Global Reconciliation Summit Amman Jordan

It was November 2008 when I last visited Jordan to attend the first Reconciliation Summit, organized by Monash University and the RMIT Melbourne.

The Global Reconciliation Summit held in Dec 2009 was a follow up conference , but with a distinct difference

1) Almost 200 delegates participated, most of them were from various areas of conflict in the world- Sri Lanka, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Turkey, Cyprus, Brazil,Palestine and Occupied Territories and Israel.

2) The delegates were from a variety of background - medical doctors, artists, playwrights, movie writers, journalists, and philosophers

3) Delegates shared their experience dealing with people traumatized by conflicts and their efforts on reconciliation

4) One clear message was, victims and perpetrators of violence and conflict each share similar suffering.The victim suffers from the obvious pain, while the perpetrators suffer from his undignified action of inflicting pain on his fellow human being. One common problem is that they dont share that mutual feeling as hatred is fanned , often by those with deeply vested interest in the continuing conflict.

5) Successful reconciliation efforts are often facilitated by readiness of common people on either side to accept and share mutual feelings of respect. This takes time and requires perseverance

6) I was asked to give some thoughts on the situation in Malaysia

7) I presented a paper entitled "Community-Engagement Projects as a Tool for Teaching Ethics in Medical School - Our Experience "

8) My arguments were as follows : That we in Malaysia must strive to preserve racial harmony especially among professionals by designing a training program that specifically adresseses ethical issues. Failure to do this might enhance highly polarized professional doctors as their primary academic background were not necessarily similar. Promotion of mutual understanding and respect among students can be developed through specific community engagement projects .

9) We in the Medical School Universiti Sains Malaysia regularly conduct the Community and Family Case Studies (CFCS) - a community-engagement project led by medical students of mixed ethnicity. CFCS is an essential component of our training of doctors and involve medical students being 'adopted' by members of the community for a period of 5 weeks during the 2nd and 3 rd year of the medical study.

10) Students identify medical and health -related problems in the community that they are adopted and implement intervention programs that deal with the problems identified

11) They work in groups with mixed ethnic groups and naturally getting engaged with fellow students from other cultures in a highly close setting. They also, at the same time understand the community they live in and appreciate the ethical issues at the most micro level

12) I came to realize that being a medical doctor, we are in the position to appreciate that the differences we notice between individuals are merely 'skin deep'. Having operated and opening up the abdomen of people from colours and creed across the globe, one does not fail to realize that as the outer skin is retracted, everything else is the same inside : the colour, function , smell and suffering! Understanding that , may just slightly facilitate reconciliation!

Happy New Year folks