent by public universities is still sharply controlled, at times by self-censorship to ensure

political correctness. Speaking ‘truth to power’ or less, ‘reason to power’ is an exception, not the rule in

public universities. The safest path is for academics to ‘develop a tool’ or ‘discover a fact’ and leave it to

others (politicians, bureaucrats) to oversee how the tools and facts are used.

Many government agencies andpublic institutions are endowed withhuman, financial, legal and politicalresources that for better or worse arebrought to bare in the areas API Fellowswork, but how well are theymeeting their responsibilities, andhow well are public intellectuals


Moreover, even if a university does document problems, it does not inform the public or the media, thus

failing further as public intellectuals. Even when the Orang Asli invite universities to join them in presenting

their findings to the press, the universities are unwilling to attend.

The state has clearly failed the Orang Asli, but so too have public intellectuals, and this dynamic is certainly

not limited to Malaysia.

CommunityVoicesontheDawei/TavoyDeepSeaPortandSpecialEconomicZoneinBurma:

Though not a part of the Regional Project, given Burma’s advancing

role in the region, Mr. Frankie Abreu was invited as a panelist to

share his observations and experiences similar to the other Regional

Project cases.

Certainly in the past few years Burma has become increasingly

popular on the global stage. And while ASEAN’s role in the recent

changes are welcome, it is important that ASEAN leaders hold the

Burma steering wheel tight, and not allow its policies to drift at the

whim of the Burmese leadership.

Burma’s natural resources are driving economic development, and Burma is now seen as an increasingly

important economic hub within the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

As an ethnic Karen from Burma, Mr. Abreu offered his presentation as a messenger for communities affected

by a mega project encompassing 350 square kilometers that is to include a industrial corridor emanating

from the Dawei/Tavoy Deep Sea Port project now under construction by a leading Thai construction

company, Italian-Thai Development Plc. An industrial estate near the port itself will be ten times the size

of the Mabtaput Industrial Estate in Thailand. A 160-kilometer road is also under construction that will

help bridge the zone with neighboring countries. An initial investment of $US 10 billion is slated for these

activities. The area is rich in biodiversity: aquatic, mangrove and tropical forest habitats.

Local people depend on fish, fruit orchards, and particularly beetle nut, which can yield farmers up to one

million baht (about $US 30,000) annually. Fishermen live quite comfortably and debt-free on Baht 280-300/

day (about $US 1). When the road construction began in 2010 communities were obviously affected, but

there was no discussion about compensation and no consultation with local people. Project officials for the

industrial estate may informally mention to local people that they must relocate, but offered no specifics

plans creating anxiety about their futures. Not surprisingly, communities are quite distressed, especially

about social disruption and lost livelihoods.


One NGO representative attempting to assist local people in understanding the impacts awaiting them was

told by a project official that knowledge and campaigns about social and environmental impacts can’t feed

people, and that the value of her work is, “equal to one bullet that awaits her in the village”. Another observer

helping to transmit information among villages and outside Burma was similarly threatened.

People in the communities are told that things are changing and that they cannot live as before. And while

it is accepted that Burma cannot bypass globalization, sufficient time needs to be given to determine how

to do it best. If communities have to adapt, why can’t the state adapt the project to respect the communities’

adaptation needs and desires.

In August 2011 a petition was sent to the government requesting reconsideration of the project, but they

have yet to receive a response. A video was then shown documenting a recent interfaith prayer service

attended by more than 100 representatives from 12 villages. Rocks were piled up to symbolize the strength

of their faith and commitment to one another as they agree to work together to challenge the project and

publicize the impacts to their lives and livelihoods. Along with placing the rocks were messages:

May our future lives be peaceful

May our environment be free of destruction

May we be free of social injustice

May our leaders stand for righteousness

May the lives of indigenous people be secure

May we be free from relocation

May the lives of local people be developed in a sustainable way

May unity among people emerge

May our leaders devote themselves to their religion.

While their rock pile could be easily removed by machinery, such machinery cannot remove the people’s

hopes, dreams and beliefs.

Discussant,theClashofGlobalandLocalCultures

National governments in the region, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia

and so on, tend to push development/modernization policies

that are fairly consistent with other countries around the globe.

Countries may lie at different places along the development path,

and API and its fellows may or may not agree with these countries’

policies, but what the Regional Project has shown is that there is

often a strong disconnection between these national and global

interests and what’s often happening within local communities.

Local communities within and across the region have different

values, relationships with their ecosystems, livelihoods and

knowledge. They also have varying degrees of hope and prospects

for realizing their destiny. Most importantly, communities have

different rights as well as power to maintain those rights.


The degree to which local communities have power is largely

influenced by the level of institutional power exercised by national

governments. Governments determine basic land rights, natural

resources management and environmental protection. This

unfair institutionalization is based on three pillars: authority,

knowledge, and possibly most critical, social thinking/behavior.

As the Burma case illustrates, the Thai public is largely led to

believe that Burmese hydroelectric projects are necessary for

the Thai economy and not likely to cause social/environmental

harm, so let them proceed. Thai people will never know the

impacts of these projects, particularly on the Karen people.

