June-August

2010

Young Peacemakers : Riding to Peace

ASEAN Youth Movement is a space for youth activists, students, NGOs,
entrepreneurs and youth allies (to name a few types of participants) to
come together, share their experiences and support each other’s efforts
for a better society. We are not an organization - we are trying to create a
communication network, which can bring together organizations, networks,
groups or clubs interested in connecting with others and exchanging
information.
We call ourselves a movement because many of our participants are
activists - actively participating in society, working in community
development, politics, the environment, human rights and many other
issues. The most important thing is that we are all active youth, and when
we come together, we believe that we can call ourselves a movement. We
aim to bring youth together and support our friends’ efforts for social
change through youth-driven media and communication.
We have organized the ASEAN Youth Movement and plan to continue
with seasonal newsletters to represent the activities and ideas of youth
in many different ASEAN countries. Human Rights, the environment,
health, gender and social justice are all issues we continue to support
and help publicize throughout ASEAN. We are working based on youth
volunteerism and grassroots energy, and hope for our movement for a
better region to continue rising!
During the summer heat this year, a tragic political incident occurred in
the heart of Bangkok where sixty people lost their lives due to the recent
political unrest. From our deepest sorrow and sadness, we would like to
express our feelings to the people in Thailand who lost their lives last
May. However, this incident was not the only one of its kind, other such
incidences are happening everywhere in the world as well.
One of the great peace activists, Mahatma Ghadhi’s philosophy says,
‘There is no way to peace; peace is the way.’ Our peacemaker’s friends,
Martin Luther King, Dalai Lama and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and our
fellow friends, brothers and sisters are struggling for peace, justice and
rights around the world. In our region, the people of Laos, Cambodia,
Vietnam, Burma/Mynmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei,
Singapore, East Timor and Thailand have also been fighting for peace
and never giving in.
In this issue, AYM will bring you closer to knowing about the youth
movement for peace, to see their actions and to hear their experiences.
Despite the political incidents that occurred last summer we hope to
find peace, especially inner peace, and with the belief in our hearts that
everything is possible, peace can become possible. Furthermore, even
though our bodies are tired our hearts are strongly and firmly tied.
We hope that the rain may come to us and that we can be the young people
to pave and build a more peaceful world.

Love and Peace,

ASEAN Youth Media Team

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II
III

aseanyouthmovement@gmail.com
IV www.aseanyouthmovement.org
EDITORIAL OFFICE
Thai Volunteer Service,
409 Soi Rohitsook,
Pracharajbampen Rd.,
Huay-Kwang, Bangkok
10320 Thailand
Tel/Fax: (66) 2691 0437-9
Asking seriously what is the definition of ‘Youth’? Interestingly,
there is a variety of answers to that. Even though the United
Nations (UN) defines ‘youth’ as those persons between the
ages of 15 and 24 years-old, some other countries have
different definitions. For instance in Thailand, the accepted
norm for youth is between the ages of 14-25 years-old,
Cambodia 14-30 years-old, Philippines 15-30 years-old,
Malaysia below 40 years-old, and there is no consensus
about the definition of youth in Indonesia.

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Accordingly, UN states that there are many countries draw line on
youth at the age at which person is given equal treatment under the
law - often referred to as the ‘age of majority’. This age is 18 in many
countries, and once a person passes this age, they are considered to
be an adult. In some countries, one will no longer be a youth when
he or she gets married.
However, the operational definition and nuances of the term ‘youth’
often vary from country to country, depending on the specific
socio-cultural, institutional, economic and political factors. Within
the category of ‘youth‘, it is also important to distinguish between
teenager (13-19 years-old) and young adult (20-24 years-old), since the
sociological and health problems they face may differ. (UN’s website)

Source: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/qanda.htm,
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/philippinen/04526/yp_02_prelims_introduction.pdf

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 Fund Raising for Youth Network Forum:
by Mee Mee, Burma

The Youth Network Forum- Fundraising activity was held at Judson

Center, Pyay Road on 27th February 2010. The activity was organized by
youth from different youth-led organizations. 20 youth organizations
participated in that event. The activity aimed to establish a common
fund for Myanmar Youth Forum; to introduce Myanmar Youth Forum
to youth from various sectors, businesses and companies, and local and
international organizations; to seek future collaboration with local and
international organizations; and to encourage youth to participate in
various social activities and community programmes.
The programme started at 3:00 pm. There were 20 youth groups
actively participating in the activity by selling books, clothes, souvenirs,
snacks and soft drink, games, ethnic traditional clothes and food.
The youth forum fund raising activity included entertainment. Shan
Conversation Club performed Shan traditional dance, My Subu fun club
contributed A Nyeint (traditional dancing concert), Youth Development
Initiative Network conducted Rakhine song and dance and Myanmar
Youth Network had a poem reading session.
Students, youth from various sectors, businessmen, representatives
from local and international organizations, and UN staff attended the
youth network forum fund raising activity. The program was successful
and ended at 7:00 pm

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 Book Distribution: Initiatives of Change Association
by Sovathana Neang, Cambodia

First and foremost, one of the Initiatives of Change Association (ICA)

Cambodia’s projects was book distribution. The project works closely
with primary students at poor remote areas in Ankor Borei District,
Takeo Province near the Cambodia-Vietnam border. The objective of
this activity is to promote more spiritual awareness of education and its
values and create a culture of sharing; to encourage youth to be much
more involved in their communities; to reduce school dropout rates and
motivate students to study hard; to bridge the gap between city people
and rural people; and to contribute to reducing poverty. In addition, lots
of difficulties and obstacles such as six-month flooding per year, a lack of
study materials, less-value on education, poor situations etc, has made
many students drop out. We conduct this activity twice a year, one at the
beginning of the school year to distribute books to all students and another
one at the end of the year to reward the top five outstanding students.
Last but not least, there are a total of 366 kids from four primary
schools: Bak Dai, Kok Thlork, Prek Taphor and Tuol Putra in Angkor Borei
District, Takeo Province that gathered at Kok Thlork Primary School to
get study materials such us note books, textbooks, pens, pencils, rulers,
erasers, chalk boards, whiteboards, donated clothes, and other materials.

