WRITING FROM ANOTHER LAND
By: Iris P. Concepcion
"The forces of globalization have brought rapid social transformations in many parts of the world. Inter-faith dialogues and multiculturalism have become an integral part of promoting harmonious inter-community relations----especially for minority communities. The Thai Muslim community, who are the dominant minority in Thailand, are also facing similar challenges."---from "Peace of Writing, Piecing Worlds Together, A compilation of Student Essays on Thai Muslims and Social Harmony produced by the Office of Policy and Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, Sri Ayudhya Road, Bangkok. Designed and Published by Asian Integrated Media Company Limited, Surawongse Road, Bangkok. Given freely among tourist and other visa applicants at the Thai-Consulate General Embassy, Kelantan, Kota Bharu, Malaysia along with other Thai brochures. The compilation includes writing Thais who had studied in different United States universities.
When I renewed my visa requirements at the Thai Consulate General Embassy in Thailand, I had stumbled upon an array of brochures and writings about Thailand: from the most prestigious public relations firms down to the specials made for international magazines like Time, Inc.
A compilation of essays titled "Peace of Writing, Piecing Worlds Together" stood out from among the shelf: it bears multicultural pictures of young adults in circle and the texture of print and lithograph is comely. I am always mistaken as a teacher hereabouts; it must have come from my manly blazer and slip-on sandals. The bag that I normally lug when I travel here, a Morco variety in canvass with extra large industrial zippers stitched on its sides, must have added to the clue as to my occupation and citizenship.
While I adore freely the pop intrusions of buildings and structures in my forays around this creatively rich country, I am likewise interested to know how its young people think when exposed to the outside world. I have not met a single artist here who professes to practice his craft in professional "artistry".
I have, nonetheless, met people on the road, train, bus and taxi who had fully enriched my capacity to think and write. My appreciation of things had looked glimmier. I have seen different colors of people and their various shapes. I could never have dug from my soul the depth of humanity's access to the universe had I been so engrossed with formulating names for boybands over bottles of cheap beer.
An elephant surprised me on a road, good-looking men in immaculate shirts hopped in trains better than Harper's cover designs, a tot in kimono dress with pink sash was carried by a burnt guy, hurrying up to climb on a train coach. These are my kind of artists.
Most importantly, I have spoken, without any language barrier, with people from all walks of life: whites, browns and yellows. I did not form any prejudice for their mahogany-skinned difference.
What specifically strikes me as exceptional in this body of writings is the way these young people had truly studied the history of their country. Some had been sent in United States universities for higher education; their probing on the local culture had definitely shifted to another gear of knowledge: elimination of bigotry for full, intellectual integration.
Instead of closing themselves up to their own group or hobby preference, these young people reached out and immediately spotted the dynamics of these various cultural differences.
In fact, a sentence, written by Rashee Pandey, a beautiful Thai studying at Ekamai International School, correctly nailed the plight of Thai Muslims as seen from her young eyes.
She wrote: "This was a brilliant move made by the government towards the progression of juvenile Thais. Seeing the current situation, Muslims in the Southern Border Provinces (SBPs) have lower levels of educational attainment compared with their Buddhist neighbors."
She had likewise continued: "Youths in the SBPs are not given a quality education because schools are being burned down by insurgent groups."
If only we can yield the same insight from our young people in the Philippines who are immersed in other countries, they might see our country in a different light. They could attain more focus and vision for the places they had seen instead of being gulped down by the new dimensions of cross-cultural cohabitation where they could lose their sense of identity and heritage.
Here, I am more inclined to infuse rather than diffuse, mix rather than disintegrate, blend rather than corrode.
I wish for these essays to be replicated in the Philippines, for people who had been given scholarships abroad. Create a competition pool among these young expats and provide an elbow room from where they could transplant their own identity vis-a-vis the foreign ones instead of totally adopting in thinking and creativity the culture of their adopting country.