CULTURE AND INFORMATION

184. The Fifth Summit Declaration urged that ASEAN raise awareness of ASEAN among its peoples, instilling in them a consciousness of the spirit and identity embodied in ASEAN. The Declaration directed ASEAN to harness all appropriate technologies to do this.

185. The Summit Directives featured prominently in the decisions of Information Ministers at their Fourth Conference in Singapore in March 1996.

186. Recognising the opportunities offered by the new information and communication technologies and mindful of the challenges they brought with them, the Ministers made three significant decisions.

187. First, that it was timely that ASEAN look into the possibility of setting up an ASEAN Satellite Channel for transnational and transregional broadcasting be looked into. Second, for the ASEANWEB to be further developed so that it provided a broad umbrella homepage that would be hyper-linked to the homepages of the ASEAN Member Countries. The satellite channel and the ASEANWEB would enable ASEAN to project its views, values and culture more effectively to a wider audience. Third, a forum of regulators was to be organised within a year to facilitate the exchange of experiences among Member Countries in approaching the Internet.

188. The Fifth ASEAN Summit also called for the conservation, preservation and promotion of ASEAN�s diverse traditions. Indeed, this is a major objective of the ASEAN Plan of Action being implemented by the COCI, currently in its second year of implementation.

189. For the period under review, 11 projects under culture were completed while 19 projects were on-going. Eleven of the Information projects were completed while nine were on-going. Table 11 shows the projects broken down by Working Groups.

190. At its 30th meeting, held in Manila in June 1995, COCI endorsed a total of 27 projects to be funded by the ACF and one other for funding consideration by Australia. All were subsequently adopted by the 6th Meeting of the 28th ASC in July 1995. The ASC also approved the allocation of US$34, 755.00 from the ASEAN Cultural Fund (ACF) for the 15th, 16th and 17th Meetings of the Advisory Group for the ACF.

191. COCI's proposal, The Creation of ASEAN Museum Information Network was approved by the ASC, and duly submitted to Australia for funding consideration.

192. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations on 24 October 1995, a photo exhibition dubbed ASEAN-UN Cooperation for a Better World opened simultaneously in all the ASEAN Capitals on UN Day. Consisting of 35 photographs, the exhibition reflected ASEAN's commitment to the promotion of peace and multi-culturalism. A total of US$106,050 was allocated for this event.

193. Twenty-four new proposals under Culture and Information were approved for funding and implementation in FY1995/96, requiring a total allocation of US$2, 603, 216 from the ASEAN Cultural Fund. These are to be implemented under the approved ASEAN Plan of Action on Culture and Information.

194. The importance of ensuring the sustainability of projects in order to maximise the use of available funds as well as the need to secure alternative sources of funding was a key concern of the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information. In a related concern, COCI urged Member Countries to comply strictly with the guidelines on the disbursement and the accounting of funds at its 30th Meeting in Manila.

195. To ensure that priority projects were given integrated promotional support COCI called for closer coordination between itself and other functional cooperation committees.

Literary and ASEAN Studies

196. The Working Group undertook a total of 24 projects, both long and short term. All projects were geared towards preserving and revitalising ASEAN�s literary heritage. Eight projects completed in the last year are found in Table 12.

197. Most noteworthy of the on-going projects is the ASEAN Studies Publication Series. This series of monographs offers basic source materials on the arts, economy, government, religion, history, social organisation and customs of ASEAN countries. The preparatory meeting for the project was held in January 1996 by the coordinating country Brunei Darussalam.

Visual and Performing Arts

198. Showcasing ASEAN�s rich heritage in the performing and visual arts , and making it relevant to the present is the concern of this group. During the period under review, the Working Group for Visual and Performing Arts completed three projects, namely:

These projects sought to bring practitioners of the relevant arts from the various ASEAN countries together and where possible, to mount exhibitions or performances that resulted from their activities.

Radio/Television and Films/Video

199. To further ASEAN�s interests, this Working Group tapped the potential of arguably the most popular forms of the mass media. Eleven projects were undertaken during the year under review. During this period, six were completed, with the remaining due for completion within the next six months. Details of the six completed are found in Table 13.

200. One notable on-going project that the Working Group has taken on since June 1995 is the production of a television series for Children in the ASEAN region. The series which consists of six multi-segmented episodes seeks to minimise the dependence on Western children�s television programmes by offering alternatives which are ASEAN in content and produced by an ASEAN national television network.

201. Animation, graphics, puppets and live actors will be used in the production of the six episodes that make up the series. Financed by the ASEAN Cultural Fund, the programmes will cover such topics as national heroes, games and sports, and festivals and traditions as well as ASEAN activities such as the Summit and Ministerial Meetings.

Print and Interpersonal Media

202. In addition to inculcating an ASEAN viewpoint among print and broadcast journalists in the region, the Working Group also sought to exploit traditional communication media where these were relevant and effective during the year under review. The Working Group saw six projects completed in the last year, with five still on-going. The completed projects are listed in Table 14. The aim of the ASEAN Traditional Media Festival was to show that information could be successfully disseminated to the grassroots through traditional entertainment media such as wayang kulit, and traditional singing and dancing. The Festival, held from 11 to 16 August 1995, coincided with the 28th Anniversary of ASEAN.

203. The second ten-day ASEAN Information Officers study tour was conducted from October 16 to 27 1995. Its aim was to provide the participants with a view of the information management system as well as organisational structure of the Australian Information Agencies. It also sought to promote consciousness and awareness of ASEAN and Australian cultures and traditions on a reciprocal basis.