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Peace Start within, Change Start with Me!
by Achmad Hairul Umam, Initiatives of Change, Indonesia

Initiatives of Change Indonesia initiated a one day workshop on

creating a culture of peace in Tidung Island, which is 3 hours by boat
from north Jakarta. The workshop was held on 15 May 2010 and
around 35 students participated enthusiastically at this program. The
aim of the workshop was to promote a culture of peace starting from
the small milieus of personal, family, and community. Culture of peace
is a calling to live in unity in diversity peacefully. It also transforms a
spirit of peace to engage someone else to care, love, and share with each
other differently.
During the workshop, participants learned some practical values
to be peace makers and the agents of change in daily life interactions.
They also explored and did brainstorming about why people act with
violence when responding to diversity, and why the majority of people
keep silent when a conflict or violence erupts. The method used by
the facilitator was truth telling, so, participants could share and learn
together through honest conversation while searching for the answer
to tackle any problem in their own lives.
At the end of the workshop, participants were also encouraged to have
an action plan. The most impressive was when one of the participants
came on the stage and called to clean up the rubbish on the beach. He
thought, “We need to bring peace not only for human beings but also to
the environment. See how violent we are if we still throw the rubbish away
improperly? Now, our environment threatens our lives seriously as we
have felt and seen from the flood and climate change”.

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Rise NOW, Young Malaysians!
by Lorraine Siew Wei Mei, Social Spark Malaysia

On the 18th, 19th and 20th of May 2010, a group of youth leaders
representing various youth organizations were invited to participate in
the 6th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), an opportunity we used
to reach out to world leaders in government and business.
Matters about youth development, empowerment of the youths and
recognition of youths’ contributions to the country were discussed upon
meeting the highly prominent figures present.
The One Young World Youth Report, a report representing the
voices of 40,000 Malaysian youths, was also presented to Malaysian and
international role-players such as the former Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Tun Abdullah Badawi and ASEAN Secretary General, Dr Surin Pitsuwan.
Youth interventions conducted throughout the 3-day event were proven
effective when the WIEF agreed to initiate a “Youth Corps” program as
one of its practical plans to harness the vibrancy of youth and prepare
them for leadership roles in future.
God Willing, they will be the first batch of national leaders that will
co-create and co-produce projects designed to develop Malaysian youths
soon.

Understanding Peace and Human Rights: GenPeace starts

its National Training Series
by GenPeace, Philippines

Manila, Philippines—Youth leaders from different youth organizations

learn about peace and human rights concepts through a training
workshop. Twenty participants engaged in a 3-day event to discuss: the
national Philippine youth situationer, human rights, armed conflict and
International Humanitarian Law, fundamentals of peace and different
ways toparticipate in peace building.
The Philippines experiences two 40-year old armed conflicts with
the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination in Mindanao (with the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front) as well as the communist democratic front
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(with the Communist Party of the Philippines) nationwide. The training
is geared towards training “second-liner” peace advocates coming from
the young generation.
Nikki Delfin, from the GenPeace Secretariat says that “Many of the
peace advocates in the country are now from the previous generations.
They are now older and wiser, but there are few leaders from the new
generation that would take the elusive peace challenge to the next level.
We want to be able to train young leaders and launch them in the different
fields where peace advocates are needed. Inter-generational peace building
is important if we want to see our dream turn into reality.” He notes that
the training series is just one step closer to achieving their goals.
The youth organizations come from different fields such as peace,
human rights, environment, sustainable development and good governance,
among others. GenPeace believes that the youth need a “peace lens” in
looking at the world and in transforming the Philippine society. One of
GenPeace’s long-term vision is to be able to help empower, collaborate
and transform on a regional level with the youth organizations in ASEAN
and beyond.
GenPeace, a national youth peace network in the Philippines,
envisions youth leaders taking up peace and human rights issues as
fundamental themes in their organizations. Trainings from the northern to
southern part of the country is planned for the rest of the year. GenPeace
also is preparing for the International Day of Peace celebration in September
21, which is also the Commemoration of Martial Law Declaration in the
Philippines.
Last month, GenPeace along with an international team of volunteers,
drafted the “Civil Society Report on the End of the Decade for a Culture
of Peace and Non-violence”. The Report is a review and evaluation of the
UN-declared Culture of Peace Decade which ends this year.
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Dream on Fire : Young Generations’ Perspectives:
How Can We Live Together?
Compiled and translated by Pimsiri Petchnamrob
Source: Ma Kham Pom Foundation

After the recent shocking political crisis in Thailand which caused 90

deaths in just over a single month, Nonviolence Network and Makhampom
Theater Group organized the event “Dream on Fire: Perspectives of Young
Generation, How Can We Live Together”. The forum aimed to create a
discussion space about the political situation among different Thai youth
groups.
At the end of a discussion panel Phra Paisan Visalo, Thailand’s well-
known monk activist gave a speech about the current political conflict
and stated that the root of all violent situations in Thailand (including
southern Thailand’s unrest and the latest political crisis) is the ‘alienation
perspective’. What Phra PaisanVisalo described as, “when we see people
who are different from us as ‘other’, the violation will be permitted.”
He also said that Thai society must be more patient and provide more
space to the thing we call ‘diversity’. Even though here there are many
people who are different or have opposing political opinions from each
other, it doesn’t mean any particular person is right anor wrong. “Why
were we sad when we saw buildings collapse but did not feel anything
when we saw dead or injured people because we believed that they were
wrong?”
“Thai society must learn to respect the diversity within society and
people’s differing opinions. Young people should learn from the latest
violence and never let it happen again in the future,” added Phra Paisan
Visalo, the 2010 Sri Burapha Peace Prize laureate.

