Excerpts
of the speech by Lim Guan Eng in Sultan Hotel, Jakarta during the 2nd
World Peace Forum organised by Muhammadiyah In Co-operation With Cheng
Ho Multi-Culture Trust Released in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 26th June
2008:
An educational framework based on peace, a loving family unit, religious
and civilisational dialogues and understanding are not sufficient to
stop violence; a government practicing ethical and moral leadership is a
necessary condition
Evil exists
because good people do nothing. Violence exists because peacemakers do
nothing. The 2nd World Peace Forum is an effort by religious leaders,
scholars, peacemakers and good people to do something.
The 2nd World
Peace Forum organized by Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic
organization in Indonesia with 30 million members, together with Cheng
Ho Multi-Culture Trust is part of continuing efforts to reduce and
finally stop the violence that has only caused much tragedy, pain and
sorrow to many parts of the world. The organizers must be applauded for
carrying out such difficult work and unrewarding work for the good of
humanity with much persistence and dedication.
Violence
between individuals though shocking is not as horrifying as
state-inspired violence committed by governments against masses of
people for selfish political or national interests. South-East Asia has
witnessed such violence as late as the ’70s during the Vietnam War and
in Pol Pot’s Kampuchea that scarred two generations with death, injury
and inhumane genocide of millions of innocent civilians. For this reason
whilst we may go back to our basic spiritual roots of family and
education, such efforts will be in vain if we do not rein in governments
from committing violence.
In other
words, an educational framework based on peace, a loving family unit,
religious and civilisational dialogues, and understanding are not
sufficient to stop violence; we would still require a government
practicing ethical and moral leadership as a necessary condition. Let me
go back to the ethos of this World Peace Forum based on the triple bonds
of “one humanity, one destiny and one responsibility”.
My
interpretation of this triple bond is that we are one humanity because
we all belong to the human race regardless of our skin colour, our race,
our religion, our gender or even our political beliefs. We all belong to
one species. We have a single destiny together to rule the planet Earth
as the dominant species. With power comes responsibility. We have been
entrusted with the singular responsibility to leave this planet a better
place.
And yet
despite our shared humanity, destiny and responsibility, we are prone to
violence. Some will say that violence is inherent in carnivorous living
beings pointing to predatory animals like lions, sharks and tigers. But
predators kill to survive and do not commit mass murder like governments
that carries out mindless and barbaric violence. Humanity has committed
too many atrocities not only against each other but also against other
species resulting in the extinction of many plant and animal species. If
we are not careful, we may cause more extermination including the human
race.
So why do we
engage in mindless and barbaric violence when we are supposed to have
the capacity to think? Part of the reason lies in misconceptions of
manhood, power and dominance where human greed is allowed free rein. Has
it not been said in all the holy religious books, that
the resources on Earth is sufficient to meet all the wants of the entire
humanity and all creatures created by God but is never enough to meet
the greed of one individual?
This greed is
given validity in statecraft such as realpolitik and geopolitics.
Realpolitik and geopolitics sanctions the use of violence to achieve its
purposes. The use of war appears to be even a natural outcome of
geopolitics. Geopolitics is sometimes defined as the relationship
between space and people. When a growing population fills up the
geographical space in a state, the need of more space justifies war and
violence to gain more territory to feed and accommodate its growing
population.
The ends
justifies the means approach has caused great injustice and oppression.
Geopolitics and realpolitik has held sway for centuries before being
challenged in the new century by the onset of globalization. Unlike
geopolitics relationship between space and people, globalization is more
about the relationship between people and people. Globalisation stresses
on human interconnectivity where ability, expertise and diligence counts
more than privilege, preferential treatment and entitlement in this flat
world ruled by computers and Internet that has broken down borders as
described by Thomas Friedman in his book “The World Is Flat”.
In this new
borderless flat world, human capital formation has suddenly become the
most critical element of productivity and economic growth. With the
stress on human capital formation, the people suddenly matter more than
in the past. Government cannot dictate as they please but must heed
public opinion. Even dictators must cloak themselves with democracy and
popular support to attain legitimacy.
For this
reason, globalization and the borderless world of the Internet has given
ordinary people who normally are inconsequential in the decision-making
process the leverage to compel governments to forsake war for peace and
to preach non-violence over violence. Only when governments who start
wars practise moral and ethical leadership, can we stop violence.
As a
corollary to human capital formation of globalization, this humanizing
of government by necessity requires spiritual capital formation.
Spiritual capital formation would be helped by civilisational dialogues
and religious interactions that focuses on universal values that unite
us. All religions revolve around sound education, family and a basic
adherence to spiritual values of faith, hope and love. Governments must
also profess and give faith, hope and love. The people must have faith
that governments are there to help, not harm them; the government must
give hope to the young that there is a bright future with equal
opportunities and social justice; and that the government must show love
for the people based on human dignity, compassion and a caring society.
In short,
human capital formation from the purely economic perspective centred on
CAT principles of Competency, Accountability and Transparency is crucial
for good governance. But it is not enough. Spiritual capital formation
is also required for a government to practise ethical and moral
leadership based on faith, hope and love. Only with both human and
spiritual capital formation in government, can we succeed in ending
violence globally.
*
Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief
Minister, DAP
Secretary-General & MP for Bagan
http://dapmalaysia.org