Extended stay

When I landed in Seoul in early March of this year, I had a contract for six months that would end in August. There were requests from the ARENA Executive Board, as well as from SKHU, to continue till the end of the course in February 2008. There were also similar requests from the students. They have become so familiar with my style, language, behavior and attitude that they ware a bit scared of any “new experiment”. The obvious conclusion from SKHU was an extension of my contract for another six months. I knew it from SKHU verbally before I left for Bangladesh for the summer vacation. My vacation was ‘spoiled’ in one sense. I had to work a lot to prepare curriculum for the autumn, as I could not anticipate such developments in March.

May 18 Memorial Foundation initiated “Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School” for social and NGO activists from across Asia in 2004. This is an annual event. The Foundation recommended some of their participants of the 2006 school for enrolment in MAINS and eventually sponsored them in the form of ‘scholarship’. Among MAINS students of 2007, five have been sponsored by the Foundation.

The aim of the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School is “to contribute to the development of democracy and human rights throughout Asia and provide participants an opportunity to learn and experience Korea's history and the development process of its human rights and democracy.” The school is conducted both on theoretical and practical experiences through seminars, workshops, discussions and field trips to Korea's sites of democratization movements. Participants of the folk school are chosen from applicants who are human rights activists, development workers, and advocates of democracy and peace. Muto Ichiyo is one of the members of its international advisory committee.
The Foundation hosted the school this year from September 3 to 20. The organizers invited several faculty members from SKHU/ARENA to give lecture to the participants. Among them were Baek Won Dam, Cho Hee-Yeon, Kim Min Woong, Francis Dae-Hoon Lee and I. My lecture was scheduled in the morning and Francis in the afternoon on 7 September. My topic was Human Rights and Democracy in Asia while Francis had to address NGOs and Civil Society in South Korea. I was interested and felt enthused, as it would give me an opportunity to meet some of our future students in MAINS, as the Foundation would recommend and sponsor some of them for the MAINS 2008 academic year. Francis had a similar expectation

I took a KTX train to Gwangju on 6^th afternoon. As Francis was busy in preparing for the upcoming AEB meeting, he opted to arrive on 7^th. We decided that we would return together on 7^th evening.

It was about two and a half hours’ trip from central Seoul and I was received by the organizers at Gwangju station. I met some participants in the lobby of the hostel where they were staying and then I met the whole group in the following morning. There were twenty-five participants from different Asian countries including Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan and Mongolia. They were divided into three groups: senior, mid-level and young. They were to interact with each other, to engage in collaborative projects and so on. It’s a useful and enlightening exposure for social activists and community workers to cross-cultural experience.
My first hand impression about this batch has been very positive and I expect to have a good team of ‘sponsored’ students from the Foundation for MAINS 2008.     
ARENA Board Meeting
The second meeting of the current ARENA Executive Board was held on 8 and 9 September in Seoul. All the seven members of the Board were present for the entire period of the meeting.

We discussed several issues as part of the routine business. One important agenda, however, was MAINS. Earlier I prepared a report on MAINS and the roles and functions of the Co-Director (representing ARENA in SKHU). There has been a general consensus that we should invite a new Co-Director, endeavor to enhance the quality of the course in all spheres and firmly ground it in SKHU.

We also discussed several mundane matters. The issue related to EED is still haunting us and we are still not sure how to handle it. The main issue is that the final report is still pending for submission. Cynthia and Neng volunteered to approach former program conveners for support in this respect.

Although Mushakoji-san is the senior-most fellow in terms of age and the youngest in terms of heart, I was particularly targeted by the Board members as a veteran, as I have been one of the early birds attending ARENA Congress/Council since the first one in 1983. I informed them that I had many sweat memories and few bitter ones. The most important thing is to acknowledge the fact that ARENA survived through all these years since it opened its office in Hong Kong in 1980. We perhaps missed the opportunity to commemorate its “silver Jubilee”, but we may look forward to celebrate its 30^th anniversary in 2009/10. We also felt that it would be nice to put our memories of ARENA together. I mentioned that once I ventured to write about this some years back. But my essay was “killed” (this term is quite common in the media vocabulary, where features or investigative reports of not so obedient journalists and contributors are “killed”, meaning that these are not published). Board members requested me to bring my memoir to the surface again and I agreed. This has been pasted in the ARENA website. I am afraid, not too many Fellows visit the website. So I have decided to circulate it again through our list serve as an email attachment.
On 9^th evening we went together for a dinner in the downtown. All Korean Fellows were invited. Some of them regretted as they were not free or were out of the station. However, Prof. See Jae Lee and Prof. Hee-Yeon Cho attended.
This time the ‘alien’ Board members except Francis Loh stayed at the YMCA, the only affordable place in ARENA standard. Francis Sr., as I call him, stayed with me. He mentioned about bugs in the bed and advised me to have few green plants in the apartment. I was busy and didn’t have time to cook for him. I still regret that and like to compensate during his next visit during my life in Seoul.