Saigon-Seoul: Connect Souls

by Minh Ngoc, Vietnam

Along with many interesting activities held by the International

Youth Club Vietnam, Saigon-Seoul: Connect souls can be considered
this organization’s most successful event during the last few months. In
one beautiful morning, on May 23, 2010 at Center of Korean Culture,
the event was held with the attendance of 40 Vietnamese friends and
nearly 20 Korean students aged from 8 to 18; not to mention about 20
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organizers and volunteers, all are members of Intergration team, IYC. The
aim of this event is to promote cultural exchange and relationship between
Vietnam and Korea. It creates a chance for participants to introduce their
national character and learn new one from others.
At the beginning, participants really enjoyed their time joining
Vietnamese traditional game called ‘Cuop co’ and Korean game Cock
Kicking. After that, by being introduced one of the most outstanding
features of a country: Food, participants learned about traditional ‘Goi
cuon’ from Vietnam and ‘Kimpap’ from Korea and people had chance to
practise making them together. The last part of the event is when people
learned one of many similarities between Vietnam and Korea: the art of
flying kites and then made real kites in two different ways according to
two cultures. All the time the event happened, participants did the tasks
together, they made friends, exchanged knowledge, culture, feelings as
well as the kites they made considered as souvenirs to each other.
The event ended with hugs, smiles and even tears on faces of participants
because it was time to say good bye. That day, they went home with nice
memories about new friends, new culture but first and foremost, they
learned that connecting the world must started at connecting people.
One participant has said that the event ended, but a friendship between
two cultures has just begun.
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 Getting to know more about our friends and
networks is very important, especially when we share
a common value and interest on building ‘peace’.
This time our team makes it happen, although it by Siriluk Sriprasit
is only on the page here, writing to capture some
peace movement in cyberspace, in Southeast
Asia. However, these groups and organizations are very active and they
keep on creating, building, and paving the way to a peaceful society. The
website is part of their movement, and provides a space for cross-border
friends to visit, or bridge the work among the peace makers.
Some of the websites we are going to introduce are interesting in
many aspects. They are committed in believing that they can make their
communities, societies, and countries a better place for themselves and
for everyone with the belief that they can make a change. For me, I do not
think that the big change we are looking for as a goal or so whatever would
be as important as the action they have already made and moved. Here
we are, and we are in the process of making something beautiful, indeed.

Buddhism for development project (BDP)

(http://bdplaos.wordpress.com)

Firstly, we start with BDP,

a project that aims to promote Laos
http://bdplaos.wordpress.com
bringing Buddhism principles
into agricultural practices and
organic farming. Although this
project is not recognized as
a peace group, BDP deeply
attaches on practical activities
of building peace. It is also
based on youth volunteers
working on the project. ‘The proposed programme is designed to utilize local
culture and wisdom, to be pro-Buddhist in the sense of using traditional
Buddhist values, while remaining inclusive of all religious and ethnic
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groups.’ Ultimately, the project also shows that the (religious) healing
power inside is the mental strength, and it is very important to everyone
to work on any social issues, and deal with any threat in our society.

Volunteers for Peace (VPV)

(http://www.vpv.vn/index.php?lang=eng)

Secondly, VPV, an
organization that aims to
promote voluntary service as Vietnam
http://www.vpv.vn/index.php?lang=eng
a means of cultural and
educational exchange
among people, for peace
and friendship, and as an
approach to address social
problems. VFP is welcome
to volunteers from around the world, to participate in its activities, both
mid and long term. VPV also provides various training opportunities for
young people in Vietnam and from different countries in order to improve
their skills and knowledge, especially in the field of intercultural learning
and social development.

Youth for Peace (YFP)

(http://www.yfpcambodia.org/)

Third, YFP, is a high

quality peace education program
for youth workshops. YFP prepares
young people for solidarity, Cambodia
http://www.yfpcambodia.org/
leadership and active citizenship
by developing their capacity for
decision-making, building a sense
of responsibility, and empowering
them to act. YFP conducts field
trips to communities and villages
to have dialogue and cultural exchanges. It was founded in 1999 by a
group of students from different universities who were concerned about
social issues in Cambodia.
The program director shared with AYM Media Team that YFP builds
the capacity of youth to design and implement peace building projects
and most importantly, promotes solidarity by encouraging them to do it
together; first by analyzing the conflict and social problem, then mutually
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identifying social and justice issues, and lastly thinking creatively about
how their cooperative efforts can help overcome barriers to justice and
peace. It envisions a society where people have equal access and active
participation towards sustainable development and harmony “There are
about 65 percent of the total population are youth, under 25-years-old.
And youth are today activist and tomorrow leaders of the society. They
can be both of a source of conflicts and peace.” said Long Khet, a program
director.

GenPeace - Philippines
(http://youthpeacenetwork.wordpress.com/)

The next one is ‘GenPeace’,

though their website/weblog is
Philippines
http://youthpeacenetwork.wordpress.com/
not yet fully developed, their
statement is clear and very firm
from the heart of the young
peace makers. GenPeace is a
network of organizations and
individuals engaging for a youth-
led advocacy towards a just and
sustainable peace in the Philippines.
“We know this is a mouthful, but simply put we are a young generation
working for peace.” This shows in the website.
With many ongoing injustices and problems in their country,
i.e. land rights, social justice and food issues, GenPeace is focusing
on advocating the right to self-determination, as well as the Indigenous
People’s right to ancestral lands. Impressively, in its website declares
that ‘Peace is jobs, Justice, Food, Freedom, Land and Liberation. Peace
is government accountable to its people. Peace is freedom from fear.’

