Diverse Ability
July 2005
Banner photo: HEINRICH VAN DEN BERG/WWI/Still Pictures
Interfaith Initiatives
SSA Friendship Award presented to Abu Bakar Maidin (left)
The Singapore Soka Association paid tribute to Abu Bakar Maidin, President of Jamiyah Singapore, on April 16 by presenting him with the SSA Friendship Award for his 35-year service to Jamiyah Singapore, a Muslim organization engaged in educational and other outreach programs that have contributed to the Singapore community at large. Abu Bakar Maidin is also the former president of the Inter-Religious Organization of Singapore.
From April 15 to 17, SSA held three evening concerts on the theme of peace, featuring Latin GRAMMY Award-winning jazz flutist and SGI-USA arts division member Nestor Torres. "Such cultural events arouse the awareness of people to look inwards into their lives, not just outwardly receiving the music," said National University of Singapore Chinese Orchestra representative Gan Yeow Beng, who attended the event. "They also convey a message of hope, peace and harmony."
Rabbi Michael Lerner, renowned writer and activist working for peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, received the fifth Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Prize on March 31 at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Rabbi Lerner is cofounder of the Tikkun Community, an interfaith organization, editor of Tikkun magazine and author of many books on social justice, peace and environmental issues.
SGI-USA arts spanision member Nestor Torres
In his acceptance speech, Rabbi Lerner stressed that human beings and their environment share a deep connection. He said that the social issues humanity faces today have escalated because humans do not understand that we are on equal footing with our environment and have lost love and respect for it. Previous awardees of the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Prize have included Betty Williams, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People) (2003); and Frederick W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, both former South African Presidents and corecipients of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize (2004).
