Learning to share: Conference on insider peace builders

Day Two. Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Peacebuilding is an intervention that is designed to prevent the start or resumption of violent conflict by creating sustainable peace. Peacebuilding activities address the root causes or potential causes of violence.

en.wikipedia.org

Today is another day that I am being given a lesson in humility. Out of some 30 participants in the conference coming from Burma, Indonesia, Brunei, the Phillippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand , England and Germany, half of whom are doctors, I’m the only one who’s not a scholar.

Also, as academics, all of them — nearly, anyway — are speaking a language that is totally different from mine. Just to show you an example, they are talking about “governance” and “peacebuilding” as if they are commonplace words, not knowing I don’t have the least idea about the difference between “governance” and “government”, or between “peacemaking” and “peacebuilding.”

Only one new word saves me from being completely isolated. Almost everybody, except Dr Norbert Ropers, the organizer from Berghof, seems to be in a daze about the word “insider peace builders.” Which brings a much welcome relief to me, who is increasingly feeling out of place as I continue listening to their strange lingo.

First of all, it is held at a big classroom at the School of Social Sciences, which is but a 10 minute walk from the guesthouse where we are staying.

The only fault I can find about the whole show is that Isaac Khen from Myanmar fails to turn up, as he is unable to get his visa in time. Inevitably, the job falls on me (who’s totally unprepared) to fill up the gap. Which I do it in my clumsy fashion, as I didn’t have time to look over his 38 page paper.

Dr Kamarulzaman “Zam” Askandar, known as an expert on Aceh, opens the conference with the question: Who are insider peacebuilders?

The one to answer it is Luxhi Vimalarajah, also from Berghof, who, like Isaac, is not able to make it. To my understanding, she is the one slated to present the core concept of the conference’s theme: Governance and Insider Peacebuilders.

Naturally, others from Berghof make brave efforts to fill in, but after the end of their presentations, Dr Zam sums it up by saying, “As I listened, the question went on unanswered in my mind: Am I an insider or an outsider?”

But the day isn’t wasted. There are a lot that I have learned from others to make up for my disappointment. Here are some of the selected notes I’ve taken:

• We are political people, but not politicians.
• Myanmar has no alternative. It must transform into a state-nation to survive (as a nation)
• India may be a model as a state-nation on the one hand. But, on the other hand, what it is doing in the northeastern states is a disaster.
• Nepalese peace process should be going well if not for India.

Nepal, I think, is another country that Burma, especially its Shan State, should do well to study. (The other is Switzerland):

• It is jammed between India and China
• It is landlocked
• It has different ethnic groups
• It is, from monarchy, becoming a democratic and federal republic
• Redrawing of the country’s new provinces has been causing problems

In the meanwhile, a handover ceremony is being held in Naypyitaw. The new president, U Htin Kyaw, according to a report, promises constitutional amendment, a federal union, internal peace and national reconciliation. Which is encouraging but he will need a lot of nerve and a lot of support to go against the odds in the parliament, which, though in the letter of the law, is a 25% occupation by the military, is in effect, 100% possession by it.

Other than that, it is good to be a stranger in a strange land:

• Penang is just 5° north of equator
• Lecture rooms are adjacent to prayer rooms separately for men and women
• Even restrooms have a special compartment where one can wash one’s feet before going into prayer rooms
• Food is not only without pork, but not also without much sugar and coconut milk like where I come from

Didn’t Henry Rollins say, “A great way to learn about your country is to leave it”