Faculty meeting

MAINS faculty meeting was held on 11 September after a long gap. We mainly discussed about academic and administrative requirements for the students to qualify for thesis writing and how to plan for the regional school in 2008. I have decided to prepare a report on the 2007 regional school as a basis for discussion and planning. Prof. Jin Young Jong, the other Co-Director, came to my class and briefed the students about the “requirements”. It has been decided for this year that they are to finalize their thesis proposal by end November and to submit their final thesis by end-January. Successful candidates will qualify to attend the graduation ceremony that would be held on 14 February.

Korea came to a standstill for about a week because of the Chuseok. It started from 24 September preceded by weekend holidays. It is also known as Korean thanks-giving day. On Chuseok, people visit ancestral home and relatives. Special foods are prepared and family members exchange pleasantries. The main event this year was 25 September. Most of the shopping centers had a carnival-type look and people went crazy to buy things for their dear ones.

Earlier I decided to go for a leisure trip to Jeju Island. But I had to postpone it for visa processing for a visit to Bangkok. On the eve of the Chuseok, Prof. Seejae Lee visited me and took me to his 17^th-floor apartment in the downtown. I had been there a few times before. This time he was alone, as his wife had gone to Japan. Seejae was supposed to leave for Tokyo too on the following day. He prepared dinner for me with long beans from Philippines, beef from Australia, black bean sauce from China and rice from Korea.

On 26^th, Prof. Cho Hee-Yeon picked me from my apartment. We drove to his house where he stays along with his parents in law. We had dinner together and most of the time we were discussing, not about Chuseok, but about MAINS. I met his wife and his younger son. Later I told Hee-Yeon that his wife looks quite young, though he told me that she was ‘only’ three years younger than him. He promised me that he would convey my ‘message’ to his wife and I won’t be surprised if I am invited again, soon.

Solidarity for the people of Burma
Nay Tun Naing, a MAINS student, have been living in Seoul for last fourteen years. He has obtained a refugee status in Korea and has been instrumental in organizing solidarity support for Burma democracy movement from Korea. He is the general secretary of the NLD in Korea (National league for Democracy, that won the election in Burma in 1999 and was denied of forming a government).




NLD Korea organized a demonstration in front of the Burmese embassy in Seoul on 18 September. MAINS students participated in the demonstration as part of their solidarity to the people’s peaceful resistance movement against the military Junta of Burma. It was raining heavily. Almost all of us were wet despite having umbrellas.

MAINS students drafted the following statement.

Jessica, the student from Philippines, read it out on the street in front of the embassy. Nay Tun and I spoke briefly shouting to the brick walls and closed doors and windows of the embassy building. None from the embassy came out to receive the statement as a courtesy. We handed over a copy of the statement to a Korean security official assuming that he would deliver it to the embassy staff. Thereafter, more demonstrations and rallies were organized and participated by MAINS students. We wish that soon the Burmese junta would give in to the local and international pressure and Nay Tun and his comrades will be able to go return to their home.

Journey through poem
First six months in Seoul were quite interesting, challenging, absolving, enlightening and inspiring. It seems that the euphoria is gradually fading out. I am feeling a bit bored, tired and lonely. Is it Seoul-fatigue? And then we talk about so many things. We talk about democracy; we talk about pluralism; we talk about resistance; we talk about solidarity. But the world is becoming more and more hostile and difficult. In one evening, I was feeling almost devastated. I tried to ventilate my disappointments on a piece of paper. I wrote:

I may not call it a poem, as it’s too direct. I circulated it to my friends including ARENA Fellows and I received a few compassionate and encouraging responses. Among the Fellows were Melani, Maureen and Neng. Then the response from Chantana came as a pleasant surprise. This was perhaps the first time she wrote to me since we met at Chulalongkorn University at sometime in the 1980s. On 20 September she wrote:

Perhaps I desperately needed a break. So I happily responded back to Chantana and started preparing for the upcoming conference. I plan to write more about it in the next episode.