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Forty four years after
independence, Malaysia still faces numerous concerns
that threaten her peace. The Southeast Asian
Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN) aimed to address
these concerns by bringing to-gather academics,
policy makers, Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) and other concerned individuals in the
workshop “Issues and Challengers for Conflict
Resolution in Malaysia”. This was held
with the weeks of the terrorist attack on the
World Trade centre in New York City, U.S.A. providing
an increased sense of urgency and relevance to
address the issues of concern.
The issues addressed were:
1. Examination of the concern facing Malaysia today
| a. |
Internal political issues e.g. the criminal
justice system, Islamic militancy. |
| b. |
Internal potential ethnic conflict e.g. Race
relations |
| c. |
External political issues
| i. |
At a regional level e.g. maritime security
issues, territorial conflict management
and Malaysia’s relationship with
Singapore |
| ii. |
At an international level e.g. with
global superpowers |
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2. Examination of how these concerns are being addressed,
the mechanism and approaches being used, through the
use of the following case studies:
| a. |
The Kampong Medan Incident of 2001 |
| b. |
The Taiping Peace Initiative |
| c. |
The Mediation and Reconciliation Services (MARS)
at USM |
3. Examination of the future. What approaches should
Malaysia be seeking to use and implement to prevent
challenges to use of various disciplines and various
approaches, but with a common goal.
The main conclusion of the workshop was that organizations
should seek to work together to promote peace within
Malaysia. This, as illustrated by the workshop, will
be achieved by the use of various disciplines and various
approaches, but with a common goal.
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