Of Peace and Pluralism : A 'UNIVERSAL' concern

It had been hectic for me the past few weeks. This explains my 'absence' here. I actually miss my writing 'affair' with you. After all, it is my heart and soul. But, I am not the kind of person who could juggle everything at one time, although there are people who kindly believe that I am a 'superwoman'. Frankly, I love to 'dream' myself to be as such. Well, if only I could. And so, there are of course, sacrifices to be made as we try to fulfill our commitments; i.e both within personal and professional realms. This is one of the crucial times when you have to decide which is more urgent, or more important, or important but not urgent, or urgent but not important, etc., and in the process, you may 'anger' certain people who could not see the 'urgency' of your work from your point of view. Well, to have to decide on this crucial matter is actually a 'tiring' mental exercise.

As it happened, there were people (within my personal and professional circles) with good intentions who wanted me to go out from my secluded 'confined' state of physical being and to meet 'real' people of the world in person, whom I should interact and have 'lively' and 'noisy' discussions with. And so, last week (with a heavy heart, at first), I finally succeeded in making myself to 'physically' attend the 1st International Conference on Exploring Leadership and Learning Theories in Asia, in USM, Penang, from 15th to 17th February 2011. Well, my dear readers, I must humbly confess that it was actually my 'debut'; making an entry into the world of scholars. In fact, I did feel like a 'debutante' myself, ( i.e. relatively, a 'mature' one, of course). And the feelings....? Well, I did not expect to have  this 'serendipity' kind of feeling but frankly, I felt very much 'at home'.

Upon reflection, it is funny thinking how it all began. Honestly, I must admit that I have a friend who have this 'specialty' in making people 'trapped' in the process of doing things that they did not dream of doing in the first place. I must say, he is really good at it. And I know that it is to his satisfaction to have me admitting here, (I could actually see him smiling as he reads this), that I really had had such a good time there. But, please do not think of future collaboration as I will not be letting myself to be  easily drawn by any 'provocative' thoughts anymore. Well, my dear readers, our collaborative effort was not without its obstacles. There were of course, misunderstandings, frustrations, hiccups, confusions, setbacks, disturbances, etc. which occurred along the way as we embarked on our collaborative effort. It was indeed, a time of great test; i.e mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And it really took a strong faith to persevere.

And so I believe that to most of the ELLTAs of 2011, it was a 'first' time experience to them as well. It was obviously so for the organizers; the dynamic 'trio' in the names of Anders Ortenblad, (from Sweden), Muhammad Babur and Roshni Kumari (both from Pakistan). Though I had not been able to have a personal chat with Roshni, the 'batik-wearing' Anders and the 'sweet-looking' Babur left an indelible impression on me. Well, there must be a 'strong' connection among these 'three', for 'space' and 'time' seemed not to be able to dampen their spirit in ensuring that ELLTA 2011, would commence as planned; away from their own countries of origin. As I am one who does not concern myself much about 'form', I am particularly pleased indeed that there is actually a strong 'substance' in ELLTA.

I also had had the opportunity of meeting other first-time participants of international conference as well as visitors of Malaysia. Well, on the first day, I met a young Japanese chap, Yusuke Suzumura whose fine manners and innocent looking appearance made us (the Malaysians), felt so obligated to help him search for his other country-mates, (i.e. if there were any, that is). Indeed, there was. And we (the Malaysians) were the ones who became over-excited when we met Sophi, a beautiful Japanese lady, who by that time had already found another first-time participant and visitor to Malaysia, as her 'companion'; i.e Suvendu Baral from Bangalore, India, who indeed kindly offered his hospitality should we plan to go there. Alas, our match-making attempt was futile after all, for we could not simply take Sophi away from this kind gentleman.

I also had had the time to engage myself in interesting academic discussion with young scholars who are  both novices as well as experts in their specific areas. Well, an academic discourse with Tyo from Indonesia concerning English language was interesting as he diligently fed me with his vast knowledge on his subject. I also met Gerry, a recovery expert, who is currently working in Japan, whose nature of work I might not be able to compute at this moment still, who nevertheless, emanated a strong sense of confidence and is indeed proud of his work. And there was also Fatima from Pakistan, a young lecturer (both in age as well as in working experience) who made me feel that I was not alone at the conference for we were both still 'raw' in this industry. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to have a long chat with another young lecturer, a local who is now on her Phd leave, Nazuar from UUM.

