Page 60 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

preconceptions and fears that youth do not possess the
necessary ethical baggage compared to senior leaders. He
calls for leaders to be more curious about the youth and seek
fresh input on issues which may bring ideas that they have
never thought of. In a diverse and changing society the ethical
duty for today’s ASEAN leaders is to have an open ethical mind
for the ideas of young people and provide opportunities for
them to show the way forward in practical ethics.

Senjaya Mulia: ASEAN youth are committed to
doing good for the region
Following the discussion of youth in showing the way forward
by Dr Paul Lim, Senjaya Mulia underlines that ASEAN youth are
already setting a direction for the region.
Senjaya Mulia is the founder of the ASEAN Youth
Organisation and AYO Social Enterprise. He started out in
2011 with an ASEAN Community Page, then co-founded the
ASEAN Youth Organisation along with fellow Cambodian Vanna
Hay. Since then, he has actively engaged in social activities
and empowerment programmes for youths in Indonesia.
Figure 6: Senjaya Mulia is Throughout this process, he has done collaborative projects
founder of the ASEAN Youth
Organisation with local governments and international institutions for
social and entrepreneurship programs. The ASEAN Youth
Organisation started out as an ASEAN community Facebook
Page before being established in 2013 as an international
non-profit and non-governmental organisation. It now has
over 35,000 volunteers and at least 450,000 members. The
AYO Community also works with over 100 partners, including
the European Union and the ASEAN Human Development
Organisation.
Senjaya talks about what AYO has done since its
establishment in 2013 from humble beginnings to help young
people to learn English. It now runs over 250 projects and
programs to empower youth and youth communities in
ASEAN including social volunteerism, seminars, conferences,
advocacy, and campaigns for action on topics such as
sustainability. Throughout these activities, AYO maintains
five ethical values in its operations: accountability, integrity,
diversity, innovation, and teamwork.
Senjaya emphasises that while there are differences in
how older and younger generations think and work.
Collaboration between generations creates a sustainable
society. He reminisces about a time where he joined a forum

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