Primary school students in South-east Asia can now use postcards to make friends across the region — thanks to a project organised by the Singapore Art Museum and Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 40th birthday of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).
Called "Postcards across Asean" (picture), it features specially-designed, pre-paid postcards that allow students to write about themselves and their countries.
Singapore embassies in each of the ten Asean countries will work with the various post offices in the region to pick up the cards and redistribute them to other students in the region. Singapore students too will receive postcards from students in the region. Organisers aim to reach 100,000 students and are distributing 10,000 postcards to each of the member nations. Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"This is a simple but meaningful event," said Singapore's education minister and second minister for finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at the launch of the project at the Singapore Art Museum.
"It creates a sense of Asean consciousness over time, which is quite essential because ... Asean is not just an economic entity. It has really got to be about people who feel that they have some future that they want to share together," he said.
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