Southeast Asia region is notable for its vast religious and cultural diversity. This factor can create peace and a prosperous society but is likely a source of conflict without proper management. To maintain this situation, the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR) and the International Dialogue Centre – KAICIID trained interreligious and intercultural Dialogue for ASEAN Officials on 27 November – 1 December 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.
26 official participants from the ASEAN member countries participated in this training session. The participants were from various backgrounds, including governmental members or officials from the National Security Council, etc.
The two main objectives of this training are increasing the awareness and knowledge of interreligious dialogue (IRD) and intercultural dialogue (ICD) to promote understanding among communities from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds and facilitate stakeholders with the necessary religious and cultural comprehension to facilitate them in creating holistic policies to address political and social issues in ASEAN.
During the five-day training, the participants were provided with several materials, including:
- History, theory, and dialogue methodology.
- Introducing dialogue skills and various types of dialogue.
- Conflict analysis framework, conflict transformation, and strategic peace development framework.
- Best practices in engaging multi-faith/cultural leaders and communities.
On occasion, the participants had an opportunity to attend the Kudi Khoa-Kudi Chin community of Klongsan, Bangkok, to observe the disparity between religion and culture can coexist peacefully.
This training obtained positive feedback from the participants. They suggested that the training offers a vast religious and cultural perspective, as well as relevant skills to address the complexity of race and religious tendencies in the ASEAN region.
This training is a crucial effort in promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Those types of dialogue schemes are a vital key to developing peace and a prosperous society in the ASEAN region. However, this can only contribute to preventing or solving the conflict caused by religion and culture in ASEAN. Dialogue is important to strengthen understanding and tolerance, but it is inadequate to address the core of conflicts like intolerance and discrimination. ASEAN member countries must initiate more concrete and robust actions to advance the IRD and ICD. Such steps may include: First, increase the participation of state and religious leaders in ASEAN member countries. Second, improve the collaboration with the interfaith and intercultural dialogue institutions. Third, expand the scope of training to gain more participation from ASEAN member states, especially for women. Fourth, incorporate education on IRD and ICD into the school curriculum. By strengthening this way, ASEAN possibly enhances its efforts to develop peace and a prosperous society for all.
Source of image : https://asean-aipr.org/joint-asean-ipr-kaiciid-news-releaseasean-ipr-kaiciid-training-on-interreligious-intercultural-dialogue-for-asean-officials/