Indigenous peoples and Southeast Asian nations

There are two totally independent celebrations that emphasizes, first, our indigenous culture; and second, the Southeast Asian nations that are being commemorated at the moment. The first is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples which started when the United Nations created a Permanent Forum on Indigenous questions that started in May of 2002. As a result, the UN declared starting this year to 2014 as the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Their main purpose is to, first, protect the rights of indigenous people all over the world, second, to preserve their cultures as precious living records of the wealth of humanity.

It has been estimated that there are no less than 5,000 languages spoken in the world today. The extinction of one language means the extinction of the group that used the language. By extension, their extinction means the extinction of the part of humanity that communicate through said language. That is why it is important to preserve all indigenous cultures. In the Philippines, this means the conservation of no less than 87 indigenous dialects. So far, we have only shown interest in spreading Tagalog as our official national language. Nothing wrong with that. But it must never be the extinction of any indigenous dialect. We had a Commission on National Integration. In 1997, it was superseded by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). We can’t help but ask just what was their program for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

The second celebration that we earlier mentioned is the 38th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Thanks to the ASEAN National Committee on Culture and Information and the Radyo Balintataw of DZRH, the 38th anniversary of the ASEAN will be fittingly commemorated from August 8 to 19. A special radio program will be aired from Mondays to Fridays from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and each program will feature music and poetry selections from the 10 ASEAN member nations. The pieces have been selected to provide a historical perspective of the country’s history and traditions that will reflect the current social conditions prevalent in the country today. The ambassador of each respective country will personally read the literary pieces and the indigenous poems will be presented in English translations.

On top of these, the ASEAN National Committee on Culture and Information along with the National Commission for Culture and Arts will be holding a national exhibition of the winning and non-winning photographs of the Regional level of the 2004 ASEAN photo competition. The theme of the competition was Growing with Nature: ASEAN’s Environmental Challenges. The exhibition opened yesterday at the lobby of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The most important thing about any commemoration or celebration is the program. Sometimes we celebrate great events without any program whatsoever. We are happy that this is not so with the World’s Indigenous Peoples’ celebration and the 38th anniversary of the ASEAN.