Seeking not to conquer and subdue, but to enrich and embellish

“LET’S build a new world where mankind has learnt to live in harmony not only with themselves, but also with the environment.

We celebrated the Millennium 18 years ago. Whether we celebrated in 2000 or 2001 is not important, but one thing is certain and, that is, that the entire human race approached this significant watershed with varied and rather intense emotions of gigantic proportions, for the dawn of a new Millennium is much more than a mere symbolic and simple change of chronology.

To those who understand the deep and overwhelming significance of the occasion, the new millennium represents the end and the beginning, death and rebirth, a shift in perception, a renewed vision, and the focus for a powerful expectation. Mankind should also use the dawn of the new millennium to reawaken its capacity to appreciate and to rejoice in all God’s creations, to celebrate the splendour of the universe and to strengthen our spiritual foundations which we can draw from our faith.

Whatever it is, the magic moment did, without doubt, provide mankind with a unique opportunity to restore and renew both the face and the heart of this planet earth and to help mankind look forward with renewed vigour to the future. The 3rd Millennium will totally and completely change the lifestyle of the entire human race beyond description. It will be a lifestyle that we will never know.

Renewal is not only a concept in all religions but is central to many of the great religions and theories of prominent philosophers. In ISLAM you will find the passage “Allah is HE who effects creation, hence HE repeats it” written in the Holy QUR’AN.

Socrates, the Greek Philosopher, believed that the soul reincarnated every Millennium, when it has the chance to make a total fresh choice about its destiny.

We are on the threshold of new horizons and can look forward with new visions, and renewed hopes. Last century had been an age of enormous destruction and unprecedented intolerance. Atrocities have been committed against many innocent peoples in the name of race and religion. But those dark days are hopefully now behind us. In peace time the changing patterns of social behaviours have torn the fabric of society everywhere. In the true spirit of Hari Raya we can look upon this celebration as one of rebirth, a rising of a renewed and reinvigorated phoenix from the ashes and detritus of the 20th Century.

These are few people anywhere in the world who are not aware of the degradation of our environment on a global scale. Even now, the world is exploiting our limited marine and land resources, on a scale undreamt of only 70 years ago. Flora and faunas are being driven to extinction at a rate not known since the age of the dinosaurs.

So, in the midst of our celebrations, should we not pause for a moment and ask ourselves what can be done to reverse this trend. Can we not make less do more? Can we not conserve rather than exploit? Can we not guard rather than plunder? Can we not make a collective worldwide effort to counter crass consumerism by sustainable use of the resources of this unique planet on which we live?

To have a vision of a future where there is no poverty or hunger, where armies are not necessary, where everyone has meaningful employment, and where the social conscience is so well developed that there are no disadvantaged, is pleasing but Utopian. Unfortunately the frailties of the human race such as the craving for power, the desire to possess more than is necessary and the drive for dominance, intervene. So any vision for the future has to take into account the frailty of homo sapiens. What I hope is a realistic vision for the next Millennium- a world where the human race has finally learnt that we live on a planet with resources that are finite and that over-exploitation of those resources imperils the only gift we can reality pass on to the future generationsa planet that will sustain them, be a pleasure to live on, and be a haven for the myriad flora and fauna of bountiful nature.

Let us decide now to build a world where human beings learn to live in harmony with the environment. From this basic premise, many benefits will flow. All development would be sustainable. The prohibitive cost of correcting environmental distraction would be eliminated and rapacious exploitation of resources would be a thing of the past.

Our environment would become increasingly pleasant to live in. Having learnt to live in symbiosis and not in competition with our environment, the lesson would spread to living in harmony with each other, so that arms and armament would be a thing of the past. Funds now absorbed in armament and dealing with environmental degradation would be diverted to curing socials ills and relieving suffering for the common good. An Utopian vision this may be, but with only one simple basic premise, finally living in symbiosis with our environment.

Address by Datuk Seri Ang Lai Soon, Chairman and Commander St. John Ambulance Sarawak at the 47th anniversary parade of the organisation.