Mr. Makoto Arakaki (An Interview)

He was born in Naha city (in Okinawa Japan). After graduating from high school, he went to UCLA, USA to study about the minority issues in America. Since 2004 until now he has been involved in the present activities. In 2005 he established an international Network NGO called “ONE LOVE” together with his students based on the theory of international relationships. He is 43 yeas old and lives in Nakashiro village, Okinama prefecture.

We cannot just be strong leaders but it is essential to build up a closer connection to the other party

Mr. Makoto Arakaki

Pofessor of Okinawa Christian University.

He takes his students to other Asia counties and is also active as a community Organiser.

1. How did you start this activity?

In 2006, my Filipino friend asked me to join a program for local youth to learn to stand on their own feet in the slum areas in Manila. I went and saw for myself the problems there such as gangsterism, drug addiction and others.

I would just cook soup with young people and sell it to their neighbors but actually they could not make much money. So I brought my student there and made them discuss about what they can do together with the slum community people. We started to make accessories like a holder for a hand phone and try to sell it in Japan. I stayed there with my students. The young people there are discriminated against and their neighbors would feel afraid and stay away from them. These young people continued their exchange with my students and gradually they grew more self-confidence.

I participated in a community organizing training program organized by SEAPCP in Indonesia in 2007 and in Malaysia in 2009.

2. A Community Organizer is not a social activist leader?

A Community Organizer can not be a strong leader. CO work is to facilitate people to become aware of the problems among themselves and encourage them to plan a strategy of what can be done.

3. What kind of activity you do in Okinawa?

Okinawa has some significant issues such the US bases, the destruction of the environment and development and others. So we are always in the front line of civil society movement. Many activists support from outside and we help the residents to see the difference between the positive and the negative factors. It is sometimes very difficult to use CO approaches. I encourage my students to participate in these activities including being abroad in the Philippines to improve their awareness about the common issues between them and Okinawa.

4. Do you think need there is a need to build closer relations with other Community Organizers in Asia?

There is exploitation of people everywhere because of the free trade agreement between countries and multinational corporations on a global level. It is essential to build up a closer connection between local people to fight against these big enemies. The participants of SEAPCP training were from Mongolia, India, and other SEA countries. The network linkages remain closely and strong.

(Interviewer: Mr.Nishiyama, Asaha Shimbun)

Working hard to improve the communities

Translation of article published in Asahi Shimbun Japan 1.1.2010

Community Organiser in various places

To encourage the people to seek a solution to the poor and promoting human rights issues.

The activity called “community organizing” is becoming popular in various places. It makes the local residents tackle social problems such as poverty and also to resolve those problems by themselves. More and more attention is being paid to the concept of micro communities especially in European Union countries or “East Asia Communities”. In the USA since the period of a civil rights movement in history established networks that spread slowly in the other regions in the world.

Photo: Mr.Tan Jo Hann(left) discuss with residences front of the longhouse.

The “Longhouses” of Jinjang Utara is located in the suburb capital city Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Toward the end of December, community organiser, Mr. Tan Jo Hann (age 47), President of PERMAS, spoke to some women with their children. One of them sighed “When can I get out from this area?”

Malay, Chinese and Indians are living this area which has a total population of 10,000 people. In this area many children who have stopped school become a juvenile delinquency, unemployed or turn to drugs and alcohol. This place is like a place for social failures among poor people.

In 1970s to 1980s, Kuala Lumpur had many young workers from the outskirts who went to the towns to look for jobs and a better life. In the beginning of 1990s, they got ordered out because of the redevelopment. The government promised them permanent low cost house for the lower income group. But they have not got the confirmation letter from the government about their promised houses even until now.

Mr. Tan started to work with this area in the mid 1990s. He encouraged residents to discuss among themselves and gradually organized them to struggle for their demands for permanent housing and to improve the quality of their lives.

“The main actors are residents and we just support them. Our role is to pass on our knowledge and experiences to the people, so-call ‘empower them”. Sometimes, he had to confront bulldozers from property developer companies wanting to forcibly evict these people.

He was born into a Chinese family in Ipoh a small town in the middle of Malaysia. He is a Christian. When he was a high school student, he thought “why poverty exist?” Why is it that even with Christian church providing services to the poor but still they exist and he could not find an answer.

After he graduated from high school in the 1980’s he met some experienced “Community Organisers” and became a member of a group of 14 community organizers people. They were from different backgrounds working as an employee, a factory worker, a teacher or journalist and other professions. They actively organize the slum areas while working in their usual jobs.

Under the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad’s administration, the government employed very strict control on activities which seemed to be against the government. That time when Mr. Tan joined the group he was also restricted by the authorities and police. The group members were sometimes hiding from the Government and Mr. Tan went to University of Philippines to study. In 1993, he came back to Malaysia and re-started his activities especially in the poor housing issues.

Mr.Arumugam is a taxi driver and lives in a longhouse. He is under the guidance of Mr. Tan. Now, Mr. Arumugam is self-reliant and became active as “a local organizer”. He would discuss with local government about the community issues such as resolving the public bus transportation system and they were also successful.

Mr. Tan is one of the founders of a network group “SEAPCP” (South East Asia Popular Communications Programme) which links up organisers in the SEA region. To date Mr. Tan has trained and developed more that 60 organisers in Malaysia as well as overseas. “Now ordinary people can confidently discuss with government ministers on an equal footing. I am glad to see them being changed” he said.

As Asian country economies grow in the region, community organisers are increasingly needed to develop the consciousness of the people.

By Mr. Tsukamoto at Kuala Lumpur

ASAHI SHIMBUN, JAPAN

JAPANESE TOP NEWSPAPER FEATURE SEAPCP ORGANISERS

TOP DAILY NEWSPAPER ASAHI SHIMBUN OF JAPAN INTERVIEWED SEAPCP COMMUNITY ORGANISING NETWORK COORDINATOR JO HANN TAN ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES AND WORK IN MALAYSIA AND DIFFERENT ASIAN COUNTRIES.

THEY ALSO DID ANOTHER ARTICLE ABOUT MAKOTO ARAKAKI ABOUT HIS WORK AS AN ORGANISER IN OKINAWA.

BOTH STORIES WERE PUBLISHED IN A SPECIAL NEW YEAR FEATURE ON JANUARY 1st. 2010 IN JAPAN! THE STORIES WERE HIGHLIGHTED ALONGSIDE WITH ANOTHER STORY ABOUT USA PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND HIS EXPERIENCES AS A COMMUNITY ORGANISER BEFORE ENTERING POLITICS.