Peace Generation (PeaceGen)

(http://peace-generation.com/)

Looking at PeaceGen
website will really catch your
attention. Although only a few
pages are available in english, Indonesia
http://peace-generation.com/
you can sense the tone and the
rhythm of the young hearts.
PeaceGen was founded in
2005 by two men who share
a common passion. It serves
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 a key role in promoting peace in Indonesia. Irfan Amalee from Indonesia
and Erik Lincoln from America, have been working to strengthen this
peace organization for a few years already. They consulted with leaders
from within the Muslim community, educators and youth. PeaceGen
took two people to start it, but now the peace building movement spreads
out through, and across Indonesia already. Many organization, schools,
teachers, and community leaders have engaged in the peace trainings.
Over 23,000 young people were trained principles of peace. ‘By early
2010 PeaceGen achieved nearly one-quarter of its goal to raise 100,000
young Indonesian Peace Makers.’

Generation Wave (GW) - Myanmar/Burma

(http://www.generation-wave.blogspot.com and http://wp.me/pCzCA-bI)

/
The last one we cannot
miss is the GW of the young
people inside and outside
Burma. According to the
BBC’s report early this year
Myanmar
http://www.generation-wave.blogspot.com
about this group, ‘Burma’s http://wp.me/pCzCA-bI
youth rapping for change’, is
something very inspiring. GW
is a group of hip hop-loving,
young Burmese, dedicated to over throwing the military government.
They have a safe house somewhere in Thailand where they can learn and
plan for a campaign, for instance the issue of human rights, and release
political prisoners. The group has a strict policy of non-violence, and no
one under 17 or over 35 years old can join. Anyone who does sign up must
officially live in Burma and be prepared to take risks. Currently, about 30
GW members have been imprisoned. (from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
asia-pacific/8518137.stm)
“Online Peace” is the attempt to illustrate some of the peace movements
through cyberspace. We truly believe that there are so many young peace
makers, groups, and organizations out there, working their best to achieve
some peace in their community. We would love to say that it is not like
something blowing the in wind, gone and disappear. Their actions here
are real, and getting to warm the whole world. Let’s support each other,
however we can, to strengthen up the ‘youth generation for peace!’

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 by AYM Media Team
“In my opinion, peace is non-violence and free of
doing anything under law of the country. A problem in
my country is education, which is very important for the
country and also in the ASEAN countries. WE must aware
that the educatioin is the first way to bring people to the
bright future, and it is the way we can spread peace to
the young generation and they will spread to the world.”
- Keo Leny, 21 year-old,Phnom Penh - Cambodia

“Every country, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos,

we all have the shared borders and we’re facing discrimination
from misunderstanding history. This made we don’t like each
other. And we hand that misunderstanding from generations
to generations. We should stop that and build peace among
us, a youth generation. And peace start from mind, I wish to
have a real peace in my mind then I will spread the real peace
to other people. We’re the neighboring countries, stop hating
but create some love. ”
- Borany, Initiative of Change Association – Cambodia

“Peace is a feeling of being free. I’m free, I

don’t hate anyone because when you hate someone
or you hate your neighbor then you are not free.
Everyday with the anger in you, it will tell you what
to do, to act badly, is not being free. So, to have peace
that refer to being free at your heart, you don’t have
to be scared of other people. It’s an internal peace.
And one thing is, you can be nationalistic but it
doesn’t need to hate [or harm] other people. Also, I
encourage that the young people are very powerful,
and each of them can really change something.
Even the big things, they can always change that. ”
- Sovathana Neang, Initiative of Change Association – Cambodia

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 “All we want is peace, all we need is peace, all we ask is peace,
and peace is all we want. - Gordon David. Peace should get started
from individual person, then among friends, and families, and in
the society. In fact, peace outside needs peace inside, so that it will
completed each other to be a real peace. Youth is a force to change
society. And it will be great for my country and other countries that
the peace issue will be highlighted in ASEAN community. When
we understand each other, then we can make a change to live in a
solidarity community.”
- Thai Seila, a 23 year-old law student, Kampong Cham – Cambodia

“The basic motto of the Indonesian nation is to build unity

and cohesion. So I think to building peace is very important as
well. But not only for my country, but peace must be maintained
throughout the world, too. And that is with the realization of
peace deep in our environment, our country and people, thus
the nation is able to be developed. The tragedy happening
in Bangkok, and between South Korean and North korean,
Palestinian and Israeli, are not only their problems but ours,
too. Youth movement must be able to become united across
the countries.”
- Muttaqien Yunus, a young environmental activist - Indonesia

“At least two dimension of peace: first is peace in

nature; and the second is peace in human society. And
peace doesn’t mean only without having war, but also
no violence in our society. People don’t take advantages
from each other. People are generally happily living
together with respect. We need to build peace among
ourselves; that means we need to understand each other
put our hearts to others’ hearts. And always remember
that violence for peace never find the real peace. I see
many events when the soldiers are fighting for peace
(they claim), but they don’t really make peace.”
- Sopavanh Rassapong, a student from Faculty of Forestry, Vientiane - Lao PDR

“Peace is not only for a society but also for a person. Which means a
person should have his/her rights to express opinion, thought, speech, and
the right to live, to have education and to work. Also, the right to manage
their own natural environment. Building peace is the most important for
all over the world because if we lose our peace and the war will come to
destroyed our lives, properties and our environment. So, we must start
to build peace from ourselves and then spread out to the society, and
throughout the ASEAN, and the world.”
- Grace, a young activist - Myanmar/Burma
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 “Peace is a quality describing a society that its
operating harmoniously, not only the absence of war and
conflict. And that one nation or society cannot function
harmoniously if there are inequities and social injustice.
I believe. The nation should eliminate all its inequities,
hence that country can be truly at peace. It sounds very
lofty but as long as a society strives for that goal then we
can strive for and maintain a peaceful state.”
- Anthony K. Egos, 19 year-old, University of Southern Philippines,
Cebu City – Philippines

