5th WORLD PEACE FORUM: Quest for Peace: Lessons of Conflict Resolution

World Peace Forum

The Indonesian Central Board of Muhammadiyah in cooperation with the Kuala Lumpur-based Cheng Ho Multi-Culture Education Trust, and Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilisations (CDCC) will organize the 5th World Peace Forum to be held on November 20 – 23, 2014, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Central Board of Muhammadiyah in collaboration with Cheng Ho Multi Culture Trust of Malaysia, with the support from the Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilisations (CDCC) have organized World Peace Forum (WPF) four times since 2006. Under the spirit of One Humanity, One Destiny, and One Responsibility, religious leaders, policy makers, intellectuals, politicians, and activists from various backgrounds and nationalities engaged in productive dialogues following their commitment to create a safer and more peaceful world for all mankind. To sustain this commitment, Muhammadiyah, Cheng Ho Multi-Cultural & Education Trust of Malaysia, and the Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation Among Civilisations (CDCC) are honored to organise the 5th 5th World Peace Forum .

While the previous 5th World Peace Forums focused on consolidating multicultural democracy, the 5th WPF will focus on Quest for Peace: Sharing Lessons from Conflict Resolution. It should be noted that consolidating multicultural democracy in both advanced and emerging democracies, particularly in conflict-torn areas, has always been challenged at the first place with efforts to design and implement conflict resolution. This conflict resolution, which is conceptualised as the methods and process involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution, is prerequisite to the reconciliation of the conflicting parties over their dispute on values, motivations, perceptions, ideas, or desires.

Various conflict-prone parts of the world such as Kosovo in southeastern Europe, Pattani in southern Thailand, Mindanao in southern Philippines, Lebanon, Aceh and Ambon in Indonesia, Central Africa, Nigeria and the case of Buddhist-Muslim relation in Myanmar’s democratic consolidation have seen successes and failures in varying degrees in their conflict resolution efforts. This conflict resolution took place in the forms of political settlement and peace agreement, which included declaration of ceasefire, decommissioning of weapon, troops withdrawal, and police reform. Some of the cases of conflict resolution have brought up determination and optimism over their successes, other long-lasting frustration over their failures among involved governments, peace organisations, experts and activists.

These successes and failures are in essence crucial as lessons learned in our efforts to search for lasting peace. This is, in turn, necessary to ensure that everyone can be persuaded to be dutifully committed to have common perception of how peaceful relationship and productive interaction with one another is managed, nurtured, and sustained. Indeed, while every case and context of conflict resolution may provide us with distinctive and unique challenges, lessons learned should be shared among the engaging parties because these can be strategic to create safer and more peaceful world.

The 5th 5th World Peace Forum will address the following issues:

  • Why does conflict resolution matter? To what extent can conflict resolution serve as a basis for establishing long-lasting peace?
  • What can we learn from successes and failures of conflict resolution designed and implemented in various parts of the world?
  • How can we promote the principles of process and methods of conflict resolution in bringing peace to conflict-torn areas around the world?

The 5th World Peace Forum is aimed at:

  • Contributing to peacebuilding and peacemaking through sharing lessons learned from conflict resolutions that influence peace processes among engaging parties, peace practitioners, and policy makers.
  • Extending peace networks through entrenching the ongoing collection of best practices of conflict resolutions among stakeholders.

Professor Desmond Cahill, OAM.

Prof. Des Cahill

Professor Desmond Cahill, Chair, Religions for Peace Australia, will give an address to the 5th World Peace Forum.

Born in Bendigo, Des Cahill spent part of his childhood at Myola East near Elmore. He now is Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne, researching cross-cultural issues, multicultural societies and interfaith relations for the past 35 years. He is chair of Religions for Peace Australia and co-president of Religions for Peace Asia. He led Australia’s successful bid to stage in Melbourne the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions, the world’s largest interfaith gathering, and was subsequently its honorary Program Director. In 2010, he was awarded the Order of the Medal of Australia for “his services to intercultural education and to the interfaith movement”.