On June 29, the Eighth Daisaku Ikeda Annual Lecture (DIAL) was held at the SSA Headquarters, drawing some 700 people on the Sunday afternoon. Among them were about 50 guests from social and civic organizations, religious groups and grassroots organizations.
The speaker for DIAL VIII was Professor Joergen Oerstroem Moeller, Visiting Senior Research Fellow Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), who shared on the topic “Securing Peace in Asia for the Next 25 Years”. Chairing the session was Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
In his sharing, Professor Moeller touched on four key areas of 1) distributing benefits in an equitable way, 2) burden sharing, 3) societal solidarity, and 4) becoming a stakeholder in the global system; as his proposals for Asia in facing challenges in the near future. This topic drew much participation from the crowd during the question-and-answer session.
Professor Moeller further shared, “For all those working for peace and better understanding, tolerance and respect the value of Soka cannot be valued too highly. I was happy to give the Eighth Daisaku Ikeda Annual Lecture today.”
Following the lecture, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and guests viewed “A Century of Chinese Paintings” exhibition at the SSA premises. He later penned the following in the guest book, “”Wonderful people in a great organization, making the world a better place. Keep it up!”
[“A Century of Chinese Paintings” exhibition features the paintings of Chinese scholars from the end of the Qing dynasty to the beginning of the cultural revolution. It will be on display from June 29 to July 13, Mon-Fri 10am-9pm; Sat-Sun 9-6pm. Admission is free.]
About DIAL
The Daisaku Ikeda Annual Lecture, DIAL in short, was instituted in 2000 in honor of Dr Daisaku Ikeda (1928–), peace activist, poet, writer, photographer and philosopher who has contributed greatly to humanity by way of his work in these areas. The series of annual lecture aims to promote dialogue on issues pertaining to peace, culture and education. The lecture series is held in honor of Dr Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist peace worker and philosopher who has been championing the ideals of peace and friendship in the international arena for the last 50 years.
Previous speakers included Professor Tommy Koh, Professor Wang Gung Wu, Dr Majid Tehranian, late Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, Ambassador H E K Kesavapany and Professor Cho-Yee To.]