“Peace is a state in which all entities involved experience freedom

and unity, while sharing responsibility in propagating love and kindness
toward one another. There are many conflicts and unrest in my country,
and lack of peace: that continues to hinder it from growing to its fullest
capacity. Peace can only be achieved if the government works hand in
hand with the citizens. And I think building peace is the first priority of
ASEAN community. ASEAN member countries involved must establish
peace in their own countries first. As ASEAN we have to help each other
out but, as the saying says ‘the blind cannot lead the blind’, our focus
should be an our individual countries first with the help of our ASEAN
brothers/sister.”
- Dea Puentespina, a 20 year-old undergraduate student, - Philippines

“Peace is the absence of violence and strife.

When there is peace, we have the opportunity to
deal with conflict and issues in a positive way;
we will not need to live with unnecessary fear for
our future, family and country. It is definitely
important to build peace because without it,
a community’s progress will be hindered and
many individuals will suffer.”
- Benjamin Wee, a high school student - Singapore

“Peace for me is like a mental calmness, and a happiness inside my

mind. And with awareness, in any acts you shouldn’t harm or trouble other
people. Peace is very important, whenever there is a conflict we have to
be aware not to solve with using violence. Nowadays, people are talking
to one another less and less, so that it is very hard to build or create the
understandings among themselves. Actually, we can deal with conflict and
solve the problems with wisdom and non-violence. We should practice
our mind to be in peace, then we will be getting used to.”
- Wattanapon Tiempathom, a 23 year-old graduate student at Mahidol University - Thailand

16
 “We all come from different cultures, believes and social
background, so that we have different ways of living. Sometimes
it’s hard to understand each other, for instance we are Muslim
and we don’t understand the highland ethnic cultures. But after
we try to talk, we begin to see what other people see. Peace in
my view is that the stage when people know themselves and
understand other people. Then helping to create and build
up our society together in every aspects, art, religion, culture,
education, occupation. All these things must be regarded a
diversity of ethnicity and believes. I also deeply believe that
peace is like a happiness inside, when yourself found peace
in your mind: you will send it out affecting other people and
the whole society.”
- Arida Samoh, a young activist, Southern – Thailand

“Peace, first it came from freedom with we had fought

really hard in the past. Therefore the young generations of
Vietnam should try their best to maintain it by studying and
developing the country. Peace also reflects in the harmonization
between the human and the nature. Together with many
wonderful projects regarding environmental issues. We
hopefully reduce the pollution and reserve the natural
resources for a more peaceful environment in the future. As
well as ASEAN community that should spend more effort in
promoting a sustainable development as well. The pace of
industrialization nowadays in ASEAN countries is causing
problems and harm people and nature. If we don’t consider
and concern about this issue thoroughly, our children will
suffer from our actions today.”
- Vo Ngoc Yen Nhi, a student, environmental activist, Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam

“Peace appears when people can resolve conflicts even if they are
small. Conflicts resolution can be done when people have the chances
to understand each other through working together. And I think
ASEAN community should highlight a building peace issue on creating
opportunities to exchanging [information, opinions and values] mutually,
among ASEAN citizens for an understanding to prevent conflict.”
- Don Tuan Phuong, a founder of Volunteers for Peace Vietnam, Hanoi – Vietnam

17
 by Boonson Ransikarbum
Regarding a news on paper,
television, which then turns into the
news on the internet, we received
information about Thai-Cambodia
conflict every day back in that time.
Besides, the convinced state conven-
tion has been great misunderstanding
among the people of these countries,
which affected us by seeing bad side
of the opposite.
Nowadays problems of the
countries should be solved such that
youth re-realize perception as soon as
possible e.g. media, news, historical
education, etc. It might help youth
abandon what they are adhering to
and help youth step over the created
imaginary boundary. On the other
hands, youth had better learn their
routes to realize their life and spirit.
Therefore, the cooperation between
civil society movements of the two
countries is important to help and
to recall youth awareness about the
similarity of way of living, common
culture and local wisdom between
both countries as we are friends.
18
‘Road to Peace’ between Cambodia
and Thailand: Chol Chnam Thmey-
Songkran was held during April 24-
25, 2010 in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
It was co-organized by a regional
program of Thai Volunteer Service
Foundation and partner organizations
in Thailand and Working Group
for Peace in Cambodia. The forum
brought together over 60 lives of the
participants from various groups
such as Buddhist monk, Buddhist
female monk, Buddhist nun, villagers,
activists, and Thais-Cambodians
young people.
The activities of this event were
so creative; opening our eyes to see
each others about how do we getting
close for both countries. For instance,
in the morning of the first day, we
discussed about the situation, the
similarity and differences of both
countries which it was connected to
the educational system of each country
that let youth have more aggression
from the history lesson. Then it ended
up with we, the youth participants of
this event, wanting to help together
to rewrite the. history from being
enemies of both countries to friends.
Additionally, in the afternoon, we
also had good cultural heritage by
youth pouring the auspicious water
to elderly hands to apologize of what
we had done to each other.
Moreover, we also had some
peace walking together, even it was
only a short distance during the
day, but we committed together
that the next peace walking we have
will be in Thailand for one week in
which of cause it would be a longer
distance to show how strong and
good relationship we have.
At the end of the event, youth
between the two countries had some
cooking lesson together. Thai youth
were trying to learn how to cook local
Cambodian food, and vice versa. We
also came out with further activities
for one year such as youth exchange
programs, youth and peace walk,
youth media for peace, etc. We were
really happy for the memorable time
together and being friends. We really
want to send the message to adult
making wars that let’s make friends,
not wars.
Supawadee Petrat from Thai
Volunteer Service Foundation said
that “my expectation is our young
generation in Mekong region will
walk hand in hand as sisters and
brothers to build up peace in our
region without prejudice. Learn
and respect each other. Peace is
a collective effort from all and for
all. Without young generation, we
cannot achieve peace.”

