The beginning of August witnessed two UBD undergraduates participating in the ‘ASEAN Youth LEAD: Lingering the Enhancement of ASEAN Diversity’ Exchange Programme, organised by the ASEAN Studies Center of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Chosen among 1,200 applicants from the ASEAN region, Dk Mas Dino Pg Hj Radin Hanafi and Nur Azeera Napiah were selected to represent Brunei Darussalam and the university along with 120 ASEAN youths, illustrating the competitiveness of the selection process.

The exchange programme aimed to engage ASEAN youths to support and strengthen the objectives of the impending ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Integration in 2015. Activities largely revolved around dialogues, lectures and workshops focusing on regional development and cooperation. Recognizing the fact that ASEAN is a diverse region with a multitude of languages, a mix of religious beliefs and cultural variations, it was essential for the programme to foster a better understanding of and tolerance towards the differences and, in turn, enhance regional diversity.

Dk Mas Dino, currently in her 4^th year majoring in Environmental Studies, noted the tremendous efforts made by the organizers to achieve their programme objectives: “They made sure that we were always working together as if to replicate how members of ASEAN are obligated to cooperate towards an integrated region by cultivating a sense of unity.” She added, “For 11 days, we [worked] together, [lived] together and [had] fun together and it makes me believe that we really can be one ASEAN.”

Nur Azeera, a 4^th year student in Business Administration, who is currently undergoing her Discovery Year at Chulalongkorn University, elaborated on the practicalities of the programme: “We were involved in workshops where we learned to improve and develop ourselves further on the way we think, how we perceive things and what we can apply or do when a real scenario is given. Team-building was an important process to test our capacities to work and communicate as a group.”

No stranger to being a youth delegate after participating in almost ten youth programmes, Dk Mas Dino remarked on a major difference with this experience: “I’d just finished my 10^th ASEAN destination during the semester break and so I came into this programme with a more enlightened view of regional integration and an enhanced understanding of our diversity. In the end, it was quite meaningful to me. However, the region is exceptionally vast so there will always be something for me to learn and discover.”

When asked to describe their most memorable moments of the programme, Nur Azeera recounted, “It was definitely the friendships that were made and the opportunity to learn from other ASEAN cultures and languages. We became more than just friends. We became a family - an ASEAN family.” Dk Mas Dino nodded in agreement and chimed in, “The other unforgettable moment the both of us would agree on would be the time when we had to perform for the cultural night with just the two of us! It was daunting at first, but we made it work. We had a lot of fun in the end!”

Both students happily agreed that ASEAN Youth LEAD was by far the best youth exchange programme they had joined, taking into account the meticulous planning of the organizing committee from the choice of accommodation, consideration of specific dietary needs, to the variation of activities and general flow of the agenda.

Nur Azeera said those who participate in such programmes tend to develop more confidence and better public speaking skills, marvelling at the character building that inevitably arise. Dk Mas Dino observed the increased awareness of ASEAN and its issues, and the important role youths play in its regional development. She encouraged fellow UBD students to participate in related events: “There are so many opportunities like this out there. Take the initiative and realise that we have an important role to represent ourselves not only as Bruneian citizens, but as citizens of ASEAN too.”