The way forward – hope in our hands

It’s the same calm Gummersbach winter outside my window and now I’m supposed to say good bye. However, there is no doubt in my mind that it’s worth it to come here. The world is not the same like it used to be, many things are advanced, so are the conflicts. We all need to do our part, to be a responsible resident on earth. A seed was sown in Malaysia and it’s my responsibility to make sure it grows.

Plans to replicate the training and many mini-workshops on (localized) conflict management is already stirring my mind; and much more work need to be done in my country. I am glad I came, as it is a very different Chinese New Year for me, for it truly brings hope, and it is all in our hands.

 

Last 2 days

At the last 2 days of the seminar we were all good friends, while all learnings were put together when regional groups were formed to exemplary international conflicts in their respective region. Everything seems to fit nicely together like the pieces of puzzle when members debated on the approaches and exchanged views on the practical considerations.

It was like second nature to the group, especially in the presentation and discussion of work group results, which compared and evaluated the three presented conflict management approaches for conflict in the 4 different region.

 

Army camp

Before returning to Gummersbach on 20th, we visited the Army camp of Heeresfliegerregiment 15 Rheine-Bentlage for a final talk on Practical Experience of Out of Area Missions, which gave us a clear picture on the day-to-day issues faced by a peace keeping troop. These visits were really good to bring in the practical aspect of conflict management.

 

Peace Research

On the 19th, the group went for a presentation by The Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy on their areas of research at the Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik (ISFH) before departing to the Command and Staff College of the German Armed Forces (Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr ), which has enlightened us with many insights on UN peacekeeping mission components from a very practical prospective. We get to compare the different considerations in every level of implementation of a conflict management effort.

 

The journey of friendship

The next morning, we departed to Hamburg, a 5 hour trip to the city with the most millionaire in Europe and was brought to a guided sightseeing tour of Hamburg on 18th Feb, going from its history to the ambitious futuristic plan of Hafen City.

If the happenings in this city was not enough to keep us in awe, there was a boat trip around this 2nd largest harbour in Europe to see the amazing amount of containers that moved through from, and into the world. The port city reminded me of the Chinese saying, “Friends from the 4 seas” where new friends were made, just like this international group of us.

 

UN – Conflict Management Simulation

One of the highlight of the seminar was scheduled on 16 Feb (Fri) whereby the group participated in a Special Role Play of “UN – Conflict Management Simulation”, The group gained first hand experience on the process of UN meeting and many of the “international relations” manifested there and then when everyone were so involved in “playing their role” in the “international arena”.

After one whole day of meetings and discussions, the proposed final resolution failed in the final voting. We had a better understanding and seen the limitations of the international community.

 

Instruments of conflict management

On the Valentine’s day, the group gone through intense discussion on selected levels and instruments of conflict management. Practical means and tools to be used to achieve Conflict resolution and transformation were examined: Mediation and arbitration techniques, Structural reform and peace efforts, Transforming cultural conflict and NGO activities.

The discussion carried over to the day to look into the political aspect of conflict transformation. Then, we have opportunity to be exposed to the local cultural on the visit to carnival activities in Gummersbach. Malaysia and Thailand was honored with medals for being the furthest country to come on this seminar.

 

The Rise of Great Powers

It’s a film about the 9 Great Powers in the world, namely Portuguese, Spain, Netherlands, England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and United State.

This film intended to use the history to educate us on doing things in the correct ways and simultaneously, what are not in order to ensure we are having a good guidance to achieve certain ambitions.

If a politician does not know the past global history, he cannot be a good politician. Those inhuman governing methods have to be refrained from recurring by current politician, and those benefiting the nation have to be encouraged to practice and carried out by them because history gave us enlightenment in the persuasion of peace, economy development and harmony.

Through out the history, many has attempted to summaries the finding of the rising and the down fall of the Great Powers. Various interviewees in the film have been invited to present their opinions on this issue, and from the finding of the interviewees, it is not difficult to learn that they have 1 thing in common: the world has become smaller today through the advancement of information and technology, and the phenomena of globalization have force the countries to open up their door to compete in this borderless world.

 

Intro to Conflict Management

As the solution to the conflicts around the world, second day of the seminar explored different approaches of Conflict management: conflict settlement, conflict resolution and conflict transformation. Many participants contributed in the group work and stimulated more thoughts on the theories discussed. Later, a presentation on the works of The Centre for international Conversion (BICC), Bonn which gave a good illustration of how practical conflict management work is carried out.

 

The enlightenment – new world order

At morning of 12 February, 24 participants, facilitators and the director of Theodor-Heuss-Academy, Gummersbach went through a round of brief background introduction. As a representative of Young Malaysians Movement (YMM), I have the honor to introduce our voluntary youth work to participants coming from 19 countries i.e. ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, EGYPT, GEORGIA, GUATEMALA, HONDURAS, ISRAEL, KIRGYZSTAN, LEBANON, MALAYSIA, PAKISTAN, PALESTINE, Republic of ARMENIA, SERBIA, SRI LANKA, THAILAND, TURKEY, UKRAINE, VENEZUELA.

The group then provided inputs in a survey on most important conflicts since 1990 in their personal perception before the presentation on “Trends and causes of international conflicts” – the Conflict Barometer by Heidelberg Institute on International Conflict Research. The barometer did not paint a optimistic picture by pointing out that the post cold war world was set in a trend of increased conflict. The participants later broke into small groups by region to examine in-depth on the result of the barometer and gave high remarks on this tool. For me, I have noted that Malaysia is on the watch list rated Level 2 for a prolonged latent conflict that needed solving.

The day ended after the Rwanda Video “Forsaken Cries: the Story of Rwanda” by Amnesty International USA, which examined the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as a case study in the human rights challenges of the 21st century. It was interesting to find out how similar tactics like dehumanizing & stereotyping were used in conflicts in other parts of the world, which could, as shown in the documentary, cause another tragedy like this.