It’s beneficial that all API Projects aim to address each of these pillars. This is not common within the region’s

intellectual community. This is very important, especially social perception, such as the music, videos and

other outputs to advance community concerns, values and perspectives. However, it’s also important to look

closely as to how to influence the knowledge aspect. Governments typically pursue quantitative approaches

through planning efforts, such as EIA. But Asian public intellectuals should attempt to advance knowledge

from the qualitative and bottom-up approach with the local people. This is not enough, however. Asian public

intellectuals must also employ local knowledge from a quantitative perspective. Frankie Abreu illustrated

this when describing how the communities impacted by the deep-sea port and industrial development

projects in Burma are attempting to quantify their losses in property and livelihoods. It’s this combined,

holistic approach to knowledge that must be pursued and advanced.

In Thailand it’s been shown how this approach proved quite useful in the case of the local communities

in Prachuab Khiri Khan. Their book, Prachuab People Determine Their Own Destiny, illustrated how the

fertility and richness of their land and water resources afforded them greater collective wealth than the

steel industry that previously dominated the area’s economic development planning. They partnered with

secondary school students in Bangkok to help produce publications and to advance these ideas. They

employed economic analysis to reinforce the value of crop cultivation and fisheries, and how tourism could

play a vital role in Prachuab’s future. Their successful efforts to advance their knowledge to educate the

government have caused food security and tourism to replace the steel industry as the main themes for

economic development vision and policy.

So the challenge to the API Community is not only cultivating

and documenting old and new knowledge, but advancing this

knowledge inside and outside communities while respecting

community views, feelings and the natural resources they

rely on. Even more important, however, is how to utilize

this knowledge in a synchronistic and strategic fashion to

influence social perceptions and build sustainable power

for self determination. Absent such an approach it will be

difficult for local cultures to survive amidst the ongoing global

changes.


During the Open Forum that followed the presentations, vibrant exchanges took place consolidating around

a range of forward looking issues that public intellectuals generally, and API and the Regional Project

specifically, should begin to consider when pursuing further what it means to have human-ecological

balance. Presented below are the observations surrounding the five key themes that took hold during this

free-form conversation: violence, modernization, conceptualizing ecology, the Regional Project’s future, and

the existence or not of an Asian perspective on the environment.

1)Violenceasaconnectingtheme

• Project sites/communities are dealing with many forms of violence, both systemic and institutional as

a result of heightened modernity. Should API reintroduce violence as an important theme for fellows to

address? For example, Tasik Chini has been transformed into an arid landscape and in Batanes a bottle

of Coke is much cheaper than a bottle of drinking water: two different, but nonetheless critical forms of

violence. Violence whether it be physical violence or created by knowledge systems should be a central

theme as API moves forward.

It’s important to note that API was founded in the late 1990s,

when globalization and local responses to it helped to

frame API’s work. The past decade has been quite violent,

and though the scale has not necessarily been much

different from previous decades, there’s been increasing

desensitization to the level of social and environmental

violence across the region, which is very frightening.

For example during the past ten years Thailand and Cambodia

have witnessed a rise in nationalism. The growing middle

class in Indonesia is less tolerant of minorities. Reintroducing

violence is a way to reconnect the issues with the public.

A conceptualization of violence needs to emerge that links

local experiences with global experiences.

• The root cause of this violence is governance and must be addressed. Bad governance begets bad

policies. It creates opportunities for exploiters, sometime even within the communities themselves. Violence

is further aided by inappropriate development models and skewed social perceptions. But the larger question

facing the API Community is what should be the focus if it really wants to begin impacting this issue.

• Even if people can be resettled in the right place, with new skills that are marketable in the new area, this

takes a tremendous amount of time to do correctly. So when developing a program to adapt to changes

absent a corresponding educational infrastructure to support it, there’s a mismatch. People are moved

to make way for immediate development, but the time needed to get new skills is too long. Unless this is

addressed violence cannot be avoided nor the associated exploitation by those who want rapid change.

It’s nice to look at small positive changes, but it’s good to see them in the context of larger systems to find

solutions that are more meaningful and lasting.

The past decade has beenquite violent, and thoughthe scale has not necessarilybeen much differentfrom previous decades,there ’s been increasing desensitization to the level ofsocial and environmentalviolence across the region,which is very frightening.


• In March 2012 Thailand’s National Reform Assembly challenged the Justice Ministry to advance legal

reforms for the poor, and give them greater tools to fight injustice.

• Much has been said about transferring practical knowledge between the five sites, but this must be

pursued carefully to avoid transferring new form of violence.

2)Whatdowemeanbymodernization?

• It’s encouraging to see the various communities doing their little bits to preserve customs and cultures,

but it’s a tremendous challenge to preserve traditions amidst globalization. Nevertheless, it’s important to

keep in mind that modernization is not possible without touching the forests: those areas which traditionally

have been the preserve of ancient communities. Some kind of a balance needs to be found. How to

create stakeholders in the business community, in government and also among the local communities

affected so that everyone feels they are contributing meaningfully to sustainability. Governments and

corporations cannot be allowed to go on ravaging the forests and local communities in ways that will

destroy cultures. There needs to be balance when considering goals and values. Compromises must be

sought that are in the best interest of government, society, business and local communities. Local people

must also benefit and become stakeholders in this modernization.Local communities must not be seen

as victims of modernization. Such views seed a mentality that inhibits compromise and formation of new

institutions and new ideas. Neither government nor development can be avoided, so reconceptualization

of modernity is needed that will allow a positive way forward.

