I just came from the 9th Asian Public Intellectuals (API) workshop in Penang. For four days, 23 fellows from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines shared our insights and findings from our Nippon Foundation grants to do research in Asia. Our exchanges ranged from the profound(development, marginalization, poverty, religion, peace and conflict, democratization and governance, and globalization), to the esoteric (what is nature?) and to the mundane (the translation of "cute" in the different languages). The exchanges were rich, and given our diverse disciplines - mind-boggling. Even though English was our medium, the jargon sometimes felt like a foreign language. At the end of the week, we came away with a sense that, despite the diversity in cultures and languages, there was much we shared - be it challenges, context, culture, practices, values, hopes, and fears.
More than this, I was awed to be among other Asians with such passion and commitment. There were development workers and activists who fight for the rights of people who have no voice, artists who are determined to preserve culture and identity, academics who ask questions no one bothers to ask and seek to build knowledge on Asia. I came away not just with a greater understand of the challenges and prospects for Asia, I came away inspired to continue trying to make a difference.
Before I went to Penang, I had always blanched at calling myself a public intellectual.It just seemed so pretentious. But API uses the term to mean someone who articulates issues, ask questions, stimulates thinking and shares knowledge in order to make positive change. If that is the definition of a public intellectual, I guess I can live with that.