Learning and bonding

By: Luis A. Vélez Pretelt

Hello everyone! I wanted to tell you a little but about some of my experience during the “ASEAN Studies: Globalization, Governance and Security in Southeast Asia” Program which I participated in during the summer.

My main interest in the Program was to learn about the policies that took place in Southeast Asia for its modernization in such a short period of time, resulting, in most cases, in greater development outcomes. Coming from Latin America, my intention was to get a better picture of the type of interventions that can be applied to my own region of interest in hopes of getting same positive outcomes.

This is how everything started, our first day of class. Look how happy we look!

There’s no doubt that this program is a great opportunity to learn about the political, economical, and social development of Malaysia and Indonesia. I just waned to tell you that besides getting the opportunity to listen to local academics, government officials, policy makers, business leaders and NGO activists from both Malaysia and Indonesia, this program also gave me the opportunity to meet and both with incredible people.

These are some of the pictures that show you some of the things we did together.

Multiculturalism in Malaysia

Multiculturalism in Malaysia

By: Luis A. Vélez Pretelt

To know Malaysia is to have the ability to admire an incredible place where the teeming and bustling mix of different races and religions give a special lifestyle of its inhabitants.

Malaysia is a multicultural nation where people are proud to live in a peaceful and tolerant manner despite the great ethnic and religious diversity. They regard themselves as a pluralistic society whose motto is "Unity is strength". More than half of the population is Muslims, followed by Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, Hindus and a small proportion of so-called tribal religions. Malays are the largest community and the vast majority of them profess Islam. The Chinese presence and influence are very important, representing a third of the population. Hindus are about 10%.


This is evident in the architecture, in restaurants and in the many temples there are scattered around the city. Similar to other countries in the region, Malaysia has maintained in recent years, a sustained economic development and political stability that have become a prosperous nation in the region, although not as rich or powerful as Thailand and less than Singapore.

While visiting Kuala Lumpur, we saw that is one of the Asian cities that attract attention by its powerful infrastructure. It has several subway lines, numerous elevated tracks and large buildings of modern design, like the Petronas Towers, which for many years were the highest in the world. 

Multiculturalism in Malaysia can also be evidenced in ethnic neighborhoods in Kuala Lumpur, such as the Chinese and Indian. Also in terms of its gastronomy we were able to find various street streets from various countries of the ethnic groups that make up the nation. For sure Chinese cuisine is dominant and there is also a popular combination of this with Malay ingredients.


My favorite part of the city was Bukit Bintang and the best place to eat is in Jalan Alor. We had the opportunity to go to dinner with Professor Heng and the rest of my colleagues and these are some of the dishes we got. Please do not forget to try the coconut ice cream and remember to put some corn to it, yes, corn!!

By: Luis A. Vélez Pretelt

Learning and having fun! (And having some competition as well)

During our last ‘official” visit in Indonesia, we were invited to Maverick’s Headquarters, a communications consultancy led by a Malaysian businessman, Mr. Ong Hock Chuan, who advises clients on how to do business in Indonesia. And ironically he is one of the best because he has experienced how difficult it is for foreigners to do business in Indonesia. The presentation was very interesting. Mr. Chuan was accompanied by Mr. Endy Bayuni, Senior Editor from Jakarta Post, and they both talked about the importance of media, and more specifically social media, not only in the realm of marketing (when it comes to selling a product) but in politics. This topic gains more importance in the Indonesian context, as many citizens are relying on social media to express their discontent with the political situation in the country and government’s decision in terms of foreign affairs.

At the end of the presentation, Kelly and I were interviewed by some of the staff who asked us about our experience. You can check the home-spun video of our visit to maverick here… Almost famous!

But at Maverick we also had an opportunity to have some fun and get loose a little bit. Some of the staff challenged AU to play a match of foosball. Again Kelly and I rose to the challenge (I’m starting to see a trend here!!!).

We started dominating the match, goal after goal. At some point we were 7-2 and we needed to score 11 to win. I really thought we had this covered but somehow they started scoring and we got pretty anxious. I’m a very competitive person and I know that Kelly is too, so we were committed to take the ‘trophy’ back to AU. 10-10, a tie! Our last chance. It happened so fast; they scored. We were defeated! ☹

So fellow AU student, if you decide to embark on this journey, please go back to Maverick, challenge them to play a foosball match and WIN! Do it for you, and for Kelly and me. Now that I think about it, this competitive feeling might had escalated too quickly. Above all, enjoy this experience. You will learn a lot and you will also have time to have fun (but seriously, don’t forget to beat them!).

By: Luis A. Vélez Pretelt