Bangkok, Thailand - Nearly 150 current and former Asian parliamentarians from ten nations attended the First Asian Parliamentarian Leadership Conference on Peace, October 8-11, 2009 held in Bangkok, organized by UPF-Asia.
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In the Opening Session, Dr. Chung Sik Yong, the Regional Chair of UPF–Asia, said that, “Peace is the highest value of our age.” He emphasized this by saying that “if we could be awakened to the fact that human beings are brothers and sisters living on this planet earth, we are on the right path and vision towards world peace.”
Hon. Nikom Wairatpanij, First Vice President of the Senate, Thailand, said that “The creation of a culture of peace requires a whole-hearted effort and participation from everyone, in all levels of society and in all countries. It is not attained solely through political and economic arrangements of governments, but must be based upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of all peoples of the world.”
Congressman Jose De Venecia, Jr., Former Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and Founding Chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, said that “we must begin make our way toward a community of sharing: toward the sublime and quiet peace if ‘every man living under his vine and his fig tree’—we must stand together against political extremism in every form and ... we must seek reconciliation in all Asia’s conflict zones – from the Koreas to the Taiwan Straits – from Mindanao through Southern Thailand to Nepal - from Kashmir and Afghanistan to Iraq and Palestine - and from Chechnya to the Caucasus.”
Fifteen representatives of the Asian Parliamentarian Leadership Conference on Peace paid a courtesy call to H.E. Chai Chidchob, president of the Thailand National Assembly.