Four days before this Saturday morning, this was an unthinkable scene. These student leaders were supposed to kick each other’s asses in debates and thesis expositions. Twenty–four students from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines were sent as representatives to the 5th Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative in Singapore to filter this topic: Asia’s Roadmap: Forging Regional Cohesion for Global Advancement.” Sub–themes were “The Growing Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility,” The Changing Role of Media in Asia,” and “Cultivating Entrepreneurial Spirit in Asia.”

At first, it was just like reading the names of all the delegates and thinking these nerds are out to outwit one another. But before HYLI 2002 was over, the young leaders hung on to the experiences and the following names have been added to their list of newfound friends: Ade Rina Chaerony, Alexander Lay, Dayu Nirma Amurwanti and Nina Juliana (Indonesia); Keita Ikeda, Kanae Hayashi, Aya Yamamoto and Mika Furuhata (Japan); Ang Hean Leng, Joan Shireen Fernandez, Siti Salina Mohd Din and Saifddin Abdul Rahim (Malaysia); Gerald Goh, Mustafa Izzudin, Mervyn Sek and Rita Zamzamah Binte Mohamed Nazeer (Singapore); Charoen Jiewsang, Paniwatana Ittigusumain, Tiwat Nichote and Wuthisorn Naruemityarn (Thailand).

MEETING OF THE MINDS AND HEARTS

Somehow, if it passed through the mind, it ends up residing in the heart. When the delegates toured the MINDS Center for the Intellectually Disabled, the students have never seen so many genuine smiles and greetings all in setting. “The IDs (Intellectually Disabled) are really like this,” said one of the volunteers. “They are desperate for attention. They want you to be really aware of them.”

The students are each paired with an ID. Icebreaking games immediately got the bonding started and when the students left their buddies to pick them up for a zoo adventure the following day, the running joke was that it was already difficult to distinguish who the delegate and the buddy was.

At the center, the students were instant entertainers/councilors/teachers. This is what the program meant by translating their views into action as the delegates were able to see through differences (of culture most specially) with compassion.

Each group performed with their buddies at the end of the activity. And when it was time to say permanent adieus, the delegates carried with them the stories from the MINDS people.

That night, the delegates had their last night together without having to finish any thesis or debates. They just had pure fun opening themselves up to one another. I know because on my way to the airport Saturday morning, I rode with the Malaysian delegates. They told me about skipping sleep that day because they knew their hours together were numbered. “Everyone just kept on saying goodbye but no one really wanted to leave. How can you leave when you’ve made friends like this? Even if we promise to keep in touch, it’ll be really hard when we’re in our cities already.”

If the kind of leaders we’re going to have will be genuine friends from the start, then how can this regional cohesion thing miss. Right now, we Filipinos are enraged with how our kababayan deportees are being treated in Malaysia. Our sentiments are about how we treat illegal aliens here like our own while on the other hand, the deportees are now the cause of increasing poverty problems and reported troubles; and it just feels good to know that the younger ones, the future leaders if destiny permits, are reaching out to take each other in.