Spring Into Southeast Asia Night

By Rainy Phrompechrut

April 26, 2006. After many were turned down with the bad news that tick­ets sold out ever since Thursday morning, two hundred fifty ticket holders filed into Baker Ballroom to spring into Southeast Asia on Friday evening.

The night began with a short introduction by representatives from Permias—Indonesian Students Association—and SEASA—Southeast Asian Studies Association. Alex Bosley, senior, said he was surprised the food was spicy. “At the time it didn’t hit me but it is spicy… then I thought, oh, but Thai food is spicy,” Bosley said. He said he was concerned about not being away to bring food from outside at first, but he thought the food turned out alright.

After stomachs were filled, the Indonesian fashion show was presented. Models walked out with colorful, elaborately decorated outfits walked out as lively mu­sic echoed in the ballroom, ac­companied by a powerpoint pre­sentation on a screen next to the stage. Narrators were also present to talk about cultural facts as the music changed for each region and audiences clapped and cheered as each set of new costumes appeared on stage. The fashion show ended with a set of children fashion, getting a big “Ohhhh” from the audience. “It’s amazing that they’re all from the same country,” said Runa Nagatomo, graduate student, as she watched the show.

The organizers had managed to borrow traditional clothes from the Indonesian embassy in Washington D.C. Lewinna Aguskin said there were problems with getting the costumes because they were not able to pick it up as planned. The team had managed to find a friend in Washington D.C. to pick up the costume from the embassy and ship it to them just a week before the event.

Kenji Kimura led Permias members in singing “Karena Cinta” after the fashion show. “Karena Cinta” means “because of love”. Kimura, graduate student from Japan, started the performance by talking about his experience in Indonesia. He said he had visited Indonesia twice; the song brings back his memories from the trips and reminds him of his love for the country. The audience laughed as Kimura said he was singing a pop song while wearing a traditional costume.

The night ended with a per­formance by a Thai classical from New York, Phetch Rattanasuwan. She attended dramatic arts school in Thailand from 12 years old and has continued to dance ever since. Rattanasuwan lives in New York with her husband who attends Cornell University.

Elliot Field, president of Southeast Asian Studies Associa­tion, said the team had called various universities with re­nowned Southeast Asian studies programs. They had found Rat­tanasuwan after speaking with her husband at Cornell University.

Rattanasuwan said the event was very well organized. She nor­mally sees only Thai people when she performs at events like this, but was impressed to see people from different cultures. She had heard that Ohio University has a close international community.

Daniel Harahap, from Indo­nesia, said the night was a good representation of cultures. The event showed to the pub­lic that “we have different cit­ies of language, different cities tribe, different cities of reli­gion,” Haranap said. Field said the fashion show was his favorite part of the night. “I was blown away by it,” said Field. He said it must have been difficult to put together a team of more than 30 people and organize a catwalk. “Permias members really feel that we cannot do it with­out the help of our international friends,” said Aguskin.

Source: http://www.ohiou.edu/isfs/newsltr/2006/april25.pdf#xml=http://127.0.0.1/texis/search/pdfhi.txt?query=permias&pr=leftovers&prox=page&rorder=500&rprox=500&rdfreq=500&rwfreq=500&rlead=500&sufs=2&order=r&cq=&id=4456ccc978

INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE PROJECT: Indonesian Media and Conflict Management Delegation

Ohio University’s Center for International Studies will host a delegation of five conflict management specialists from Indonesia between April 19 and May 10, 2006. The group will be on campus from April 19 to 27 in order to finalize production of a series of videos on peer mediation, inter-religious dialogue, and conflict management themes. Participants are involved in a number of initiatives in Indonesia designed to promote harmony between social groups through various education and media initiatives. Their visit to the U.S. is intended to advance international collaboration on conflict management activities and broaden dialogue on issues affecting social cohesion in various national contexts.

This is the fourth delegation of Indonesian civic and religious leaders to visit Ohio University in the past two years in connection with the Center’s Inter-Religious Dialogue Project. These exchanges, as well as an American delegation visit to Indonesia in 2005, are designed to motivate serious efforts to strengthen inter-group harmony by promoting systematic conflict management efforts in areas affected by sectarian strife. They are also intended to build support for civic education and tolerance promotion activities more generally. A key goal is to facilitate long-term relationships between Indonesian and American participants so that dialogue on how to manage differences among religious groups in a pluralistic civil society can be broadened and sustained.

The project is funded through a grant from the Office of Citizen Exchanges at the U.S. Department of State’ Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is being implemented by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the Department of Classics and World Religions at Ohio University.

The upcoming Media and Conflict Management delegation will begin in Athens, Ohio on April 19, 2006. Although participants will be busy finalizing their video project, they will also observe peer mediation efforts in Athens County schools and participate in numerous campus activities. The group will then travel to Cincinnati, Ohio on April 27 where participants will meet with community leaders working to bridge racial divides. In particular, they will participate in Peace Village’s Hunger Awareness Night in the city’s impoverished Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. The group will then travel to Washington DC on April 30 where they will meet with U.S. government officials, visit conflict management practitioners working on international efforts, participate in a conference on Islam and democracy, and observe peer mediation programs in the Fairfax County, VA schools. The delegation will then visit Boston from May 7-10 where participants will explore university-public sector collaboration involving Harvard, MIT, private NGOs, and the Massachusetts State Attorney General's office.