19
 “Youth will continue their brings us nothing, but disaster to
knowledge about what they’d learned oneself. “I really think that the people
about peace building, and solve the living among the borders aren’t ever
conflict in a peaceful way instead of serious about the discrimination
using guns. Moreover, they combined because the people around the area
peace building with non-violence are also having their relatives in the
education for the people at the countries along the border. People
community level, as well” added Prok always cross the border as usual, if
Vanny, a Cambodian organizer also the borders closed that would make
expressed accordingly. Thai and Cambodia lose a lot of
Both of them have the same idea income.” said Mai.
about youth, that youth would be a This event was one of the steps
brighter future of peace like a wheel of the youth from two countries to
rolling forward together to see the keep walking forward and working
brighter future of each country, and on building peace. Not only working
they wish to see the change among together based on understanding and
youth themselves in inner peace and respecting one another, but adopting
peace building. and adapting the local wisdom and
“Stop hating each other because religious practices into a movement;
we are on the same border, we are such as Dharmayattra or peace walk,
the neighboring country, so stop keep exchanging ideas and cultural
discrimination between countries. understanding within a conception of
Among these countries: Thailand, promoting mutual understanding and
Cambodia Vietnam” said Lun Borany working towards sustainable peace.
from Initiative of Change Associa-
tion, Cambodia. She also added she
hopes and expected to see in the
future of Thailand and Cambodia the
youth’s voice raise the peace among
the countries.
Moreover, Mai, another youth
participant added that “I hope to
see no one would repeat history.
Cambodia and Thai youth are shar-
ing common notions, desires, and
cultural similarities. Having no
discrimination is the thing I wish
for the two countries to be. I don’t
wish to see bringing up the weapon
to confront each other, because it
would bring us disaster and the loss.
He also mentioned to the Lord
Buddha’s teaching that the war
20
 by Muhd Khalis
A Dream To Be Free

Water Flows Down The Stream,

To The End Of A Beginning.
Rocks And Stones Seems Painless,
A Dream Of Hope Is Forever.

You Saw In Your Eyes,

You Hear And You Cry.
A Moment In Your Life,
Was To Live Is To Die?

The Pain That You Feel.

The Fear That You See.
If Today Was A Dream,
Let Me Wake Up To Be FREE!!!

Muhd Khalis Rifhan is a political activist in Singapore. He is a member

of the Singapore Democratic Party and the Program Director for its youth
wing, The Young Democrats. The party aims to eliminate all forms of
authoritarianism; to uphold democratic principles and institutionalize
democratic practices.
He is also involved with a number of local NGO and activist groups
including Singaporeans for Democracy, Singapore Anti-Death Penalty
Campaign and Free Burma Campaign (Singapore). He has been actively
involved in politics and civil society for 2 years now. “In my early teens,
I began reading books on Politics and History. It was then that I started
expressing my views and opinions; mainly through poetry. To me, poetry
is like a picture. It says a thousand words yet paints an emotional subject.”
He wrote in his email for AYM interview.
The poem was written when he was undergoing some challenges
while serving his Military. He is now under the Official Secrets Act and so
he is not allowed to blog or release any press statements about it. “I still
believe that one day Singapore will see the light of Democracy, Equality
and Social Justice. Till that day arrives, I will continue my work and
activism.” He said.
Visit his blog at http://muhdkhalis.wordpress.com
21
 by Jaruwan Supolrai

Have you any dream you’ve been

pursuing? Young people across Southeast Asia
dream of a hundred different things. Some
may dream of getting good careers. Some
of you dream of having a big house and a
luxurious car. And others may dream of being
a full-time world traveler. But interestingly,
this group of young activists are dreaming
about peace, justice and rights for their
respective regions.
AYM had a chance to interview six young
peacemakers who recently returned home
after taking part in three-month internship
program with School of Peace in Bangalore,
southeastern India. They painted and
colored their confrontations and conflicts
into posters for peace. Here are the good
stories of the hopes and dreams behind
their meaningful works of art!

22
 A young female artist behind this
poster is Haryanti ‘Rica’ Sulistyorini,
25 years old, originally from East Java,
Indonesia. Her work background is
women’s issues. She now works on the
legal reform staff of the APIK Federation
(Asosiasi Perempuan Indonesia Untuk
Keadilan) in Indonesia’s capital city of
Jakarta to promote legal reform in her
country with regard to women’s rights.
23
 The inspiration behind Rica’s art piece comes from the many cases
of violence against women in Indonesia that she encounters in her work.
“I see that it is very sad and painful if women have to become victims
especially physical abuse and I can feel very hurt for those women.” said
Rica. She hopes her poster will help raise awareness about violence against
women and believes that it is the responsibility of everyone in the world
to stop violence against women and to respect women’s rights.
“You can feel like women is mother of the world, you must respect
because without women, we all also cannot struggle for our rights and
cannot change the world.” Her hope and dream for the region is that all
people can live with no rape, no trafficking of women or children, no abuse
and no war. “If we live together with peace, I think we can live until one
thousand years.” she ended with a big smile.

