Source: New Straits Times Berhad
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, November 19, 2002: Some of the world’s leading thinkers on globalization, philosophers and interfaith communicators came together at a conference in Genting Highlands, November 25 to 27. Participants in the three-day meeting, entitled “The Challenge of Globalization: Towards a Shared Universal Spiritual and Moral Ethic,” included former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, Indian Hindu intellectual and social reformer Swami Agnivesh, globalization critic Richard Falk of the United States and former United Nations General Assembly president Tan Sri Razali Ismail. Just World Trust (JUST) president Dr. Chandra Muzaffar told a press conference that the conference was necessary to raise awareness and examine how globalization was threatening values, ethics and spirituality. “Time honored values are being eroded. Individual values are being shaped entirely by market forces, which is not healthy at all.” JUST hopes that the conference and post-conference programs will help produce an action plan for workable programs that intellectuals, religious leaders of different faiths and grassroots organizations will be able to implement.