Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

In terms of findings, it was shown that IT training
projects for the urban poor, based on the experience in
Manila, could help empower and increase the people’s
income as well as their social condition. It was also
pointed out that efficient policies could help solve
the problem of homelessness. As regards children, the
Workshop was told that in Japan and Malaysia, children
welfare development strategies were developed through
education and health strategies and policies. As for Thai
women workers who worked overseas in Japan, there
were many problems faced by the workers when they
returned to their home countries, thus the need for an
effective reintegration program is timely and urgent.
The discussants and participants agreed that the papers
and findings were very interesting as they could help in
reformulating concepts and categories in understanding
and addressing the problem. However, some concern
was raised regarding the methodology used in carrying
out some of the projects, and suggestions were made on
how the papers could be improved. Suggestions were
specifically made for some papers to look more into the
question of how the voices of the marginalised groups
could get heard, emphasising that advocates need to
help them. The Fellows were also asked to examine how
open governments were to having NGOs as partners in
dealing with the problems of homelessness, migrants,
children, etc.
Session VI was on the sub-theme, “Social Justice,
Human Rights and Civil Society”, chaired by Taufik
Abdullah, with Surichai Wun’Gaeo and Jose M. Cruz,
S.J. as discussants. Five papers were heard at this
session. Petrus-Damianus Prasetyohadi from Indonesia
presented his paper on “Towards Successful Access to
Land? A Case Study of Success and Failure of Land
Reform in the Philippines and Indonesia” followed by
Mariko Akuzawa from Japan on “Issues and Problems
in Disseminating “Universal Human Rights” in Local
Communities: Through the Efforts of the National
Human Rights Institutions in the Philippines and
Malaysia”. The third paper was by Wan Muhammad
Paris Wan Omar (Malaysia) on “Post-Soeharto
Indonesian Public Sphere: A Case Study of Komunitas
Utan Kayu” followed by Pornthip Apisitwasana
from Thailand whose paper was on “Japanese Civil
Society in Combating Corruption”. The fifth paper
was by Kokaew Wongphan from Thailand spoke on
“Development and Problems of the Local Media in
the Philippines and Indonesia”.
Among the issues highlighted in the papers centred
around the principles, aspirations and strategies of civil
society that help propel actors in the public sphere to
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work together for change and the betterment of society.
On media, the issue was its role in expanding the public
space and civil society as well as in exposing the dark
side namely corruption committed by holders of state
power and members of society. As regards access to land,
discussion centred on why some farmers have succeeded
while others failed, while on legal literacy on universal
human rights, the effects on local communities arising
from knowledge of such rights became very pertinent.
In terms of findings, the Workshop was told that based
on the experience in the Philippines and Indonesia,
differences in historical conditions help explain the
success and failure of various peasant struggles for
access to land in both countries. It was pointed out
those peasant movements with effective leadership
and organization play an important role in ensuring
success. At the same time, it was emphasized that the
government’s role in motivating peasants to work on the
land is important. In terms of combating corruption,
based on the Japanese experience, the role of civil society
has proven to be effective. However, such success could
only be achieved if there was access to information and
that civil society knew how such information should be
used in fighting corruption. As regards human rights, it
was pointed out that both the Philippines and Malaysia
have human rights institutions but there are some
differences, with the Philippines being more advanced.
In fact, the Philippines has ratified more human rights
conventions than Malaysia. On the media, it was shown
that while there is media freedom in the Philippines and
Indonesia, such freedom is still threatened by certain
dark forces.
Both discussants and several other participants agreed
that the five papers brought new openness and a sense
of learning from others, but they were concerned that
the central problem the papers wanted to communicate
was not so clearly articulated. They also emphasized
the need to make a clear distinction between state
and civil society. They pointed that while openness to
learning from other countries’ experience was good,
but too strong emphasis on instrumentalism may not
be suitable. They also asked if there were novel ways of
fighting corruption, and wondered the extent to which
civil society was effective in fighting corruption. On the
expansion of media freedom, a food for thought was
raised, whether one could claim that more freedom
meant more goodness.
GENERAL POINTS TO CONSIDER
During discussions in the various sessions and in
the Workshop Director’s wrapping up, a number
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows