Getting together to change views about Mideast, Asia

Dubai: Many people tend to associate the Middle East with endless wars and massive oil reserves. On the other hand, many Middle Easterners think of Asia as a region of poverty and oppressive tropical heat.

In the absence of direct communication channels between the two peoples, misconceptions and misunderstandings prevail.

However, the two sides are now attempting to look at each other through their own eyes, without the Western "filter", trying to understand the "other" with their own judgment.

The Middle East embraced several ancient civilisations and prides itself in its rich culture and strategic geographic location and its huge share of the world's energy.

Asian countries, too, were once cradles of ancient civilisations and some of them have been identified as the world's future superpowers.

"Fighting and fighting," senior Singaporean minister Goh Chok Tong once told a group of Arab and Asian journalists recently in Singapore when asked about his impression of the Middle East. But, after he visited the region in 2003, and before he stepped down as prime minister in 2004, he became "instrumental" in bringing the two regions together. It set him thinking about how he "should do something to promote better relations".

During his 2003 tour, which included visits to Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain, he discussed with the leaders of the three countries his brainchild: the Asia-Middle East Dialogue (Amed). The idea was well received.

Amed is not meant to be a gathering for governments, or any form of a government forum, he stressed. Instead, other important segments of the society and opinion drivers, such as academics and journalists, take the lead.

Amed aims at "bridging the gap" between the Middle East and Asia. The West, he explains, has been a magnet for relations between Asia and the West and the Middle East and the West. "So while we look at the West for economic relations or political relations, we tend to look at the Middle East merely as a source of oil for us."

The common attitude in Asia is that as long as oil and gas flows go smoothly, "there is nothing [to be] worried about the Middle East. This is a wrong attitude," Tong says. "We have many opportunities there to do business; they have a rich culture there. Middle East is becoming more important like Asia."

Exchange

Encouraging peoples of the two regions to know more about one another and the channels, such as websites, that would allow for such interactivity were among the topics that came up for discussion when Tong hosted nearly 27 journalists representing most Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

The establishment of an Asian-Middle Eastern Association, the exchange of cultural groups, artists and university students, and accommodating more "international news" in each others' media were among suggestions thrown up during the deliberations.

"We thought only Westerners can run such beautiful cities," Tong said recalling a conversation he had a few years ago with a visitor who was clearly astonished by the rapid development of the island-nation, which succeeded in putting its name on the map of the world's leading financial centres.

"Why don't you Arabs become friends with the Israelis," an Asian journalist sought to know. Being a Catholic Christian — a minority in his country — he said he was a "victim" of harrassment by his Muslim countrymen every time the Palestinian-Israeli conflict boiled over.

One of delegates from the Middle East tried to explain that it was Israel that had spurned the Arab Peace Initiative. "They [Israelis] have not only taken Palestine... In the name of security, they don't mind taking the whole region," the journalist said apologising for any mistreatment the Asian delegate may have faced in the name of Islam, adding that such behaviour did not reflect "true Islam".

For many years, the Arabs have been experiencing the difficult task of changing their stereotypical image in the West. As such, no opportunity to introduce to others their realities, civilisations, ideas and culture should go abegging.