TheThe Four Cornerstones of Sustainable Peace and Good Governance
Remarks by Paiboon Wattanasiritham
Former Deputy Prime Minister
and minister of Social Development and Human Security, Kingdom of Thailand
At the International Leadership Conference
“Toward a New Paradigm of Leadership and Good Governance in the Pacific Era”
Seoul, Korea: April 3-7, 2008
Your Excellencies, Honorable Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Who are all member of one human family in the one world that we all live in,
I would like first of all to express my deep respect for Dr. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, the Founders of the Universal Peace Foundation or UPF. Their strong devotion, firm commitment, untiring efforts, and concrete achievements have been so amazing, impressive and valuable.
I also sincerely appreciate the UPF as well as the organizers of this International Leadership Conference for inviting me to participate in the event. I am confident that this Conference will prove to be one more stepping stone in the undoubtedly long and difficult path toward sustainable peace in the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Sisters and Brothers,
Peace, governance, and leadership are multilaterally inter-related. One influences, while being influenced by, the other two. Leaders at any level, be it at family, community, organizational, regional, national, or international levels, must be engaged in the practice of good governance. At the same time, all leaders should aim at sustainable peace as an ultimate goal in their endeavours. That is, they should be part of the efforts to bring about sustainable peace in the family, in the community, in the organization, in a region of a country, in a country as a whole, in a region of the world, and of course in this very world that we all live in.
While good governance is in itself a strong foundation for peace, the existence of peace, even in the relative sense, is certainly conducive to the practice of good governance.
But peace and good governance are also parts of a complex, dynamic set of systems and structures, the cornerstones of which may be identified as follows.
The first cornerstone, equality and equity. The more people, groups and societies, who live together, are perceived by those concerned to have more or less equal standing with equitable economic, social and political development, the more likely that peace will prevail, or that peace building activities can be successfully carried out. Equality and equity are also both the aims and the means of good governance.
The second cornerstone, fairness and justice. All people desire to be treated fairly and justly. Without fairness and justice, it is not possible to bring about lasting peace in any society and in the world. Moreover, not only should fairness and justice be done in the affairs of society at all levels, but they should also be seen to be done. Again, fairness and justice are both the desired results of, and the path toward, good governance.
The third cornerstone, positive relationships. Positive relationships among people, groups of people, communities, organizations, nations, groups of nations, and so on, include many types of activities based on such desirable principles and techniques as love, compassion, understanding, togetherness, conflict management, and many more. Such positive relationships are closely related to peace and peace building. They are also conducive to good governance.
The fourth cornerstone, positive lifelong learning and education. Good, positive learning begins in the family. Learning and education go hand in hand throughout a person’s life. Positive learning and education, including character education and moral learning, leads to positive thoughts, words and deeds. Hence peace as well as good governance are more likely with positive lifelong learning and education as an important cornerstone.
Ladies and gentlemen, Sisters and Brothers,
As we come together, at this International Leadership Conference with the topic “Toward a New Paradigm of Leadership and Good Governance in the Pacific Era”, and with the ultimate goal of sustainable peace in our societies as well as in our world, let us therefore explore together the ways and means of good leadership and good governance which will in turn lead to sustainable peace. “The four cornerstones of sustainable peace and good governance” that I have just proposed, is one way to view this very important subject matter. I hope it helps contribute somewhat to what I am sure will be lively and constructive discussions in the coming days.
May Peace be with us and all beings on earth.
Thank you.
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