Bangkok, Thailand—From March 22 to 25, 2019, UPF convened an Asian Leadership Conference (ALC) in Bangkok, Thailand, which was attended by 80 participants from 14 nations, including a former Speaker and two government ministers.
Thirty-three of the participants came from Cambodia; 10 from Central Asia; seven from Malaysia; six from Laos; two from Singapore; four each from Vietnam and Myanmar; three each from Mongolia, Nepal, Indonesia, and China; and one each from Japan and Korea.
Unique to this ALC was the inclusion of a breakout session by nations so that each group had time to discuss their action plan after the conference.
The event concluded with an Interfaith Peace Blessing and the appointment of new Ambassadors for Peace.
Reflections from participants:
- E. Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state, Ministry of Interior, Cambodia
“This is the right time for Cambodia to implement this family building education. We truly believe ‘Family Building is Nation Building.’ I will support it by gathering all the woman leaders to stand up for family building education.”
- Dr. Somock Kingsada, deputy minister, Laos
“The Laos delegation is happy to learn how to make peace in the world. We would like to invite Dr. Chung-sik Yong and his team to come again to Laos.”
- Kang Vannaro, deputy governor for KG Spue province, Cambodia
“What we need is not change but the strengthening of our tradition. Cambodia has a culture in which man and woman respect each other, and the principle of one man and one woman. Following the Buddha's teaching, we meditate to achieve unity of mind and body.”
- Ngor Meagchroun, deputy governor for Bantey Meanchay province, Cambodia
“I was inspired with the clear vision of peace for the individual, family, society, nation and the world. We have seen many theories with a great vision but we have never seen the result of that great vision; however, I can see Rev. and Mrs. Moon have accomplished so many things according to their vision. In my province, UPF has done many activities. We have a dream to share and realize.”
- Long Tran Pham, deputy director, The GIOI Publishers, Vietnam
“I am thinking how to apply this in Vietnam. It is really good because this conference is talking about the family. We come from the different cultural backgrounds but any nation and all people recognize the importance of the family. All kinds of unfortunate phenomena come from broken families. In order to realize peace, it is true that we need to begin with families of true love. And this true love can only come from a good upbringing.”