KOTA SAMARAHAN: The ‘Seeds of Hope’ exhibition taking place at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) aims to bring about a renewed sense of personal responsibility for the future of our beautiful planet among its staff and students.
Deputy vice-chancellor (student affairs and alumni) Professor Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman said he hoped that the messages at the exhibition would be implanted in their hearts and become the ‘seeds of hope’ to strive for the Earth’s sustainable future.
He said peace and unity were important in a sustainable future, adding the way forward is through education, because only education enables people to appreciate life, to appreciate each person’s potential and to cultivate that human potential to the fullest.
“We have seen how political instability and even different religious points of views had created a lot of problems.
“With the exhibition, we hope to create a peaceful culture among our younger generation, regardless of their religions and political views. This is for the betterment of our Earth and the future generation,” he said at the opening ceremony yesterday.
The exhibition stresses people’s interconnectedness with the rest of the community and the need to broaden the sphere of compassion and concern.
It encourages viewers to overcome feelings of powerlessness and highlight the fact that a single individual can initiate positive change, he pointed out.
Associate Professor Dr Rusli Ahmad who is the dean of centre for student development, chief librarian Margeret Simeng, Tan Chai Hong, chairman of Soka Gakkai Sarawak Branch, Tay Thing Swee, scretary of Soka Gakkai Malaysia Sarawak branch, dean and deputy dean from all faculties, lecturers, academic staff and students attended the ceremony.
In a press statement distributed to reporters yesterday, it mentioned that the three-day exhibition is held by Centre for Student Development (PPP), Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) and Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development Student Council at Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik (PKMA) Unimas till this Sunday.
The exhibition is the joint initiative of Soka Gakkai International and Earth Charter International, as an educational tool to support the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014).
It is a successor to the ‘Seeds of Change’ exhibition which was created for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, and has since been shown in 27 countries in 13 languages and seen by 1.5 million people around the world.
“It starts with one,” as its key message.
Due to its positive message, the exhibition has been shown in Australia, Italy, Jordan, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States.
The exhibition and its related activities are part of the sustainable development education by Soka Gakkai Malaysia in building a culture of peace in Malaysian society.
In Malaysia, the exhibition has been displayed at more than 40 locations nationwide.
SGM also presented a donation of 35 books to Unimas’ library yesterday.
The books are authored or co-authored by Soka Gakkai International president Daisaku Ikeda.