The Gala Dinner held by the organizer at Equatorial Hotel further provided me with opportunities to meet other participants whom I did not have the chance to meet during the day. Interestingly, I met with three jovial Indonesians : i.e. Ibu Yanki, Ibu Umi and Bapak Adi. It was funny how they innocently asked us (me and my colleague), about the meaning of 'Rumah Kelamin', a signpost that had created a 'disturbing' image; i.e. as upon coming into contact with the word, their mental lexicon conjured up a different image altogether. Well, our languages are said to come from the same 'ancestral' origin, but we do indeed have differences in meaning of the same words.

With us during dinner was also Gioko, from Kenya, who was a sport as he learned to use the chopstick to eat rice. In fact, he was good at it. He imitated whatever Yanki was saying in Indonesian language, though we suspected that he understood nothing of what he was 'parroting'. He actually brought his 'warriors' to the table, and it is his custom of which we know we should have to respect. In fact, he was telling us the other day of how in his village, when a man marries a woman, he can get another one as a 'compliment'. But, when we asked him whether he has two wives, he answered that, unfortunately for him that upon his marriage, there was no other woman who offered herself to be his second wife. Funny. And he was after all, a good company with a great sense of humour.

Apart from the diversities in terms of place of origin and professional undertakings, ELLTA 2011 was also a place where I met some important 'gurus'; i.e. real 'experts' of their own field. On the first night, I attended the 'special' seminar. I felt so 'related' with Prof. Abdul Rashid Moten (from IIUM), as  when I heard his speech that night, I could not help but felt his strong love of Allah s.w.t. and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). And I said to myself that I will be his 'student' if he takes me. It was also an invigorating experience listening to the talk of Prof. Michael W. Apple from University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose sharp and critical observations, as well as his blunt and witty remarks had left a lasting impression on me. I also had had such a 'cute' encounter with Dr. Zane from Monash Universtiy, whom I met shortly before my presentation, and who, after listening to my presentation was indeed generous with her praises and compliments. Such exciting experiences, indeed.

ELLTA 2011 was without a doubt, a place which provided me with fruitful learning experiences. Of course, it really depends on how we look at things. To me, from the point of view of a participant, the conference, though young and immature it may be in terms of its period of conception and organization has much greater potentials, yet to be unleashed. In fact, the diversity as existed in terms of nationality, race, gender, age, academic fields, religious beliefs, cultural values, etc. illustrate a colourful existence blended in harmonious relations that make ELLTA one of its kind. Of course, we may differ in our religious beliefs (and that is a fact that will never change), but the fact remains that we can have common grounds in aspects of humanities. And for that, I believe each and every one involved in ELLTA 2011 would agree with me if I say that we do have a UNIVERSAL  concern ; i.e to have the existence of PEACE despite the 'cacophony' of our PLURALISM realities.

Well, having said all these and almost nearing to the end of my writing, you might have thought that I had missed one important point. Of course I had not and did not intend to. How could I be when, with the blessing of Allah s.w.t., it is through this great man that people of diverse background could actually meet and mingle in harmony and share different views of important matters. His name needs not mention whatsoever, even more so in this little blog of mine, but, I would bring more disgrace to myself than to him should I attempt to 'ignore' his great contribution to ELLTA. He is none other than the great Professor Dato' Dr. Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid, whose 'passion' in his work is so obvious to the eyes of many.

I was actually introduced to his name much much earlier than to the person himself. And finally, at ELLTA 2011, I took this golden opportunity to simply introduce myself to him as he obviously did not need to introduce himself to anybody. I was told by colleagues of his great leadership since they had had the opportunity to be under his guidance, of which I am among the unfortunate ones who do not have that. Well, I must admit that I understood the reasons for the great 'admiration' that people have of him. I do not wish to be great myself, but I would be a fool if I do not take the opportunity to learn great lessons from this man. It is in fact, an obligation to always seek knowledge to better ourselves and it is even more so to learn from the wise ones whom we have the opportunity to cross path with. So that whatever new knowledge we acquire we could further generate for the betterment of mankind.

Well, my dear readers, again I could not entertain you with beautiful pictures of events happening during ELLTA 2011. I have not make it a habit yet to capture events in 'still'  or 'moving' moments. Forgive me for my 'stubbornness'. Nevertheless, I do hope that I have somehow been able to 'illustrate' through my wordy expressions, the 'substance' of ELLTA 2011. And that, my dear ELLTAs and readers, remains very much 'alive' in my memory.