Quotes from my Conversations about Southeast Asia
Some inspiring, others thought-provoking and challenging
In the month since I started The Southeast Asia Conversation (SEAC), I’ve had — no surprise — a ton of conversations. I’ve scheduled calls with people I’ve never met, and my Facebook messenger is filled with messages and conversations with multiple people. I spend most mornings scanning media about different countries in Southeast Asia. My life has changed in a short span of time. But in some ways, it’s a change that feels like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like: Why did I wait so long to do this?
I type notes down while I’m talking to people. Here are some things that have come up in my conversations. I intentionally left quoters’ names out, and I take responsibility for anything that seems paraphrased (I was typing notes as the conversation was happening) or taken out of context:
About Southeast Asia in general
“To me, Southeast Asia has no real sense of identity, and it constantly makes comparisons of itself to other more developed countries. We are subservient to the world.”
“We are trying to gain credibility and the approval of white people, and it becomes a question of race.”
“The rest of the world doesn’t know about Southeast Asia.”
“Southeast Asia deserves more recognition and respect.”
“Southeast Asia countries are frenemies.”
“It’s really hard to do something valuable for Southeast Asia from the United States. So we had to ground ourselves by holding something there in the region itself.”
“And people are asking ‘Is ASEAN ever gonna do anything?’”
About what “conversations” mean in Southeast Asia
“Contradicting viewpoints are where great conversations can happen.”
“There is criticism of ASEAN as a talk shop.”
“There is the idea about ASEAN and ‘conversations’ as all talk, but nothing getting done. You can position it as a conversation that — after you get people talking — will have people question their identities.”
“Having conversations is privilege. And you want to ask yourself: Who has access to these conversations?”
About Southeast Asia at the level of self
“Consider that you may have something incomplete around Southeast Asia that you need to complete at the level of self. Don’t do this because you’re angry or want to fix something.”
“We also need to ask: Where did we get the idea that Southeast Asia needed to be saved? Who made that?”
On creating an organization
“There will be pieces of your vision that the team gravitates towards.”
“One way you could do it is — have four people per Southeast Asian country join.”
“You’ll want representation and various perspectives — someone in the academia, someone in the arts, someone in politics, et cetera.”
“What you can explore — is to find a partner in Southeast Asia to support your efforts.”
“I think you should raise funds for three months, and do this full time instead. Go out into the real world — don’t go to film school.”
“Don’t try to do everything at once, or put yourself under so much pressure. Start small first, and do that really well.”
About creating something in Southeast Asia
“When it comes to the real world, you gotta dance with different things.”
“If people say ‘no’, then ask — ‘what can we create?’ Life becomes so much more interesting when you can create out of that level with people.”
“Let’s see us create our own things.”
“There is a possibility in Southeast Asia that wants to be articulated and expressed. There are projects that want to be born on the planet.”
“You want for something to come alive and manifest, and you dance with it.”
“You have the opportunity to create what possibilities show up inside of what’s happening in Southeast Asia.”