• Modernization should not be seen as a binary argument. Everything has good and bad. Burma is going

to develop and there’s sympathy for that. But a better job can certainly be done should the opportunity

arise. Can something be learned from Thailand’s mistakes? Can the API Community help put the

voiceless and powerless at the table–with similar influence as those who currently drive the process?

• An important change has been underway for sometime in the developed, modernized world:

cleanup -improvements at internalizing social and environmental costs. While such efforts still have

a long way to go, very little of this is happening here. Furthermore, why hasn’t GNH (Gross National Happiness)

advanced further as a government metric? And to this end, what can the API Community do in applying

its wisdom to reach these more powerful stakeholders. Yes societies must move forward, must modernize,

but not along the same path that’s destroying the world.

Malaysia’s post 1969 economic policies embraced modernization with the expectation that benefits

would spread equally across society. Clearly this did not occur. There are certainly aspects of modernization


that are essential and others that must be rejected. It must be remembered that many communities had

their own local economies that judiciously used their resources and generally embraced a sustainability

paradigm. Contemporary forms of modernization still emphasize benefits to society not communities.

Public intellectuals need to be able to say no to the types of modernity that ASEAN countries have

adopted. Malaysian businessman are rushing to have photos with Aung San Suu Kyi, then head off to

banks for investment capital, then ravaging the forest. All this is quite visible, but what are public

intellectuals doing?

• Modern is a western word to define a break from the past: to allow the Christians to separate from the

pagans. It’s a strategic word to mask the past. Keep in mind that each society and tradition has its own

form of modernization-to break with the past. So, developmentalism is not necessarily bad.

• Work must be done to portray as outdated these prevailing views of modernity and development. It’s

not creative any more. In the case of Khiriwong, they did not preserve the old ways, but evolved new

paths from the old. Don’t try to stop modernization, but demonstrate how to develop better. There should

be no compromise on this. For example, installing small-scale, community-managed hydro was the best

option for power development in Khiriwong, not pushing electrical transmission lines up the mountain to

large-scale power plants located elsewhere.

• The Philippines offers an example of the basic challenges being faced. Though it’s an archipelago of

7,000 islands, it’s a navy without ships. It built a land transportation system requiring cars it does not

produce that burn fuel it does not have. How did this happen: by planning, by government, by intellectuals

and by universities. And it continues to happen even though landlocked people are less unified than

those who remain more mobile with water. Many thousands of Filipino people sail the seas on ships of

other nations. So why did the Philippines not perceive this fundamental ecological need for ships? The

Philippines replicated US models in civil and mechanical engineering that built roads and wheels, ignoring

the natural resource of water. Failure to adapt its development program to its environment has punished

the society with a transportation system subject to the rise and fall of the price of oil and the automobile

industry. The country has failed to train its people for development appropriate to its natural resources.

3)Reconceptualizationof“nature,ecology…”

• Do the ideas of nature and ecology still carry any real force within the public? Concepts and ideas such

as these change and evolve. For example Marxists see ecology as resources and modes of production.

Conceptualizations are often far behind reality, often thinking about old categories not so relevant any

more. Nature’s not necessarily being protected, but transformed, and this is not necessarily bad.


• Khiriwong is totally controlled by human beings. Tourists visiting Biwako see greenish mountains,

greenish paddy fields, small villages and think that’s natural-it’s not. So it’s all about perception. Most

API Fellows visit sites to learn about local knowledge, but not nature per se. Human beings are working

with and managing nature. That’s why a reconceptualization of nature is needed that addresses the

balance between human and ecological needs.

4)TheFutureoftheRegionalProject

The Regional Project was worthwhile, but whether it should be continued is a more complex question.

As Ms. Josie Fernandez stated, more emphasis should be placed on getting the message out. And more

fundamentally, what does it mean to have a program of public intellectuals? How does the API Community

use intellect, heart, and awareness to deliver results for beneficial social change? When identifying

problems in the world that need attention, will, as Ms. Fernandez suggested, API put power at the center of

importance? How can the Regional Project get what it knows and what it has learned to the larger public?

While it’s been a wonderful two days, it’s mostly API Fellows here, not the public. The film can reach a lot of

people, but more should be done.

5)IsthereanAsianperspective?

Is there a reason to try to create something that is uniquely Asian in perspective—a regional perspective on

environment? Is there an Asian perspective on environment? Were this conversation occurring in the West

would the topics and issues be similar? Are Asians more in touch with spirituality or traditional knowledge

so they can better connect with human-ecology? As illustrated by Malaysian logging policies in Sarawak, it

was argued that since the West cut down its trees so should Malaysians. Can development be redefined so

that such logging practices are no longer pursued? Possibly this issue can be taken up in the forthcoming

API Regional Project book.

Given the extent of his earlier remarks, Prof. Tanaka offered

limited, additional commentary. He reiterated the important role

the Regional Project has played in community building among

API Fellows and with other groups and to society as a whole. He

stressed that API should consider this turning point for the Regional

Project an important opportunity for reflection and consideration

of the Project’s future. And in so doing should ask itself what

does API really mean by community building, especially among

public intellectuals and what expectations should API have for the

Regional Project going forward?


