Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

18
xviii
OPENING REMARKS
Abdul Rahman Embong
Director of the 4 th API International Workshop
Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Tatsuya Tanami, Executive Director of The Nippon
Foundation,
Members of the API International Selection Committee
and the API Workshop Secretariat,
API Fellows, Chairs and Discussants,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
As Director of the 4 th API International Workshop, I
would like to extend my warmest welcome to all API
Fellows, to all members of the API Committee, to all Chairs
and Discussants and to all other friends to the 4 th API
International Workshop on the theme “<strong>Reflections</strong> on the
Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity”.
The API International Workshop is an annual event
and a major highlight of The Nippon Foundation
Fellowships for Asian Public Intellectuals coming as it
does towards the end of the Fellowship after all the
individual Fellows have conducted their projects in the
countries of their choice. Indeed this Workshop is both
historic and nostalgic as it is the only occasion when
all the Fellows for each particular group are able to get
together and share their project findings, views and
proposals on the same platform. It is also an occasion
for the Fellows to renew their pledge and commitment
to translate their ideals to make an impact on the society
with their views and findings so as to bring about some
measure of change and progress to the human condition.
From the perspective of the API Fellowships Program,
this year’s Workshop also has an added significance. By
July this year, the API Fellowship Program already had a
five-year history since its launching in Kuala Lumpur in
July 2000. Thus, this year’s Workshop would certainly
serve as another important measure of the progress of
this program in these first five years.
As we all know, the value, significance and prestige of
a program such as The Nippon Foundation Fellowships
for Asian Public Intellectuals depends a great deal on
what the Fellows bring to it. And what the Fellows
bring to it depends very much not only on who the
Fellows are, but very importantly, the type and quality
of the projects they choose to undertake in the name
of the program, the successful execution and conclusion
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows
of these projects, as well as the dissemination of the
project findings to the public and the impact they have
on them.
Going through all the project proposals and papers that
have been submitted by the Fellows, I would like to
report that the projects that have been undertaken are
fairly diverse, reflecting the different backgrounds,
interests and commitments of the respective Fellows.
The themes range from such topics as archaeology,
which involves a project of revisiting the unfinished
excavation undertaken in Sarawak some 40 years ago,
to other equally interesting and challenging topics on
heritage and identity; on the globalization of obesity
and other issues of health and healthcare; conflict over
resources; Japan’s repositioning to assert its global
identity; gender issues, female artists’ portrayals of
women in artistic works; animation and Asian
identity; Islam, change and modernity; civil society,
human rights and democracy; problem of homelessness;
economic development, gene revolution, and so on
and so forth.
Putting together all these diverse projects under one
common theme so that the Workshop has coherence with
a connecting thread running through it is undoubtedly
not easy. But I take the view that there is strength in
diversity as it reflects not only the richness and the
myriad of colors of the human condition under study
but also the varied experiences and perspectives of the
Fellows studying them.
However, to ensure that there is a common basis for
discussion in a Workshop such as this so that we talk
in the same language and on the same wave length; we
have to bear in mind what brings all of us here. We
must not lose sight of the overriding aim of the API
Fellowships Program which is to promote understanding of
the human condition with a view to improve or change
it, to promote cross-cultural dialogue among the
participating countries, to share experiences, and to
impact on public policy as well as on the thinking of
the public. It is with this in view that the API Fellows as
public intellectuals are expected to undertake reflections
and present their findings guided in some way or other
by the following searching questions which have been