A view from Southeast Asia

As you will read from http://www.globalunderstandinginstitute.org/aboutus.html, the Global Understanding Movement (GUM) was launched on Valentine's Day in 2006 by a group of like-minded individuals who wish to see a peaceful world, where children can be brought up in a safe and clean environment. Where children learn the difference between right and wrong; between hate and love; war and peace; moral and immoral behaviour; honesty and dishonest intentions; legal and illegal actions; ethical and unethical activities.

We seek to share understanding of the world around us through provision of global and local forums to exchange and express views for all interested and concerned citizens of the world. We owe it to each other to communicate in a polite, logical and rational manner that takes into consideration racial, religious and political sensitivities.

We seek to foster multicultural, pluralistic communities and to create peace between neighbors. This is based on the fundamental principles of human and humanitarian rights. Our goal is to aid any interested and concerned citizen of the world to understand others, to be understood themselves especially during times of crisis or conflict, and to bring peace and reconciliation where there are differences.

I have the honour of being the Founder of the Global Understanding Movement and together with some friends here in Hanoi, I began the movement by creating a forum for discussion in the wake of the outrage of the September 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controvery.

That was then and since that historic moment, the call has been taken up by Peter, who founded the Global Understanding Institute (GUI). Peter is working hard to register GUI as a Not for Profit organisation.

I am still in Hanoi, thankful for Peter's lead and hoping that more people will heed the call and join the movement. If you are interested in making the world that we live in, a better place for ourselves and our children, I urge you to be in contact with either Peter or myself.

I am going to contribute to this blog, from time to time, with a view from Southeast Asia. I was born in Hong Kong and have lived in Asia for more than 40 years. Therefore, I have a detailed perspective and can be considered an informed 'foreigner'.

Actually, I was once described as a 'reverse banana' (white on the outside and yellow on the inside). At the time, I thought it was somewhere between being cute and being an insult. Over the years, I have come to realise that it is quite true!

If you have a comment, agree or disagree with anything that I write, please feel free to contact me. I have written quite a lot about Vietnam (http://www.tckgroup.org/news.html). If you want to know more about me, feel free to visit http://www.tckgroup.org/team.html.

Until my next blog!
Karl