December 2016

ASEAN Cultural Solidarity: Conversations on Culture and SustainabilityWOW Bali and Batur Village Management29 November 2016

I. Attendees:

WOW Bali: Hai Dai Nguyen

Batur Village ManagementWayan AbsirNenga Suryadi

II. Highlights of Exchange:

1. Mr. Hai Dai shared to the group that he was invited by the ASEAN Youth Leadership Congress to be a Guest Speaker for the Panel Session ASEAN Cultural Solidarity while Jaz Linh was invited in the Panel on ASEAN Economic Security. The Congress will be held in the Philippines on 1-2 December 2016.

2. Cultural Solidarity in the ASEAN Region is a huge challenge and WOW Bali is privileged to contribute to international discussions pertaining to the matter because of our “WOW Dynamics” Human Biodiversity Framework based on Tri Hita Karana undersanding for a “Lean Culture”.

Even within one’s own culture, one experiences problems, which makes bridging with people from other cultures in the ASEAN more challenging. The organizers believe that WOW Bali can speak on the topic as he approaches the subject from the “Human Biodiversity” Framework. This means that at the level of human biodiversity, we are all the same.

3. To facilitate connections with other cultures, we need to have solidarity within our own culture. Once your own cultural solidarity is strong, it’s easier to bridge into other culture. Cultural solidaity in practice can be exemplified in the following:

a. Teaching local children and people the local language (example, Bahasa Bali), arts (dance, visuals, music) which seems to be the most basic representations of culture. However, the real first priority of culture is to ensure that the local people and children are well nurtured and living with basic prosperity. The families and children should, first and foremost, have basic shelter and food without much worries. The basic are that

WOW Bali International Initiative Briefing Note 16| 1

WOW BALIInternational

Initiative

December 2016

they have basic nutrietient. But when the available and most accessible food locally in store and warungs are junk food, we fail to ensure the proper nourishment of our children and access to healthy food choices. This will impact their health and well-being negatively, leading to poor intelligences/ capacities and bad decisions in the future. This affect cultures greatly.

b. Pak Wayan raised that most food accessible now in ASEAN are junk food and fast food. These create malnourished generations. Hai Dai further elaborated on how the fast food culture has affected the eating processes of local people, which determine (severs) their relationship with food (as an energy source). [relating to throw-away utensils and plastic bottles and these disposable containers are poisoining the children with plastic particles that can weakeni their mentality; not to mention the waste that Bali can not sustain].

c. So the first priority of culture should be to ensure economic security for the people, especially the children so that they can have minimum access to healthier food. We know that junk food is not good for health but it serves as drugs for the children (they could not help but want more) and so readily accessible for low costs.

d. While it is important to teach children about traditional language, dances, arts, we have to teach them first how to eat well, learn, live harmoniously, which is parallel with people-to-people, people-to-nature, people-to-God relationships—the Tri Hita Karana.

i. People-to-People. Learning from one another. Nurturing relationship with one’s parents or family Respect for one another (friends, teachers, neighbors communities).

ii. People-to-Nature. Harmonious relationship with the environment (that sustains our survival, i.e., food, water, air)

iii. People-to-God. Pure sacredness.When we are living in abundance and prosperity, everything we do becomes offering to the divine. But now, we are suffering and living in poverty, yet expected to give more offering. What needs to be done is to grow and take better care of the environment so that we will have more offering to give to God; not more so we purchase it from Java and other island.

e. Pak Wayan mentioned that there’s an ongoing problem in the developing world, where people think that western culture is superior and that things coming from the west at better than what they currently have. Hai Dai said that there are good things in both cultures. We must know what is good for our culture and the people first; such as simple and basic prosperity for our families in the areas of nutrients and sustainable skills then its is easier to recognize what don’t benefits us.

4. Developing a Lean Culture. As proposed by Hai Dai, what need to be done is to take “Traditional Wisdom and Modern Methodologies to develop a Lean Culture”. Lean culture being a strong, living culture where

WOW Bali International Initiative Briefing Note 16| 2

December 2016

people (have no excess) have enough to sustain. Pak Wayan mentioned that Tri Hita Karana is a lean culture.

Excess such as garbage (trash) bring about problems in a culture (e.g., Bali’s garbage problem). Several ideas will be discussed in an upcoming forum to come up with different sustainable solutions for the environmental problem (lake water polution, chemical free agriculture, forest conservation for food abundance, etc).

Hai Dai brought up the idea of a plan to grow a food forest (easy to do and regenerate). Sekar Bumi Farm is located in a perfect region for growing fruit-bearing trees. He proposed to gather the youth/children (younger generation) in the community so they can work with Jaz Linh and initiate their own sustainable projects. They can do weekly activities leading to economic security “for the teens, by the teens”. “We should let them do it.” Hai Dai exclaimed. This is a good project in which the children can get involved and become stakeholders. Pak Wayan said that we should involve the children because this is their future. These projects development will supported and develop with the support of Batur local management and at the WOW Batur Center.

“Once cultural solidarity connects at the human biodiversity level; these intentions will be easy for us connect as a whole to sustain ASEAN cultural solidarity and/or diverse cultural for that matter.”

Prepared by:

Kim Dyan A. CalderonInternational CoordinatorWOW Bali International Initiative

/1 December 2016

WOW Bali International Initiative Briefing Note 16| 3