A young Cambodian changemaker who has turned violence into colors

is Sophear ‘Nomad’ Roun, 23 years old, originally from Pursat province
in western Cambodia. He has been actively involved with social service
activities since volunteering in high school for a Cambodian youth for a
peaceful society organization. Currently he is a volunteer for Cambodian
Muslim Youth Coordination Center, where most of his weekend time is
spent in urban poor communities doing community service with his youth
volunteer groups. Now he is a third year computer science student at the
Cambodian University for Specialties in Phnom Penh. Nomad loves to
discuss society and life with friends.
24
 Inspiration for his poster was drawn from his childhood memory of
what had happened to his family when he was little. These sad stories
happened not only to his family but also to his neighbor’s families in his
village. Through his poster, Nomad aims to tell people about domestic
violence in the family. “It is truly sad that many families from many
communities of different countries are facing this situation. We always see
this problem. I feel badly about this case, since it is very dangerous and
caused many victims in the world.” said Nomad, who strongly urges the
people in the world to stop domestic violence. “Domestic violence comes
from many negative conditions, when people have no work, no education,
no reasonable thinking, and no good relationship, no money and so on.”
The hope and dream behind his painting is to see people in his
community having a happy and healthy family. “I want to everybody to
have good family and good life with happiness and warmth in their family
life. But sometimes they just don’t realize that they do not have to have
everything that they want.”

A dreamer of Burma, and a believer in Burma, Doo “Kipho” Plout,

a young Karen activist, 21 years old, is from a Karen refugee camp along
the Thailand-Burma border. Kipho is now working with the Karen
Students Network Group (KSNG) in Mae Sot promoting public awareness
of Burma issues in the media.
25
 Kipho painted this poster because he wants the world to know more
about the situation in Burma. Together with others, he hopes to find solutions
to improve conditions there. “International organizations did help us, but
I feel like nothing has changed for a better to the victim people, so I want
other people to think more about this situation and find different ways
to solve this problem.” said Kipho. “International organizations have
to put more pressure to SPDC government. [SPDC is the “State Peace
and Development Council”, the official name of the military regime of
Burma.] If they do only like this poster the situation in Burma will not change.”
he suggested.
Kipho’s dream is that his Karen people who suffered for a very long
time under the Burma military will someday be free. “I dream that one day
we will live in peace. Farmers will not be afraid of anything when they go
for farming, they will sleep without fears. Children will not be hungry, they
will be secured to play around their places. People will worship without
fear and they will have time to learn their own language and enjoy their
lives peacefully.”

You might have heard about Thailand’s southern unrest situation. A

son of Pattani province, Saharee ‘Bear’ Chelong, 27 years old, expresses
his passion for nonviolence in this work under the name of ‘Stop Fear’.
Bear works for the Southern Peace Media Volunteer Network, based in
Narathiwat, where he now is working on ‘Deliberative Democracy’ with
26
villagers in southern communities. He is as well a young farmer, plowing
the land, growing rice, harvesting and milling on his own farm.
Bear revealed that the hidden fear behind his poster is from the
fear that he feels from villagers in affected areas in the deep southern
Thailand. “The long term conflict and the ongoing situation here are very
complicated and sensitive.” said Bear, a young peace activist who dreams
of peace coming back to the south of Thailand.
“Various types of violence have occurred on and off. This has made
people in the areas feel fearful and distrust each other. Buddhist Thais
are afraid of talking to Muslim Thais. Muslims are afraid of Muslims
themselves. They don’t trust each other anymore.” says Bear. It is a long
journey to pursue peace and freedom for his homeland. Bear hopes that
one day his dream will become reality, that the problem will be solved in a
creative way tailored to the social and cultural context of the people living
there. “Government should open more spaces for people participation to
help solve the problems and so people in the community will be able to
strongly stand on their feet in term of making a living and good quality
of way of life with peace and security.” he ended with hope.

A young Filipino nurse activist known as Knacky, 23 years old from

Mati City in the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines, is the
creator of this artwork. Kathleen is a registered nurse currently working
as an instructor in a nursing college. She is also an active member of an
27
organization called United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD),
which is mainly working on issues of peace and development in Mindanao.
Her painting spoke about the desire of the Bangsamoro people to be
free from oppression and discrimination, and to claim back their freedom,
which was taken from them a long time ago. [Bangsamoro or Moro are the
Muslim ethnic group in the Philippines]. Long ago, the Moro people were
independent, living harmoniously and sustaining themselves on their own
land. They lived with dignity until foreign invaders conquered their land
and took it from them. “They left us with almost nothing, Mindanao is
considered the food basket of the Philippines but ironically many people
are hungry, some cannot attend school, almost all are considered poor
because of the improper distribution of wealth.” said Knacky who fights
against human rights violations in Mindanao.
She explained that the Moro were left landless, because almost all
the land was overtaken by the huge corporations. As a result, indigenous
people had to move up the mountain. They are not well represented in the
government, at either the local or national level. “We are discriminated, we
are labeled as terrorist as a result job opportunities are rare only because
we wear veil for women, only because we are from Mindanao, and only
because we are Moro people.”
“This is my little way of expressing what Moro people feels and
experiencing right now. I wanted other people to be aware of what we
are going through, how it feels to be discriminated and oppressed in our
own land. How it is to be a stranger in your own place? I just felt that
long silence is enough, it is now the time to speak and fight for the truth.”