TimeScalePressures

Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo continued summing up by noting

that time is a critical factor in the world today, but asking: from

whose perspective? There are those who want to go faster

in the pursuit of profit, often while exploiting people and the

environment. And there are those who wish to go slower

preserving what nature offers, all the while working to inflict

minimal pain and violence to human beings and ecology.

Presently, the world is exploding, causing many voices of those

affected to go unnoticed and unheard. At this turning point for

API and the Regional Project, it’s important to keep in mind

that while there is one principle measurement of time, there

are in fact multiple perceptions of time we must balance when

charting a way forward.

CommunityandSolidarity

This event represents the culmination of significant API labor and resources, but also work with the community

partners. It’s important to remember that universities can be exploitive in their research. Academics can feel

pressure from the same forces that cause countries to always worry about catching up or falling behind.

Competitiveness is very real throughout society. While there may be increasing focus on community, it’s

been approached without solidarity-having compassion for each other’s pain. And if there is no sense of

solidarity there is no community. Work must continue to connect the hearts and minds-connectivity not just

between humans across borders, but with animals and with nature. The responsibility is not just to ones

professional duties, but to avoid exploiting others in all aspects of ones life.

ABroaderVoice

Work of this nature must involve strong dissemination

beyond API’s core group: among genders, people, ethnic

groups and generations. So far, API has not done this well,

so it should use this opportunity as a way to go forward

together as a community learning to speak and share with

people outside. Without this focus, API is only a club of

people doing something together. The mission forward

must continue to go beyond the national, and more toward

a shared planet. API needs to talk about modernization

and explore how initiatives like the Regional Project can

contribute to shared learning pathways forward that are

human-ecological equitable and less painful.

At this turning point for APIand the Regional Project,it’s important to keep inmind that while there is oneprinciple measurement oftime, there are in fact multipleperceptions of time wemust balance when chartinga way forward.


As the Culminating Event came to a close Asst. Prof. Danilo Reyes

and Assoc. Prof. Theresita Atienza remarked that there was a modest

feeling of achievement and a deep sense of gratitude. There was much

to say about the natural beauty of the places and communities featured

by Regional Project Fellows. But what really lingered in their hearts

was the warm human welcome shown to everyone, and the shared

wisdom offered, representing gifts that filled everyone involved with the

Regional Project and this Culminating Event with immense gratitude.

So as a token of appreciation the Regional Project Committee honored

those communities and community leaders who opened their doors

to researchers, sharing their age-old knowledge of sustainable

practices that represents a beacon of hope in efforts to maintain the

fragile balance between humanity and ecology in Asia. Tributes were

awarded to each of the five community leaders who presented during

the morning session.


From the Committee’s inception in July 2006 many people have worked

to realize the Regional Project’s vision, and all deserve great thanks.

Drawing on experience of API’s vast network of fellows, the Regional

Committee envisioned the project to strengthen the API Community by

drawing on the experience of the fellows, by facilitating networks and

interactions within the fellowship, by provoking innovative ideas and

approaches, by providing opportunities for fellows to act cooperatively

as a community, independently or in cooperation with The Nippon

Foundation.

The Regional Committee has worked to aid API Fellows in guiding the API Community to achieving its

collective aspirations by applying API’s vision toward activities that yield tangible and intangible products.

The Regional Project recognized significant regional knowledge gaps for responding to real-life issues

of public urgency and the need to create and strengthen regional togetherness. Mr. Yogaswara offered

appreciation to past and present Regional Committee members for their contributions since the project’s

inception, through planning, implementation and this culminating event.

He concluded by stating that there is still much work to be done. “It’s as if we have endured great pain to deliver

the baby, but now we must work hard to make it grow.” The Regional Project offers API and its network many

lessons on collaborative engagement, as illustrated through the work of the fellows in the five countries.

Efforts to develop and apply bottom-up approaches, assure respect for wide participation, debates over

project themes and product development were often difficult. This is not surprising given the challenging

nature of the work undertaken and the voluntary approaches pursued. However, as this culminating event

has demonstrated, such challenges were nonetheless overcome. The five projects and the communities

involved have clearly illustrated how the Asian way in facing economic development challenges is aided by

the networking of API Fellows with people on the ground. API Fellows can indeed work as “Think Tanks” that

distribute knowledge to, from and across communities to address these challenges.

Therefore, it is hoped that this initiative can be known as API’s First Regional Project, with the belief that

future regional collaborations among API Fellows, and subsequent lessons, will build on the body of work

exhibited today.

Ms. Yoshida reinforced Mr. Yogaswara remarks noting that this fellowship

activity required significant collective work, including collaboration

with many parties both in front of and behind the scenes. The project

demonstrated a real journey to deepen API’s understanding surrounding

the human dimension of the global environmental crisis in different

communities across Asia. And it is hoped that this public seminar

offered a useful platform for further contemplation on future collaborative

opportunities, as such regional collaborations are principle tools in

navigating the way forward.



Throughout the two days of the Culminating Event a

public exhibition space provided interactive insight into

the core of the Regional Project and its community

partners. The beautifully designed and appointed

showcase reflected strongly the artistic culture and

creativity inherent within both API and its Regional

Project. Display design, materials, layout and lighting

all worked seamlessly to create a lively yet soft

atmosphere for visitors to explore the culture, heritage,

challenges and opportunities facing the communities.

