A Southeast Asian Community: More than a Matter of Geography

Description

The Southeast Asia Lecture Series, conceived by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), serves as a platform for the movers and shakers within Southeast Asia. As a consequence of the long established Singapore Lecture, Singaporeans are more likely to recognise foreign dignitaries like Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice, and Zhou Enlai, etc., rather than their own regional leaders. This Lecture Series rectifies that shortcoming and promotes the views and thoughts of significant decision-makers in the Southeast Asian region and beyond. This Lecture Series has been made possible by a generous donation from Professor Saw Swee-Hock, a professorial fellow at ISEAS. Delivering the Inaugural Southeast Asia Lecture on 19 February 2008, His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah spoke on the topic "A Southeast Asian Community: More than a Matter of Geography". This Lecture also formed the keynote address of the concurrently-held Brunei Forum in which the Bruneian Ministers for Education, Energy, Foreign Affairs, and Industry and Primary Resources delivered major presentations and discussed Brunei’s efforts to diversify its economy, develop its ecotourism industry, harness its education and human resources, expand its energy sector, and carve a niche in ASEAN. This Inaugural Lecture was well-received and much welcomed as it achieved the primary objective to familiarize the Singapore audience with the thinking of a regional leader – the longest serving Foreign Minister of Southeast Asia. This Lecture Series will continue by inviting other speakers from different Southeast Asian countries to address other contemporary subjects.