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Lankan-Malaysian Ambassador promotes new alphabet
C is for caring
By Aaysha Cader
Dato G.K. Ananda Kumaraseri is a multi-national diplomat and Buddhist emissary. A Sri Lankan Sinhalese, he was born and educated in Malaysia, and went on to represent his adopted country as an ambassador to many parts of the world.

As a nationalized Malaysian citizen, he began his career by joining the diplomatic service in 1965. Having been interested in history and international relations since his schooldays, it is little wonder that he chose diplomacy as his career. His first overseas posting was as Assistant High Commissioner in Madras, India in 1969. He was also Counsellor in Tokyo, Japan, Minister in Washington and High Commissioner to Nigeria, with concurrent accreditation to Ghana.

"In the course of our professional stint, we are required to know virtually anything and everything about the country," he says, summing up the essence of his work. "We must be well-versed with the problems and wants of the people, their culture, religions etc, for only then can we effectively interact with the people. If you don't understand the country and its people, you won't be objective in reporting the happenings of that nation."

Dato Kumaraseri has headed the Malaysian Centre of International Relations and Strategic Studies, which trains students in professional diplomacy and foreign affairs management. The title 'Dato', he says, is the Malaysian equivalent of a knighthood, conferred for service to the country.

He has also been involved in regional co-operation within ASEAN. His final assignment, before retirement, was as Director-General of the Association of South East Asian Nations, where he saw the region becoming an economic showcase in the contemporary world.

The former ambassador of Malaysia, however, does not believe in post-retirement inertia. Having always been an advocate and promoter of holistic education with reference to the Buddhist pedagogical approach, he is now actively involved in propagating the concept, which he feels is the key to eradicating the social problems that have arisen in our society. A resident of Malaysia, he was on a visit to Sri Lanka recently to speak on the effectiveness of holistic education.

"How did you learn your alphabet?" he asks me, "By saying A is for apple, B is for bat?" I nod in assent. Dato Kumaraseri looks disapproving. In his method of teaching the alphabet, A is for Altar; B is for Blessings; C is for Caring… He advocates a method that makes the child question: What is an Altar? What is a Blessing? Through this, he says, the child automatically learns to care, to believe in his/her religion.

Critical of the current system of education, with its ultra-competitive drive, and continuous drudgery of textbook memorization, he says, "There is too much emphasis on knowledge, and not enough on inculcating good social values in children." The purpose of education, according to him, is to become a balanced human being.

"People talk so much of drugs," he explains, "but the problem is not drugs, it is the mind of the person." In his attempts to promote holistic learning, the former ambassador is also actively involved in developing educational material under his 'Living Buddhism Series', a collection of publications that addresses the issue effectively.

Fitting into the shoes of a humane diplomat with remarkable ease, Dato Kumaraseri says that terrorism and wars are all born in a person's mind, and that their eradication also lies in the point of its inception: the mind.

As solution to the social crisis this world is suffering, he goes back to the fundamental principles we have all been taught at some point, but unfortunately pay little attention to. "We must realize after all, that we are all human beings, born and living in the same planet," he adds.

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