Proceedings



Cassette Tapes of the 1988 Congress

Sides one and two
(30 minutes each)
Some differences from Proceedings

1a Introductions
John Ralph
(Managing Director CRA)
Corazon C.Aquino - President of Philippines (delivered by Philippines Secretary of Trade & Industry)
Congress Dinner:12/05/88.

1b Sen. John Button - Australian Minister for Industry Technology and Commerce
Luncheon Address: 13/05/88

2a Teresa Nieva, Secretary General of Congress
John Ralph,
V. Jayme Chairman,
Asian Congress Council
 Jaime Cardinal L. Sin Morning Session 13/05/88

2b Morning Session continued

3a Dr. Frans Seda General Chairman, National Association of Textile Producers, Manufacturers and Exporters, Indonesia and
Mr.Brian Healey
Chief Executive, Nicololas Kiwi, Pty.Ltd
Morning Session 13/05/88

3b Morning Session continued and
 Questions

4a Mr. Bob White AO, Director, Westpac Banking Corporation and
Mr. Will Bailey
Group Chief Executive of the ANZ Banking Group and.
 Mr Tomohiro Ishiguro
General Manager Bank of Tokyo, Melbourne
Afternoon Session One

4b 3rd World Debt Discussion
Afternoon Session continued

5a 3rd World Debt Discussion Then
Mr Barry Counsel
Chairman and Managing Director Florsheim Australia 2nd Afternoon Session

5b Continuation, and
Karam Bedi
Representative of BATA India
Afternoon Session.

6a Continuation and
Mr Kevin Luscombe Chairman, Thai Dairy Industries, Bangkok
 V.Jayme Summaries
Afternoon Session Saturday Morning started 14/05/88

6b Continuation and
Mr Dante Santos
Chairman, Philippine Airlines, Philippines
Mr Simon Lin
Associate Vice President, ACER International Corporation, Taiwan

7a V.Jayme
Workshop Reports
2, 1, 3, Luncheon.

7b Workshop Reports
4, 5, 6, 7, 8

8a Workshop Reports Continued
8, 9, 10
Consensus Discussion

8b Conclusion


Proceedings
of the
Fourth Asian Congress
For Human Development

May 12-14, 1988 Melbourne, Australia

Proceedings: Part One, Major addresses pi-37
Proceedings: Part Two, The Human Face of Regional Business p38-86
Proceedings: Part Three, Continuing the Asian Drama p87-112
Proceedings: Part Four, Workshops and Conclusion p113-237
What is UNIAPAC?


The year of 1988 is a long time ago when looking back from the year of 1921. It is thirty-three years - a whole lifespan in the view of a large proportion of the Asian population including Australia. Yet there is value in looking back at the visions and hopes of the people of that time.

The Fourth Asian Congress For Human Development was spear-headed by an accountant called John Roseman who believed that world development lay in the hands of business people. John had worked with Catholic agencies, such as Melbourne Overseas Mission, which was providing welfare payments to people and groups in Asian countries around Australia. Yet he insisted that if development was to go ahead in these countries, business people must be involved.

In his efforts to awaken business to this role, John linked in with Canon Lawrie Styles of the then Inter-Church Trade and Industry Mission (ITIM) and they formed a "Business Executives Group". (ITIM had been providing industrial chaplains to business since the start of the 1960's.) John also found out about and contacted an organisation called
UNIAPAC. UNIAPAC, a global organisation, dates back to the time of Rerum Novarum (1891), a landmark Catholic social justice document.


UNIAPAC was likely to have put John into contact with a business movement in the Philippines which had gained momentum since the toppling of the corrupt government of President Marcos in 1986. Some of the Filipino people involved with UNIAPAC and the 4th Asian Congress could give first hand accounts of the "people revolution" in the Philippines when over one million people took to the streets.

From the basis of the "Business Executives Group" in Melbourne, the proposal was formed to run a Fourth Asian Congress for Human Development. Of special help to John in following through this proposal was M.A.Teresa F. Nieva who worked from the office of Caritas in Manila. (Caritas is a worldwide, Catholic-based organisation in over 200 countries which helps "the poorest of the poor". It dates back to 1897.) Officially, Teresa F. Nieva, working from the Manila Caritas office, was the "Secretary General, Asian Business Congress for Human Development".

Of special support to John in his efforts to "do something" about business, morality and development, was Mr Barry Counsel. Mr Counsel was Chairman and Managing Director of Florsheim Australia Ltd (a Shoe Company). In the proposed Fourth Asian Congress for Human Development he was to become Chairman of the Australia Organizing Committee.

Of special "delight" to John and Barry was the acceptance by Mr. John Ralph to be Chairman of the Hosting Committee of the proposed Congress. John Ralph was a Director of BHP Billiton and he had other "high-level" roles as well. When the Congress did take place Mr Ralph said in his welcome address
We may have a vision for development. Translating it successfully and appropriately into 		action is something on which we all need to share our experiences and views. (Proceedings p.15).

In the years after the Fourth Asian Congress for Human Development (1988), there continued to be some momentum of sustaining a missionary outreach to business. Some people attended the next Asian Congress a couple of years later (Thailand 1990). Also some people continued to meet in Melbourne and they initiated a series of "business-persons" breakfasts which were supported by the ArchDiocese.

After Archbishop Pell took on the role of Archbishop in Melbourne 1996, he held a large, public meeting and business was invited. To an observer this appeared to be an attempt to "kick off" a structural outreach to business. However, by that time, in the mid-nineties, there were revelations emerging about the child abuse scandals which had been covered up by Church authorities. At that particular meeting there was a public challenge made about the qualifications and ability of the Catholic Church to talk about (any sort of) morality. Something however that did carry through around that time was that the Australian Catholic University (Melbourne) set up a Department relating to business. It was under the name of John Ralph and his wife. At the university now (2021), a business department still exists. One hopes that within the limits of academic subjects, the topic of business ethics is being dealt with.

In the meantime the nature of ITIM's industry chaplaincy had began to shift and diminish.

From my own perspective in the 1990's (Michelle Nailon, editor of the Proceedings), there needed to be some sort of "program" which could be used by business. This would help people towards on-going reflection about the place of business in society and the need to continually upgrade business ethics. In fact I have been working on such a "program" ever since (cf. www.realitysearch.com.au). However at the time, in the continuing group, other people did not necessarily agree my view, even though I believe they have since developed very good programs themseves.

One of the key elements about a stagnation (?) in the missionary outreach to business that John Roseman had attempted to set in motion, was the failure (on my own part) to realise that Teresa Nieva, a main supporter of the 4th Asian Congress in Melbourne, was herself based from the Caritas Office in Manila. In the early 1990's when it seemed there needed to be an appropriate base for the Australian momentum to continue, Caritas did exist in Melbourne. However it was not set up as Caritas Australia until 1996. I could be wrong, but I doubt (in June 2021), they have ever seen the connection between what John was doing and their own role.

In the meantime, thirty plus years later, it seems that momentum in business outreach continues on in Manila. There is to be a 27th
UNIAPACWorld Congress to be held in Manila in 2023.



4th Asian Congress - Melbourne 1988