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Peace Education
Asian Leaders Gather in Bangkok for UPF Conference
Written by UPF-Thailand
Monday, October 31, 2016
Bangkok, Thailand—The largest Asian Leadership Conference (ALC) with the highest level of participants recently took place in Bangkok, Thailand from October 28 to 31, 2016. There were 130 participants from five Asian nations.
Participants included:
- 11 members of Parliament from Sri Lanka, with their wives;
- 80 government officials from Cambodia, including the secretary of state and the under secretary of state of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, two military generals and nine governors;
- 13 high-level Filipinos comprising of one provincial board member (i.e., district officer), four mayors, an attorney, a university department professor and representatives from the Department of Education in Bohol in central Philippines; and
- A 6-member delegation from Vietnam consisting of the director of the Department of Childcare Development, a prominent media person and a university student monitor.
The theme for the conference was “Providing Vision and Leadership for Nation-building and Peace.” Conference delegates were especially excited to learn about the UPF Principles of Peace. It became very clear that these principles can address fundamental problems faced in every society. In addition, the presentations demonstrated how these principles are scalable; this means they can be applied to the individual, family, society, nation and world.
The conference included 10 lectures, two of which were given by Dr. Chung Sik Yong, chair of UPF-Asia, as well as presentations of case studies of UPF activities in Cambodia and Thailand. The presentations highlighted UPF’s partnership with the respective governments at the national, provincial and city levels. Afterwards, eight black-belt martial artists who are members of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP)-Thailand, demonstrated Tong-il Moo-Do martial arts.
However, the highlight of the event was the Interfaith Peace Blessing. Everyone participated with a joyful, happy heart. Couples rededicated their marriages together. The Peace Blessing was truly a celebration of marriage in an inter-religious, inter-cultural, inter-national, and inter-generational environment.
Reflections from the participants:
“I thank UPF for reminding us that there is a deeper meaning and philosophy behind the activities of our everyday life… Sri Lankan parliamentarians and youth should be more involved.”
Hon. Mohamed Hafeel Salman,
Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka
“We were so inspired by the basic teachings, inspiration and wisdom of Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. We learned and benefited a lot from this conference. It made our vision sharper, our mind more open and made our love more sure. It put us in a position to serve our people better. We have been transformed from a peace-lover to a peace-maker… A strong nation cannot be formed without the presence of strong, united and disciplined families.”
H.E Sok Phea,
Deputy Governor, Cambodia
“On behalf of the Philippine delegation, I would like to express our sincerest gratitude and thanks for this wonderful and life-time opportunity given to us… We are very much inspired by the … lecturers as they focus on true love in the family. In the Philippines, we love our families but we need to radiate that love toward our nation… We are happy to be here, and we hope to bring what we have learned here [back to the Philippines], into sectors of society where we belong. We can shift our paradigm, our way of thinking, [because of] this conference.”
Attorney Josie Corre-Sempron,
Professor, University of Bohol, Tagbilaran City, Philippines
“This has given us a lot of inspiration and many lessons. We realized that on this journey to create a peaceful world, we are all responsible, we are in this together. It starts with us. If we can make ourselves a loving person, then we can create a loving family, a loving society and a loving nation.”
Mr. Minh Le Duy Tran,
Internal Account Representative, VMWARE, Vietnam
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