Digital BABA

CLOSING REMARKS of M Rajaretnam at Closing Ceremony of the “Building a Better Asia: Young Leaders Dialogue” at Peking University, China, 2 November 2008
Citizens and Friends of Asia

Good Morning.

I want to preface my remarks by first thanking all the people who have made this 4th Dialogue of BABA possible, interesting and enjoyable. I want to thank 4 ladies and 2 men in particular: Mary, Wang Ying, Manisha, Sherilyn, Ito and Dr Chen Zhengya. You all know very well what they have been doing over the last few months and especially over the last 10 days. If I say anything more it will appear superfluous but thank you very much for your support, hard work and for always remaining cheerful. I want to thank the excellent conference staff of the Yingjie International Centre: they ran several meetings this last week but they always gave absolute attention to us. I want to thank Betty and Mari for making all those early morning trips to the airport and to Wen Jin Hotel. My thanks also go to Vicky who is probably the first staff of the Nippon Foundation who actually spent the entire duration of the dialogue with us. I appreciate your interest in this.

My thanks go to all the Resource persons for their role in opening up the space and thus making this dialogue productive. I want to thank in particular Anupam, Hiru, Khalid and Hara-san for sharing their ideas, knowledge, wisdom, humour, comradeship, and assistance. In the classrooms and the corridors all of them exposed you to the wide range of interesting human possibilities and I am sure that they will continue to do so.

Finally, I want to thank Peking University and the Nippon Foundation for joining the Asian Dialogue Society in making this Beijing 2008 Dialogue both constructive and appealing. I want to compliment you for your courage and vision in establishing the BABA Volunteer Community today. I am confident that the VC will become a movement that will contribute to the making of a better Asia. In identifying several other issues during your deliberations you have also pointed out what needs your urgent attention.

Yesterday you asked what is the relationship of BABA VC to BABA 4, Nippon Foundation and ADS? When this process started the Nippon Foundation had a simple objective- it wanted to re-invigorate its huge network of alumni- some 30,000 of them.

The ADS (through the IRC at that time) gave this objective the framework and concept of Building a Better Asia because that was the vision driving this small “fellowship of citizens and friends of Asia”. This name BABA was subsequently adopted by the Academic Committee for this dialogue retreat series. I remember telling the Academic Committee that in the interest of the common good ADS will share the copyright in the name.

If BABA 4 are the parents and have given birth to the BABA Volunteer Community then ADS/PKU/NF are the mid-wives of BABA VC. Let me provide an analogy. The other night we watched the wonderful performance of the acrobats. The theme focused on birds. It seems to me that BABA 1-3 danced the courtship of the birds, BABA 4 produced one chick, and now all of you are Babas and Mamas!

More than in the previous dialogues of BABA this time we focused our discussions on the habits and styles of leadership. We also continued to focus on the theme of the Common Good in Asia. Ultimately, I think when we talk of Building a Better Asia we are really referring to building a future in each of our countries that is based upon values of freedom, dignity, and justice.

This BABA is an inclusive process. Eventually, I trust, future BABA dialogues will include those young Asians who have not been fortunate to be NF alumni. If we had stuck to strict criteria Marat (because he is from Central Asia) and Maki (because until recently she felt more Bolivian than Asian) would not have been here. But you will agree when I say that we have all been enriched by their presence here.

BABA VC, I believe, will also succeed better if we think of it as an inclusive process. By this I do not just mean including other BABA fraternities in your work but others from outside your network such as young people elsewhere, retirees, and people with similar objectives and motivations.

When the BABA 5 meets the common good will focus on actual situations that will portray lucidly the areas of Livelihood, Heritage, and our Ecology which are all threatened by our human excesses. Why do I want to do this?

That’s because today’s world and today’s Asia are replete with examples of what’s not right. What is wrong with Asia? There is extreme poverty, poor governance, small wars and conflicts everywhere, terrorism, religious and communal tensions, environmental degradation, trafficking and exploitation of women and young children, nations engaged in the arms race, etc. Does Asia have the leadership to deal with these problems?

This is why we need the structures of good leadership that can deal with these problems better. Good structures are needed to enable good and better leaders. The BABA concept is about empowering young leaders that can deal with issues of governance, livelihood, peace and stability in our neighborhood. Through this BABA network we will continue to empower and enable leaders for the common good in Asia.

You have been told in the course of this retreat what are the attributes of good leaders ranging from the importance of guanxi to the willingness to adjust to new circumstances. But there is no substitute to knowing yourself and knowing the culture you come from, and knowing the people and cultures you interact with. For this day and age of globalization we are have to operate in multicultural and increasingly cosmopolitan surroundings as you have experienced during this past week. You have to be adept using chopsticks as you are with fork and spoon.

To be sure, there will be different styles of leadership and different levels of effectiveness of leadership. But it is important to bear in mind that good governance and human values of dignity and justice must be the guiding principles for the future leaders of Asia.

So it is with this simple thought that I want to express my congratulations to the network of friends of BABA 4 and wish you well in everything that you do. May you be enabled with qualities and habits of leadership that will contribute to the common good of the societies you come from, that you will deepen your bonds of friendship, and remember the good times of this PKU retreat. So that one day years from now you will be asked what is it about the BABA retreat that you valued the most?

Thank you and Bon Voyage!