Local representatives from the project sites offered information developed through the Regional Project as

well as unique sale items from their towns and villages. Information about the Regional Project, its local and

regional products as well as its various partners and sponsors was also incorporated for visitors to peruse.

A sampling of the content exhibited specific to the Regional Project sites is reproduced below.

Indonesia:KaliCodeKali (River) Code, which bisects the Yogyakarta area, is a sub-river of

Opak, with its upper course located in the southern part of Mt. Merapi,

ending in the Parangtritis coast. With its upland and coastal connections,

Kali Code is a good example of a site linking urban environment, forest

degradation and marine coastal-ecology issues.

A high-density, low-income population resides along the riverbank of

Kali Code. Many of them hold informal jobs such as street vendors,

petty traders, domestic helpers, and other casual workers. As a dense

community with scarce resources, Kali Code used to be the center of

glaring social problems such as prostitution, street children, criminality,

and the like. Nowadays, people residing along the Kali Code face a new

challenge with the increase of environmental degradation in the river,

hence undermining considerably its function to catch and circulate the

water. During the rainy season, the water spilling out of the river causes

flooding in the area.

Responding to the problem, a number of people in the area have established an organization called

Pemerti Kali Code or ‘the Preservers of Kali Code’. This organization works to improve the community’s

quality of life and to preserve the river. For instance, they have created a village regulation to protect the

river, plastering trees along the riverbank, processing organic waste into natural fertilizer, and monitoring

community waste disposal.


During the late 2010 eruption of Mt. Merapi, the Kali Code

area was severely affected by the cold lava rushing down

through the river carrying hazardous volcanic materials.

Many houses along the riverbank were inundated by the cold

lava, forcing many of its residents to evacuate their homes.

The API site visit in February 2011 came at an opportune

time when the Kali Code community had just begun to pick

up the pieces left behind by the disaster.

The API Regional Project therefore highlighted its learning process in the local initiative of urban people

collaboratively managing the riverbank. The causes and solutions to the environmental problems of Kali

Code lie not only with the residents but also extend to the population surrounding the area.

Japan:BiwakoBiwako is the largest lake in Japan. Mountain ranges surround it and

460 rivers flow into the lake which functions as a reservoir, providing

water for 14 million people living in the surrounding and downstream

areas of Kyoto city and Osaka prefecture. Due to its importance,

local governments and communities have taken great efforts to

ensure that the volume and cleanliness of water are maintained.

Rapid economic development in Japan after the Second World War

had a tremendous impact on the human and ecological balance of

the surrounding areas of the Biwako. Widespread use of chemical

materials for agriculture, the household waste resulted in high levels

of water pollution. Replacement of natural forests with commercial

tree species brought about a loss of diversity in resources available

for the local communities.

Through the collaboration of the local government and community, steps have been taken to restore the

natural ecosystem, as well as to maintain the quality of water in Biwako. They have gained the confidence

and support of environmental specialists in an effort to influence local governments toward the enactment

of policies and enforcement of laws and regulations pertaining to Biwako. API Regional Project learned

from the restorative experience manifested in Biwako which can be a most relevant model to address the

environmental crisis confronting the region.

The activities of the project in the Biwako region were

divided into two. One group of API Fellows worked in the

Mukugawa agricultural village, while the others were

deployed to Harihata, a serene place in the mountain forest.

As a part of the Project in Biwako, and in order to enhance

the learning process and interaction with the local people,

Japan Working Group members rented a paddy field for

rice cultivation in Mukugawa village since March 2009.

Participants harvested the rice together during the site visit.


In both Mukugawa and Harihata, aging and depopulation

are the two most serious problems. Hence, the issue of

collective memory and the passing down of tradition are

of concern to the local government. As an illustration,

primary schools in the area are only populated by four or

five students. During the site visit, API Fellows were able

to engage various community leaders, small business

people and the local government officials, who provided a

whole range of views and perspectives on the policies and

challenges in developing the two places.

Additional learning by API Fellows also centered on Harie with the expectation to understand the linkage

between upstream and downstream areas of Lake Biwa. Located in the Shin-Asahi administrative town,

Harie stands out from other places in that most households have a facility of spring water called Kabata

for drinking and domestic use. Kabata water flows into a narrow canal network in the town in which carps

stocked by people make their habitat. The distinct structure of the narrow canal enables fishes in Lake

Biwa to swim upstream and downstream. The Kabata system has been maintained by a number of norms

and rules such as controlling the quality of discharging water by paying due consideration to the interest of

people in the downstream. People’s faith in water and Water God is an important element to the sustainability

of the system.

Malaysia:TasikChiniTasik (Lake) Chini, the second largest natural lake in Peninsular

Malaysia, is located in the district of Pekan, Pahang. It is made

up of a series of 12 lakes covering an area of 202 hectares.

The Chini Lake wetland plays an important role in providing

fisheries as a direct source of livelihood and food to the six

Orang Asli (indigenous people) villages located around the

lake. The lake is also able to accommodate a diversity of flora

and fauna.

The local community in Tasik Chini has an intimate spiritual

connection with the lake ecosystem, which is reflected in their

culture and folklore. Legend has it that the lake was the site of

an ancient Khmer city known as the Lost City of Gold, now completely submerged and guarded by mystical

monsters. Such legends have attracted archeologists to conduct expedition in the area.

