An international conference on Southeast Asia

IWOULD like to take the opportunity to welcome my good friend Prof. Vicente Angel “Van” Ybiernas to the Times. Ybiernas is an expert in international relations and economic history with very good Facebook engagement. He is both a recognized academic and a public historian; the other half of our Facebook show “Dulowtard History Live.” We have frank disagreements on many current issues but almost have the same understanding of the past. Thus, I have learned many things from him. I owe him much in sharpening my perspective of current events.

His column started on Friday, October 16, and he will be writing about the Philippines’ place in world affairs, considering history and international relations. I thank Mr. Dante “Klink” Ang 2nd, the chief executive officer of the ManilaTimes, and his father, Mr. Dante Ang, the chairman emeritus, for the opportunity given to us to share our views, and whatever we learned, with the Filipino people.

In his column, Van wrote about the beginnings of how the European colonizers started defining “Southeast Asia” during the Pacific War. We remember how the nations of Southeast Asia henceforth also tried defining themselves as a group — from President Elpidio Quirino’s idea of a “Pacific Union,” to the Maphilindo, Asean and then APEC.

In the post-colonial world, historians in Asia were also struggling to find themselves and their identity as Asians. It took the Philippine Historical Association (PHA) to convene the historians of Asia at our own Congress Hall in 1960 which gave birth to the International Association of Historians of Asia. In this tradition, the PHA also initiated the creation of the International Council for Historical and Cultural Cooperation - Southeast Asia (ICHCC-SEA) in 2015 along with Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia at Masyarakat Sejarawan Indonesia.

As the international community celebrates the Quincentennial of the First Circumnavigation of the World in 1521, some would look back at the arrival of Christianity and colonialism and how it affected the lives of the Filipinos. Although, and this is important, we are encouraged to look beyond national histories to see Southeast Asia at the time of the encounter with Europeans during the age of exploration beginning with the 15th century: the world we used to have, our interconnectedness with each other through the maritime culture, and how contact with colonialism changed the dynamics of power, economy and culture in what would be known as the Malay world.

In this light, the PHA, our president Dr. Ma. Luisa Camagay and our vice president and executive director, Dr. Fernando Santiago, the conference convenor, were at the helm in organizing the 7th Conference of the ICHCC-SEA/

PHA 2020 International Conference with the theme “Arrivals, Conflict and Transformation in Maritime Southeast Asia ( c. 1400-1800)” on Oct. 29 to 31, 2020 along with our partners the National Quincentennial Committee ( NQC), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the De La Salle University- Southeast Asia Research Center and Hub (DLSUSEARCH) and the University of San Carlos, among others.

Among the plenary speakers will be Farish Noor, PhD of the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, one of the leading public intellectuals in the region who will discuss the entanglement of Southeast Asia in the wars of Europe. Dr. Ariel Lopez of the University of the Philippine Diliman will talk about Sulu and Maguindanao in the Malay-Indonesian world. Ambeth Ocampo will give a presentation about how the old colonial maps helped define what would become the Filipino nation. Dr. Jose Victor Torres will give an insider look at the difference between the Mojares panel’s investigation into the 1521 First Easter Mass from the others that came before it. Pioneer Filipino food historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria will spice up the conference with a talk on the role of food in the first encounter of the early Filipinos with the Europeans in 1521. Malaysian historian Dr. Ahmad Murad Merican and Indonesian historians Dr. Andi Achdian and Dr. Gani A. Jaelani will join our distinguished panel of international plenary speakers.

Other panel speakers who submitted their papers from here and abroad will talk about trade, migration and other connections between Southeast Asian peoples. I will be hosting a session giving an introduction to the National Quincentennial Commemorations in 2021 and the teaching materials that were created to help teach this part of our history to our students.

In this time of the pandemic, the PHA and the NQC decided to open this three-day international conference free to the public as a form of service to our nation via Facebook Live. But those who will be needing certificates will have to register to attend the zoom meeting and will only pay the PHA annual membership fee of P500. For more information, please look at the Facebook page of the Philippine Historical Association.

Filipinos were alienated by the Spanish and American colonization from their Asian roots. We in the PHA to enjoin the public to join us in seeing our similarities of culture and experience with our Southeast Asian family.