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S.V. Fa’otusia: Address to World Summit 2020
Written by Sione Vuna Fa’otusia, Minister of Justice, Tonga
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Address to World Summit 2020, Seoul, Korea, February 3-8, 2020
I am pleased to have been asked to say something on the subject of peace on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga, to mark the opening plenary of the 20th World Summit on “Peace, Security and Human Development” which will be conducted throughout the course of this week. It is truly an honor to be here with you all today.
Universal Peace Federation (UPF) maintains that any successful strategy for peace must take into account the spiritual dimension of our human identity, experience and interaction, and a world of lasting peace, a world in which people of all nationalities, ethnicities, races, cultures, and worldviews are called to live together in mutual respect and harmony. UPF co-founder Dr. Moon describes the ideal world as “One Family Under God” and, teaching by example, says that a path to such a society is through leading a life of true love and living for the sake of others.
To have a meaningful participation in this international gathering, having peace as its central theme, I have to look at the spiritual dimension of my country’s way of life and experience to see how to attain peace in the land. Peace is, of course, not the end of war, but to live in harmony with each other. To be able to live in harmony is to be able to interact with one another regardless of our differences, and we cannot do that without loving each other. On that basis, we can then be able to live for the sake of others, with selfless love, not focusing on oneself, but on the welfare of others.
In my country we are still struggling with which form of government best serves our needs. We wanted to amend our constitution to give more power from the monarch to the people. We struggled with those amendments in Parliament for the last five to six years, and nothing passed in the House.
Now with the remaining two years, due to the passing away of our former leader, the former Prime Minister, new Cabinet Ministers came on board with a mixture of nobles and representatives of the people.
This government takes a middle-ground approach, neither traditional, with the King in charge, nor full democracy where the King has no role in running the affairs of the country.
This is our conflict, a conflict of ideologies: which form of government best suits the country? In this simple scenario, if peace is to be fully realized, we have to have love in our heart, and love one another so that peace can be realized.
The PM and myself, the Deputy PM, have a monthly audience with His Majesty, and to me, this is an opportunity for us to consult with His Majesty as to how to bring resolution to our simple problems. If all of us, i.e., His Majesty, the Prime Ministers, and those in power, lead by example by living for the sake of others, we will definitely find ways to bring change to our country in peace and harmony.
Love one another, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that those who believe in Him may have eternal life. We all believe in God, and that is a positive starting point, and He wants us to be one family under Him, to live for the sake of others. That is the only way that peace can be realized.
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