More recently, the rise of eco-tourism, among other causes, has ironically led to the disruption of the

ecosystem, adversely affecting plant and animal species in the area. This, in turn, has threatened the

livelihood of the Orang Asli community on top of other challenges they face. In response to the problems that

arose, civil society, the scientific community, and the state government of Pahang initiated programs and

implemented on-the-ground actions to halt the further degradation of the lake and threats to the livelihood of

the community. The API Regional Project focused on learning how various stakeholders engage with each

other in managing and rehabilitating a degraded ecosystem of Tasik Chini.


ThePhilippines:Batanes

Batanes, the Philippines’ smallest province, lies at the northern

edge of the archipelago and is considered one of the country’s first

frontiers. It is composed of 10 islands bounded by the Pacific Ocean

in the east--the South China Sea in the west, the Babuyan channel

in the south and Bashes channel in the north. Its location across an

active typhoon and earthquake belt has largely shaped the islands’

terrain and the lifestyles of the people who inhabit them.

In turn, the people of Batanes have utilized cultural adaptive strategies

to ensure their survival and guarantee food security. Such adaptation,

which can also be thought of as calamity management schemes, can

be discerned from, among others, their types of shelter, technology,

indigenous practices and beliefs, production activities, and their

access to and utilization of resources.

Batanes is home to the Ivatans, an indigenous people with a distinct culture and tradition whose ancestry

can be traced to the Austronesians that migrated south from Indochina during the Neolithic era (5000 years

ago). The province boasts of Neolithic age archeological sites and anthropological studies based on their

language lend further proof of these people’s ancient roots. Apart from the Ivatans, Batanes has also seen

the steady migration of Ilocano (language group from northern Luzon Island) since the Spanish colonial

period. Most of these people derive their livelihood from fishing, farming and cattle-raising.

The ecological and cultural degradation experienced alongside

the move towards urbanization in previous decades has spurred

both local and national efforts in providing for the protection of

Batanes’ unique heritage. Designation as a Protected Landscape

and Seascape area in 2001 under the National Integrated

Protection Areas System (NIPAS), and listing as a candidate

for the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 are recognitions

of Batanes’ unique cultural and ecological assets, as well as

the efforts of its inhabitants to co-exist harmoniously with their

environment.

The API Regional Project gained knowledge from the symbiosis

between the people and the environment demonstrated in Batanes.

The site is a showcase of successful government-community-

indigenous people collaboration toward environmental protection.

Rather than top-down, the recognition and understanding of the

need to protect their environment percolated from the grassroots level.


Thailand:Khiriwong

The Khiriwong Community is situated within Kam Lon Sub-

district, Lan Saka District, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, where it

was founded more than 200 years ago. The community was

originally known as Ban Khun Nam, which means “upstream” or

“watershed area”. The community is located along the foothills

of the Khao Luang National Park, surrounded by a mountainous

area rich in primary forest that forms the watershed of the Taper

River, a major lifeline of the South.

Khiriwong has four sub-communities with a total population of 2,724 divided into 751 households. The

community has faced a number of natural disasters in recent years, including a devastating typhoon and

catastrophic floods, which claimed people’s lives and ruined livelihoods. Such experiences brought to the

fore the need for environmental sustainability. With the help of several government agencies, academic

institutions and NGOs that provided training and opportunities for community development, Khiriwong

survived.

The Khiriwong community has been well-known for its

strength, self-reliance, and the participatory manner by

which its members work together to address its issues.

The characteristics have enabled the community to

recover from a number of serious problems, including

natural disasters and other socio-economic challenges.

One practice demonstrating the community’s self-sufficiency

is its use of traditional mixed orchards, called Suan Som

Rom, a main source of income. This example of

agroforestry is a product of local wisdom, and this has

been in operation for over 100 years. In the past decade, the community has come to apply this innate

wisdom in establishing and developing eco-tourism and other income-generating activities such as the

production of natural tie-dyed textiles and traditional handicrafts.

With the increased emphasis in recent years on the rights of local communities in managing and utilizing

forest resources, Khiriwong experiences can offer important lessons for other communities in Thailand, as

well as the region. The API Regional Project learned from the Khiriwong community’s knowledge of self-

reliance, its strength, and leadership which enhanced the community to overcome the struggles and to live

in harmony with nature.













Totok Pratopo was born in Indonesia in 1967. He obtained his

college education from the Department of Biology of FP. MIPA Ikip

in Yogyakarta. In 2005, the Department of Public Works, Provinsi

DIY (Province of the Special Region of Yogyakarta), hired him as a

surveyor to study the asset management of Code River. In 2006, he

was charged to study the riverbank management of Progo, Winong,

and Code River. In 2009 he was commissioned community facilitator

of the study on the fertilization of Code River in the urban area by

Balai Besar Wilayah Sungai Progo Opak Serang (Agency for the

River Regions of Progo Opak Seran). That same year he became

facilitator of the community development of Embung Tambakboyo.

In 2010, he assumed the role of Environmental Expert Assistant

for the community development of Bogowonto River downstream.