Last but not least, you may wonder what has been happening in
Thailand recently. Let’s get to know Siriporn ‘Poo’ Pengjan, 26 years
old from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Southern Thailand and find out from
28
her. With a political science background, she worked for the National
Legislative Assembly in Thailand and is currently working as a general
administration staff member at the Research Center for Peace Building,
Mahidol University.
Inspiration for her poster is driven from the recent political violence
in Thailand. ‘‘For what happened in previous May this year…I don’t think
Thailand is a democratic country for real at all or people from each class in
the Thai society have different perspective on what democracy is all about.”
Though Poo’s perspective, politics are connected to almost everything.
“If Thailand is a democratic country, why people are still living with
poverty? Why people are killing each other? Why injustice is there and so
on? Thailand should rethink that democracy is not only for an ‘election
day’ and all people should have rights to monitor everything that the
government do.” she said.
In her poster, there are three key principles to share with people.
First, people should have more critical and analysis thoughts about the
situation. “I’m afraid that Thai people will learn nothing from this political
chaos.” said Poo. Secondly, society should rethink and create learning
process and spread knowledge to everyone in the society equally – that
is why education is most important for us. Finally, we need to figure out
what is a real democracy, and come up with specific goals? “Together,
I guess we all have to seek for answers.”
Poo has a strong interest in learning and studying about conflicts.
She believes that if we have analytically and critically learned about
the conflict, then we can learn how to resolve it. That’s when nonviolence
will start and peace will grow.
Poster for Peace is one of the workshops available in the School
of Peace that helps participants raise issues among communities of
marginalized people more effectively, and to raise awareness of important
issues among the broader society. “We learned in this workshop that it
is not important to be a good artist in order to make effective posters.
The important thing is to understand your issue and to be clear what you
want to communicate.” said Max Ediger, a School of Peace coordinator.
SOP hopes that its participants will return to their communities with
a clearer vision and strategy to confront conflict and violence through
nonviolent means. “We hope they will be more open to people who are
different in ethnicity, religion, gender, etc and will work to bring all people
together in one common human community.” he added.

29
 SOP is a living and learning opportunity that brings together young
people in Asia who come from conflict areas and represent different
faiths and cultural backgrounds, to live, learn and dream together, about
communities of just peace where religion, language, ethnicity, gender and
culture cannot be used to divide people.
Participants learn from each other by sharing their experiences,
visiting communities that are struggling for their rights, consulting resource
persons with experience and expertise in different fields, and from a variety
of activities where they can learn from an action and reflection process.
Training in a variety of skills such as drama, art, and public speaking are
provided for participants, who can then share their learning with others.

Visit SOP’s website at http://daga.dhs.org/icp/index.html

Its blog at http://sop2010.wordpress.com
Email can be reached at max.ediger@gmail.com

30
 by Alexandre Sattler

Peace is a State of Mind: It is an emotion coming

from the higher-self and has various tools to be found
in human consciousness. I think peace is an ability
that we all can develop; the taste of peace can help us,
people, nation, and Mother Earth. People are ignorant;
we forget about our emotion and focus too much on
our external life. How about observing, analyzing and
finding out how and why we are controlled by our mind.
If we let go of our ego, and try to understand universal
love, we can clearly see that all of us are not dependent
or independent but interdependent, and then others
become our brothers and sisters.
Peaceful Mind: It has a lot of influence on our
external world...many ways to this powerful attitude
like meditation, vegetarianism, organic farming, and
changing our conception of ego, then we might be ready
to live in peace. May all the alive being find peace!
Peace and Art: Art is an expression of our
intuition, emotion and ideas; humans are creative
creatures. By letting this creativity get out, I think we
need to not focus on external world but on our inner
divinity. Developing art is one of the tools we all have
to walk on a peaceful path.

31
See the world through eyes of children,
and express your emotion; peace is near.

Mekong river, water is golden blue, it’s the life itself, just look at this
picture and feel it, you might be in a peaceful state of mind.

32
Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes through
letting go of what you think you know.

33
 Harmony can easily be observed in nature, once
we face the beauty of life, our mind is filled with
serenity, tranquility and peace.

About Alexandre Sattler

Alexandre Sattler is a freelance photographer based in Alsace, France.

He is a founder of the French association, called ‘Regard’Ailleurs’. He
works for a radio company, producing video documentaries and photo
reports. He loves travelling and sharing the joys with people he meets.
For him, photography is a way to get closer to others and connect people
together. Photography is not only what the eyes can see, but it’s also what
the heart can feel. He also does audio and video reportage during his trips.

Learn more about his work at www.regardailleurs.org.

Find him on Facebook at alex.omshanti@gmail.com.

34
 The Collaboration for Young Generation
in Mekong Region or CYM, Thai Volunteer
Service’s regional program has just released the
‘Mekong Youth Diary for Peace: Listen to Our
Voices, Join the Change’. Over 2,000 copies
have been given away to thousand of youths
across the Mekong region in Burma, Cambodia,
China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
The goal of this diary for peace is to tell the
story of peoples’ alternatives through the eyes of
the young generation and to raise awareness about
sustainable development to the public. In doing this, it aims to increase the
dialogue between young activists and across country borders, in an attempt
to find a more sustainable solution to development for the entire region.
Through this work, CYM has realized the importance of peace
building to overcome prejudices, biases and nationalism that have created
hostilities throughout our history. We believe that this Mekong Youth
Diary for Peace will be one of the creative channels to bring the voices of
Mekong youth together to be heard for change.
We hope that this collective piece of work will lead us to join hands
and develop mutual understanding, trust, friendship and solidarity as we
seek to build a better society together.
Read more about the online diary and raise your voice of peace, be
sure to check it out at www.mekongyouthdiaryforpeace.wordpress.com

A Chance to WIN a copy of the Mekong

Diary for Peace!
CYM Team has ten copies of the diary to
give away. Raise your voice for peace on the
topic of ‘My Dream about Mekong Region’,
in no more than 100 words. The ten most
interesting entries will receive a diary and have
their words published in our website. Send
your entry to cym_thaivolunteer@yahoo.com

HURRY UP! October 31, 2010

Who knows? You might be the winner of
a cool diary from us!

36
Get involved, learn and share, through New Media
at ASEAN Youth Movement