Science for Peace: Day Two

On the second and last hazy day of the conference, there was no need for a coat nor a tie, so it was much better. More boring panels sessions that seem more and more fuddled with no clear relationship between science and peace. The final two sessions focused on:

1. Forging peace through economics, poverty alleviation and inclusivity.
2. Building awareness and consensus through conventions. policies, education and communication.

Both sessions had panelists from the Philippines, hence touched a lot on the Bangsamoro issues. Hottie of the day was Mr. Kal Joffress (director of Tandemic) who talked about an interesting way to track human movement between porous borders using telcos. Lunch was another buffet spread and I started to observe some really classic behaviour among some of our local academicians. At first, I didn't pay much attention to the weird Chinese uncle sitting at the adjacent table. Then he started coming back with plates heaped with food. I finally gave a good stare when I heard the familiar sound of a microwave food container being peeled open. I saw him expertly lower fifteen pieces of chocolate cake into his tapau box. Bravo. With that I end my short glimpse into the world of Malaysian academia.