Between 2008 and 2011, Mr. Pratopo became the leader/founder

of the Pemerti Kali Code (Forum of Code River Community of Yogyakarta). Mr. Pratopo has received several

valuable rewards. In 2002 he was given the Habitat Award by the Minister of Indonesian Public Works in

recognition of his services as community facilitator of Code River in the urban area of Yogyakarta. In 2004

he was conferred the KALPATARU (Local Government Environmental Award) by the Provinsi DIY (Province

of the Special Region of Yogyakarta) Governor. Finally, in 2008 he was given the City Major Award for an

individual, under the Environment category.

Tetsuya Imakita was born in Otsu City , Shiga Prefecture . When he

was a graduate student majoring in landscape architecture in the

1970s, he stayed in the former Kutsuki Village in the northeastern

part of the Prefecture. Later, at the age of 29, he migrated to

the Oisugi settlement of Harihata, in the former Kutsuki Village

. He then established “Senpowsha,” an enterprise that connects

consumers in the urban areas and the local producers, and

promotes and sells local products such as organic farm produce,

a variety of wild vegetables, and local handicrafts. In 2005, he

called for establishing “Hinoyama-Hiroba”, a group espousing the

practice of mountain-burning to revitalize forests and communities.

Mr. Awang Alok is the community leader of Tasik Chini. He has

Mr.TetsuyaImakitaCommunity Forester

Mr.TotokPratopoLeader of Pemerti Kali Code


held that position since 1969. The title Batin, is the name given to

a community leader who is appointed by the government. Aged 71

years old, Mr. Alok is still going strong, regularly taking care of his

garden, going to the forest to collect necessities, representing the

community at government meetings and speaking at conferences

on Tasik Chini. Batin did not go to school but attended adult

education classes in his twenties. In 1969, when he became the

leader, children had to travel 80 km. to go to the nearest primary

school. He valued education and urged the government to set up

a school at the village. It took him many years to persuade the

authorities to establish the Tasik Chini Primary School. Among his

many visions for the Orang Asli is to secure economic wellbeing

of his people and restoration of Tasik Chini. Unfortunately the lake

degradation arising from the weir, pollution from oil palm plantations

and mining of iron ore, and illegal encroachment of their lands have dampened his vision for the community.

Dr. Florentino Hornedo is considered to be one of the country’s

authorities synonymous when it comes to Ivatan culture. He is a

much sought-after speaker and lecturer, not only because of his

intensity as a speaker but also because of his scholarly presentation

of his topics. His passion for propagating his knowledge of

literature, education, philosophy and culture is also translated into

the printed page. Aside from being an educator, Dr. Hornedo is

also a Commissioner of the UNESCO National Commission of the

Philippines. In 2004, his efforts at promoting culture have finally

been recognized: he received the Pilak Award from the Cultural

Center of the Philippines in recognition of his “service to culture,

arts and community”. His indefatigable efforts at promoting Ivatan

culture and his tremendous contribution to research on the matter,

makes him the most appropriate person to be appointed as curator

of the Prelate of Batanes by the Most Reverend Bishop Camilo Gregorio, D. D., Bishop of Batanes. Having

been born in Savidug, Sabtang, Batanes on October 16, 1938, explains Hornedo’s pride of his heritage

and the tremendous work and time that he pours on the Ivatan culture. Hornedo studied at the University

of Santo Tomas, earning a degree in Bachelor of Science in Education (1961). He earned two Master of

Arts degrees from the St. Louis University in Baguio City, one in English Literature, (1966), and another in

Philosophy. He later returned to the University of Santo Tomas to pursue a Ph.D. in Literature, Meritissimus

(1977). Several years after, he took a Post Doctorate degree in History and Political Science Training in

Journalism and Anthropology (1985).

Dr.FlorentinoHornedoIvatan Expert

Mr.AwangAlokHead of Orang Asli Community

in Tasik Chini


Originally from Khiriwong, Mr. Yongyuth Krachanglok has been

contributing to the development of his community since he was

18, when he was the youth leader of Lansaka district, Nakhon

Sri Thammarat province. Eleven years later, he was voted head

or “Kamnan” of Khiriwong community. One of his motivations for

helping out his hometown was his wish to help restore its prosperity

after a severe flood hit the village in 1988, causing considerable

loss of lives and property. To this end, he devoted his energies to

developing ecotourism in the community, promoting youth camp

activities, and joining development programs to help manage

forestry resources for sustainable development, to name a few.

He is now a committee member and a network president of a

project seeking to establish economic efficiency in South Thailand.

He dreams of witnessing the development of the community in

the most sustainable way, and for the people to appreciate local

natural resources management.

Mr. Wirat Srichote was born in Khiriwong. After obtaining his

masters degree in Philosophy and Religion in India, he taught

in several universities in Thailand. Though he felt the urge to

work in his hometown and subsequently returned to Nakhon

Sri Thammarat province. Since 1998 he has been engaged

in community development programs in Khiriwong, taking on

the positions of committee member of an agroecology group,

a cooperatives group and a youth training group. He is also

actively involved in several projects and attends several training

workshops on sustainable development in the community, both in

the district and the provincial levels. In meetings with community

leaders from other countries, he expects to share ideas, such as

the use of alternative energy in Khiriwong, that could possibly lead

to cooperation among several communities in the future.

