Opening ceremony of “the Southeast Asia Museum” at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences)

Participating in the opening ceremony, there are: Dr. Vu Duc Dam, Member of the Central Committee of Communist Party and Deputy Prime Minister; Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Member of the Central Committee of Communist Party and President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen The Ky, Deputy Chairman of the Central Propaganda and Training Commission; Mr. Le Luong Minh, Secretary General of ASEAN; Mr. Ho Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Mr. Pham Cao Phong, Secretary General of Viet Nam National Commission for UNESCO; Prof.Dr. Do Hoai Nam, Former President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; Prof.Dr. Vo Khanh Vinh, Vice President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan, Vice President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; representatives of ASEAN embassies and the embassy of France in Hanoi; and a lot of representatives coming from museums located both in Vietnam and overseas. This is one of the activities to cerebrate the 60^th anniversary of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.

Making a speech at the ceremony, on behalf of Vietnam Government, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam congratulated and expressed thanks to ASEAN countries, organizations and individuals for contributions towards of the Southeast Asia Museum. He clearly stated that one year after becoming a member of ASEAN, Vietnam started to have the intention of establishing a Southeast Asia museum, although at that time Vietnam was just a new member and still remained less developed than many other countries in the region. This is a lively evidence for Vietnam’s viewpoint and effort in strengthening cultural exchanges among ASEAN nations. It is considered as one pillar that can be used together with the political - security, economic and socio-cultural pillars for development of ASEAN community – a common home of Southeast Asian countries. The Deputy Prime Minister asked Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology to develop continually the Southeast Asia Museum as well as to provide initiatives and practical activities for reinforcement of cultural exchange with regional nations. This will not only make it favorable for Vietnamese people and international visitors to learn about different cultures in ASEAN, but also help to disseminate cultural values of Vietnam in the world integration.

Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, emphasized that it was really a happy and memorable day for Vietnam Museum of Ethnology particularly and for Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences generally. The opening of the Southeast Asia Museum is an important and indispensable part of the project of Vietnam Museum of Ethnology expansion. This event has been held very opportunely and it is one of the activities in celebration of the 60^th anniversary of VASS. It is, however, more important that the opening of the Southeast Asia Museum has met the expectation of those who do research work as well as friends, visitors and others, who hoped to see a Southeast Asia museum in Vietnam. This is an opportunity that enables us to get more in-depth understanding of the unity in cultural diversification, share cultural exchange, and undertake co-responsibility to build a common socio-cultural community – one of important pillars for ASEAN Community. Presence of international participants, especially the presence of his Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and his Excellency Secretary General of ASEAN, further demonstrates our will to develop further the Southeast Asia Museum, making it become a reliable address and a center that connects cultures of ASEAN and other nations in the region. On behalf of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, we are honored to get directions and comments from the speech of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary General of ASEAN and we will set a specific plan to develop the Southeast Asia Museum so that it can be qualified at the regional rank; it will be a center of ASEAN cultural linkage and will help people to understand more cultures in the region. At the same time, it will also highlight national cultural identities of Vietnam in unification and diversification of cultures in ASEAN. Together with Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, the Southeast Asia Museum will get more and more local as well as international visitors.

On this occasion, the president of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences also expressed a sincere gratitude to leaders of the Communist Party and the State, international participants, representatives of diplomatic institutions, especially researchers, who donated a lot of artifacts and products to the museum, owing to which the museum opening was successfully held at that day.

The Southeast Asia Museum opening band was cut by Dr. Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Prime Minister together with Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Mr. Le Minh Luong, Secretary General of ASEAN, Mr. Ho Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Mr. Jean-Noel Poirier, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France in Vietnam.

The Southeast Asia Museum bring out new prospects in future. It will be an ideal destination for visitors. In particular, young visitors can come to the museum to learn about cultures of countries in the region. The museum inherits a lot of valuable collections donated by researchers from different countries. Nearly 400 artifacts and 130 photos on cultures of ASEAN nations together with an additional information set, including maps, notes, articles and videos, are regularly displayed in the space of the first floor that is about 500 square meters large.

The second floor is used to display three collections donated to the museum, including: (1) Ethnology of Asian types by Prof. Karenko Kazushige (Japan); (2) Indonesian glass pictures by Mr. Oong Maryono and Dr. Rosalia Sciortino (Italia); and (3) A glimpse of the world cultures by Prof. Le Thanh Khoi (Viet kieu in Paris, France).

The third floor is used to display temporary topics as well as to make exhibitions of other museums from Southeast Asia and the world.

The entire 4^th floor is used for preservation of artifacts and audio-visual documents. At the present, the museum is still on its completion stage.

The Southeast Asia Museum has been open for public visitors since the 1^st of December 2013. On the occasion of its opening, many activities were carried out, such as the performance of folk and modern dancing by artists from Thailand and Laos. Visitors could try Southeast Asian explorative activities; for example, they could try different national costumes and try puppet-plays; they could learn how to make masks by paper, make Southeast Asian cultural heritage cards and pictures by grains; they could learn about flags and cultures of Southeast Asian countries through a lot of interesting folk games.

The Southeast Asia Museum at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology can be seen as the first museum of national cultures of Southeast Asian countries. It is a linkage between Vietnam’s culture and other cultures in the region. Visitors to the museum have opportunities to learn about cultures of Southeast Asian countries and find out similarities as well as differences between Vietnam’s culture and cultures of other countries in the region. In future, the museum will conduct a lot of additional activities and will make exhibitions with diversified topics on material cultures and non-material cultures.

The opening of this first museum on Southeast Asian national cultures is not only the pride of Vietnamese people, but also the common pleasure of all those who work for museums in the whole Southeast Asia. 

Nguyen Thu Ha