Y.Bhg Dr. R Rupa Saminathan
Y.Bhg Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana
Y.Bhg Archbishop Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas
Xavier Pakiam,
Y.Bhg Dato’ Dr. Ismail bin Ibrahim
Y.Bhg Dr. Chandra Muzaffar
Ladies and gentlemen and
fellow zubedyans
PEACE BE WITH YOU J and Happy WORLD INTERFAITH DAY.
Zubedy is a for profit
organisation that combines business goals with a social cause. We have a deep
conviction that profit must be balanced with ethics. Our vision is to unite
people and get people to work together. Our mission is to add value to everyone
that we interact with.
Today we at Zubedy are very
excited and humbled. As you would have noticed on our wall at my right, a
collection of Zubedy festive advertisements; we have since 2001 spent
considerable energy, time, talent and money featuring great spiritual and
religious leaders of the past on Chinese New Year, Vaisakhi, Wesak, Aidil
Fitri, Deepavali, Christmas and also Hari Malaysia.
By featuring exemplary men
and women like Chinmayananda, Chuang Tzu, Mahakassapa, Mata Khivi, Francis
Asisi and Muhammad Iqbal we hope to introduce moral ethical role models to the
Malaysian public.
Today we are humbled and honoured
by the presence of such exemplary men and women right here in our midst – on
this auspicious occasion to celebrate the World Interfaith Day, launching a
book that deals with an interfaith perspective towards making this world, our
world, a better place.
We
are really excited about publishing this book. This is
because the content of the book matches many of the values that Zubedy takes to
heart, practices and tries to emulate. The book talks about religion and
economy and how people should deal with the moral ethical approach surrounding
the two.
Furthermore, the book has deep ideas on how our
different religion and spiritual traditions can help organise the economy with
a win-win approach - both for profit and social justice. These ideas are worth
considering.
At
Zubedy we are confident that religion and spiritual traditions have a very
important role to play for modern men. Religion and spiritual traditions offer
a rich and vast history of accumulative knowledge on how to manage people and
how to assist them achieve their potentials – for free.
Any
smart businessman would love to get such good advice especially free of charge.
It is simply good business sense.
We
see knowledge and the technology of religion and spiritual traditions as not
only essential but practical for daily living. That is why we always end our
Corporate Adverts with … I Quote -
“At
zubedy, our programs draw strength from shared values and traditions. We
believe that at heart, all Malaysians want good things for themselves and for
their brother and sister Malaysians, simply because our nation cannot prosper
as a whole if some of us are left behind.”
Un-quote.
This
takes us to another faith based conviction.
We
believe wholeheartedly that our shared values within our religious and
spiritual traditions are able to unite us, act as a platform for peace and
prosperity. And we in Malaysia have the unique God-given gift to have these
traditions embedded in our daily lives – as a Malaysian. For example, accordingly
Prophet Muhammad asked the Muslim to quest for knowledge even unto China. But
here in Malaysia, the Chinese are our neighbors. J
Yes,
we have Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims in our
family and as friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc. We must stop and ask, have
we made full use of this God-given opportunity? How far have we stepped
forward? What must we do next? Where we can go from here?
Before
I end, I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about a
campaign Zubedy has mooted. It is the #SaySomethingNice Campaign.
The
idea and campaign started a few years ago to act as a safety valve in a mosaic
nation like ours.
With
#SaySomethingNice campaign, we suggest to spend 17 days from Hari Merdeka to
Hari Malaysia encouraging truce and showcasing the best about our nation.
During
this short period, we ask Malaysians to portray Malaysia in a positive light; a
time to appreciate, a time to bershukur, a time to forgive, a time to accept
each other. A time to subvert our greed for power, ego and money.
But
this year we want to make it a bigger campaign. We want to make it a HEALING
campaign.
Since
2008, for 5 years our country has been split into extreme partisan blocs where
we throw hurtful words at each other. This has wounded many hearts and the
vibrancy of our peaceful society. We
need to heal ourselves.
We
need to focus our energy on putting back love, respect, and dignity in this
country. To heal our nation, we need to work hand in hand, heart in heart. Hindus,
Buddhists, Christians and Muslims.
This
campaign will need all the help we can get and it is time for us to harness the
love, peace and wisdom from our religious and spiritual traditions and bring
them to the forefront of national unity and prosperity.
I
would like to say thank you, thank you and thank you to -
Y.Bhg
Dr. R Rupa Saminathan
Y.Bhg
Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana
Y.Bhg
Archbishop Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam,
Y.Bhg
Dato’ Dr. Ismail bin Ibrahim
Y.Bhg
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar
To
all of you especially the Team that have worked hard to make this day a
success. Aizat the team leader, Dayah, Din, Najib, Dayana, Syuhada, Syiqqin and fellow zubedyans.
May
I end by sharing with you the
Quran
chapter 5 :48
“To
each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If Allah had so
willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you
in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of
you all is to Allah. it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in
which ye dispute.”
Sadhu
Sadhu Sadhu.
Anas Zubedy
Kuala Lumpur
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