Mr.WiratSrichoteAgro-ecology, Cooperatives,

and Youth Training Group

Mr.YongyuthKrachanglakFormer Kamnan

(Sub-District Head)


July 8, 2000- Launch of the API Fellowships Program in Malaysia. It aimed to provide public intellectuals

in the region opportunities for research and professional activities in line with the API Declaration for the

commitment to unified action towards a better future for Asia.

November 19 - 22, 2001 - First API Regional Workshop in Cebu, Philippines. It sought to encourage the

Fellows to share their key findings and common concerns pertaining to the region and to strengthen the

network of public intellectuals. The Regional Workshop has been held annually since then.

March 2006 - First Country Workshops of API Fellows from Years 1 to 4. These were organized in Indonesia,

Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand and took place in conjunction with the orientation of the newly

selected Fellows. Every year to date, each API Partner Institution (PI) organizes a Country Workshop in

February - March 2012. It serves as a forum for all previous and current Fellows to exchange ideas and to

explore areas for potential collaboration.

July 2006 - Representative Fellows from 5 API participating countries were invited to work out a mechanism

of Fellows’ collaboration. “API Community Vision” was drafted. The group has officially recognized as the

Regional Committee (RC) since 2007.

November 2007 - Launch of Follow-Up Grants (FUG), designed to support projects of API Fellows who had

completed their fellowships. The grants also sought to nurture a sense of community amongst the Fellows

by encouraging collaborative projects dealing with current issues in the region and whose outcomes should

yield practical benefits to the society at large.

May 2008 -Recognition by the Salzburg Global Seminar of the API Community as “a fine pool of intellectuals

in Asia”. API - Salzburg Collaboration started to send selected Fellows to join the Seminar so that they could

expose themselves to the world’s intellectual leaders and convey the voice of Asia.

November 2008 - Launched the API Regional Project (RP) with the theme of “Community-based Initiatives

for Human-Ecological Balance”. It stove to encourage region-wide efforts aimed at deepening relationships

among API Fellows, communities and various publics.

September 4 - 17, 2009 - RP’s first site visit in Biwako, the largest lake in Japan. The Fellows learned of

the impact of the successful collaboration of local government and the community to improve the human-

ecological balance after the Second World War.

January 11 - February 18, 2010 - RP site visit in Kiriwong, Thailand. The Fellows learned of the community’s

strengths in applying wisdom to the management and utilization of forest resources to establish its self

sufficiency, in helping facilitate knowledge transmission to its younger generation.

April 5 - 16, 2010 - RP site visit in Batanes, Philippines. The Fellows explored how the people of the remote

island of Batanes utilized their cultural adaptive strategies to ensure their survival and protect their heritage.

The site is a showcase of a successful government-community-indigenous people collaboration towards

environmental protection.


May28-30,2010 -Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the API Fellowships Program in Manila.

May2010- Expansion of the API Program to include participants from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV).

February13-22,2011- RP site visit of Kali Code near Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The key parties concerned

and signed the MoU on the planning and revitalization of the Kali Code on February 21. They also agreed

to collaborate with the Pemerti Kali Code (Yogyakarta Code Community Forum) within the framework.

April7-17, 2011 - RP site visits in Tasik Chini, Malaysia. The Fellows observed the prevailing situation

and exchanged ideas on how best the Orang Asli community respond to the degradation of its lake’s

surroundings.

April2012- Launch of a grant scheme to encourage Fellows to participate as a panel in the International

Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA). The event from July 2 to July 5, 2012 aims to promote cross-border

studies, activities and regional collaboration.

June14-16,2012 - API Regional Project Culminating Event in Bangkok. Regional Project findings will be

shared with the public, while knowledge and local wisdom will be exchanged to address the key challenges

and to establish more regional cooperation in the future.


We are a community of multi-disciplinary intellectuals committed to issues related to and affecting Asia. We

recognise our diversity as a strength, respect the freedom and autonomy of our work, and desire to work

with others who share similar commitments.

We are committed to knowledge work beyond traditional institutionalised boundaries and exploring the

meaning and place of Asia in a global context. In our work, we aspire to bring together thinking and doing

imbued by accountability and transparency.

We affirm this sense of ourselves in engaging with issues of social, cultural and political significance.

Our publics are varied in their localities, size, composition and contexts. They may be rooted in a localised

community, confined within a nation-state, or transcend national boundaries.

They represent various sectors and strata of society. We nevertheless share a concern for the marginalised,

victimised and oppressed.

Using our knowledge, expertise and experience, we are committed to leaving a legacy to future generations -a world

that is peaceful, progressive, and environmentally healthy - and where humans are responsible for each

other, and co-exist with respect and dignity.

We can do this by working with the publics concerned, with those who are concerned with their issues, as

well as those who are responsible for creating the situation.

Beyond research, self-expression, or public recognition, our work values intellectual engagement concerned

with the public good. We seek to present ways by which local, national, and regional communities in Asia

can enjoy a fair distribution of power. Our advocacy demands discernment, integrity, and commitment.

We contend with everyday struggles, our ranks strengthened by collaboration. Going past the traditional

role of the intellectual as critic or thinker, our network includes anyone with a desire to serve the public good.

The API network supports diverse and creative expression that is inclusive in its understanding of intellectual

work and upholds a rich heritage of leadership, collaboration and wisdom in order to promote social security

and change in Asia.




Documents

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