Training Asia’s future ‘superclass’

The upscale Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta, nestled in a quiet area off the main highway of the city’s Central Business District, appears to be a reserved grand hotel. Like most buildings in Jakarta, is it huge and sprawling, with several nooks in which guests in suits and resort wear can lounge in air-conditioned comfort, away from the tropical summer heat. But for a week in July 2008, the hotel buzzed with the energy of youth, and its ballrooms and function rooms looked like a preview of what the ASEAN summits might be like 10 to 20 years down the road.

For five days — from July 7 to 11 this year — select university-level students from Southeast Asian countries, joined by students from Japan, gathered together for a weeklong scholarship program organized by Japan-based global corporate giant Hitachi. The program, called the Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative, is the company’s corporate social responsibility effort geared towards identifying and developing future leaders in Asia. These leaders will likely form the future “superclass” — that elite group of world leaders who help shape the future policies and thus, fortunes, of this part of the world.

While Hitachi needs little introduction — over many decades, the electronics giant has helped make “Made in Japan” synonymous with high-quality products — their means of giving back to the world community requires a little backgrounder. The Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative (HYLI), now in its ninth year, was designed with a clear goal in mind: “To develop potential leaders in Asia by providing a platform for young Asian students to interact with opinion leaders as well as one another on regional and global issues, and to continue to build a network of HYLI alumni.”

Although the conferences are held in scenic locations — last year, HYLI delegates converged in Hanoi, Vietnam — it’s hardly a kick-back-relax-and-enjoy-the-view vacation. Here’s why: at every HYLI convention, each of the Southeast Asian countries — Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, plus Japan — were represented by four students. But even before gathering in a designated city in the region, the long, arduous and strict selection process is conducted in the course of a year. In the Philippines alone, it takes months to trim the number of applicants from hundreds down to four. The process, which involves writing essays and interviews on global issues among others, redefines the “cream of the crop.”

Every year, the conference is guided by a theme, and the daily lectures and workshops revolve around the central issue. What makes participation at HYLI a gold stamp in any aspiring leader’s résumé is the significance of the issues it tackles, as well as the stellar international lineup of guest speakers and moderators it enlists. The speakers and moderators interact closely with the students, during socials and over working lunches and workshops. The goal of the weeklong interaction is for the students to deliver papers and opinions — hopefully more informed thanks to the conference — at the end of the week.

This year’s HYLI theme is an urgent one on a global scale. Headlined “Strengthening Asian Partnerships: Economic Integration and Energy Management,” the conference discussions are broken down to two sub-themes — the economic sub-theme, and the energy sub-theme. Pick up any local paper, leaf through any international news magazine, or flip to any cable news channel and the main stories will all be the same: the limping world economy, rising fuel prices, and the need to find alternative sources of energy.

Contributing to the conversation on these issues is this year’s Philippine delegation, a foursome of high achievers from top local universities: Paulo Jose M. Mutuc (from De La Salle University), Raymund Siegfrid O. Li (from the University of the Philippines), Adrian Clarc S. Mundin (Ateneo de Manila University), and Nicole Marie R. Villarojo (De La Salle University). Their résumés were already packed with achievements even before they permanently left campus (enough to make me look back at my own college days and wonder: What did I do in all those four years?).

But according to Professor Rene San Andres, who formed part of the local selection committee, the students were chosen not just on the basis of academic achievement, but based on their confidence level, maturity and people skills as well. And in those five days, the chosen few did the Philippines proud — apart from delivering intelligent points of view during the press conference at the end of the week, the four students offered a glimpse of Philippine culture during the fellowship night by performing the traditional suyuan (courtship) dance choreographed by the lone female, Nicole, who, besides posting high marks in school has also been a ballerina for 14 years. In the company of their peers, Paulo, Nicole, Raymund and Adrian appeared to be favorites as well, and the young ambassadors served up another Pinoy trademark: a sense of humor and a healthy sense of play.

At the HYLI conference, Hitachi executives delivered inspiring messages to the next generation of leaders, and lectures were delivered by finance ministers and economic managers of the region, including our own Dr. Cielito Habito, former secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), whose parting message was a simple but wise formula: “Consume less, produce more, share more.”

But the process of learning also took the students out of the boardroom and into the real world — one of the activities was an Amazing Race-style contest throughout Taman Mini, a massive complex dubbed “Little Indonesia,” a showcase of the various aspects of Indonesian life, including the various architectures of the country’s different regions. Another activity brought the students closer to the grassroots as they helped children from the S.O.S. Village test the cleanliness of water in a few nearby rivers.

As one Hitachi executive put it, the value of the conference is not just in the exchange of ideas relating to the main issue at hand, but more importantly, in the exposure to different cultures that young leaders get early on in their careers. Not to mention all the lasting friendships that will serve them well when they see each other again, perhaps at an ASEAN summit.