Remarks
by
His Excellency Dr. SOK An, Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of
Ministers,
at the Opening of “An Interaction with His
Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Promoting Ethics in Business, Personal Growth
and Happy Stress Free Living and Launch of the International Yoga Day”
Phnom
Penh, 24 March 2015
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Your Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar;
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Excellency Dinesh K. Patnaik, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Cambodia;
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Excellencies, Distinguished
National and International Guests;
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Ladies and
Gentlemen;
It is my great pleasure to participate with you at
the opening of “An Interaction with His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on
Promoting Ethics in Business, Personal Growth and Happy Stress Free Living and
Launch of the International Yoga Day”, organized by The Art of Living.
I would like to express my high appreciation to the foundation, especially Your
Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, for organizing this important event, which
brings together hundreds of participants from diverse circles such as
businesses, universities and the general public.
It is particularly
inspiring to see that this special program will look at a broad, but
interesting, interrelated topic about life. Special because His Holiness Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar -- a universally revered spiritual and humanitarian leader
whose vision is a violence-free and stress-free world and whose initiatives
include conflict resolution, trauma relief, poverty alleviation and education
for all -- is now here with us to share his deeper philosophical insights into life
he has imparted to the world for over 30 years. Essentially, His Holiness’s
organizations, particularly the Art of Living, has offered a wide range of
programs to various segments of people worldwide focusing on enhancing the
quality of their lives, through for example, self-development and stress
reduction programs, so that they are empowered to gracefully face the life’s
challenges and live a healthy and happy life.
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Your Holiness, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As
you all may know, the Pol Pot genocidal regime, which took control of the
country for over three years until it was liberated on 7 January 1979,
destroyed not only physical infrastructure but also human resources. After the
liberation, even when peace, stability, and freedom were gradually restored,
the people surviving the tragedy have been traumatized, and their physical and
mental health greatly jeopardized.
Despite
these unfortunate circumstances, the Cambodian government under the wise
leadership of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the
Kingdom of Cambodia, has been making great efforts to develop all sectors from
scratch, with a focus on rehabilitation work and addressing the hardship
resulted from the Pol Pot genocidal regime and some three decades of civil war.
Through the win-win policy initiated by Prime Minister Samdech Techo HUN SEN, which
put a complete end to the political and organizational structure of the Khmer
Rouge in 1998, Cambodia has been enjoying nationwide peace, security and
political stability, which is unprecedented in the last 500 years of Cambodian
history. With these favorable conditions, the Royal Government has managed to conceive
and implement various policies, plans and strategies to gradually raise living standards,
reduce poverty and improve the physical and mental wellbeing of the people. To promote
the people’s well-being, the Royal Government has significantly invested in public
health and sport facilities. Furthermore, development partners, civil society
and communities have contributed to these efforts through raising public
awareness of health issues and promoting proactive approach to good health.
Indeed, it is a pleasure to observe the increasing interests in exercise,
especially musical aerobics, among the Cambodian people. This has been greatly
facilitated by our improved public spaces and gardens as well as sport facilities,
operated by both public and private entities.
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Your Holiness, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Given
their rich content and overarching goals, I think that the programs offered by
the Art of Living are critically important for the people of Cambodia and the
world alike, especially in the context of today’s society, characterized by a
rapid pace and a primary emphasis on performance, competition and perfection.
In such a fast changing society, apparently engendered by technology and
sweeping globalization, not only new opportunities, but also challenges have
emerged, as people around the world have been struggling to strike a work-life
balance. Advances in technology have enabled us to constantly multi-task and
take on more and more, but at the same time this has made the work-life
boundary blurred. This results in new social issues, and stress is a common
social phenomenon happening to virtually everyone of us, but just in many
different ways. Studies have found that workplace stress tops the list.
Understandably, today’s stress is more persistent than ever because of the
accelerating pace of modern life and constant change. Stress causes damage that
is often underestimated. It is well established that stress interferes with
memory, concentration, judgment and decision-making. It is alarming to note
some research findings that stress is the single highest cause of worker
absenteeism, double that of all other illnesses and injuries. This has become a
public health issue that needs to be addressed by individuals, families,
communities, organizations, government and society as a whole if a productive
workforce is to be ensured. Good health, physical and mental, is a
pre-condition for a productive workforce, which is in turn necessary for the
sustainable development, since a healthy individual is productive and raises a
healthy family, and ultimately healthy people are a key strategy for overcoming
poverty.
Touching
upon personal health topics, I would like to briefly share with you some of my
humble opinions and experience. I believe that individuals basically can take a
proactive approach to improving their health, for example, by adopting a proper
diet and exercises. While there are various ways to improving health, one’s
awareness and self-discipline are crucial. Amongst the many approaches, a
simple, but regular exercise has been proven to be effective one to improve one’s
health, in general, and to reduce stress, in particular. Exercise
can help reduce pains and fatigue as well as improve body movement and
coordination. This is confirmed from my personal experience over the
last several years. I do exercise every morning, and have found that my health
has improved a great deal. Indeed, there are various kinds of exercises you can
do, but I personally like swimming. To combat stress, people may turn to
meditation or other mental stress reduction tools like yoga. Yoga became
popular as a system of physical exercise,
but it also has a meditative and spiritual core. Yoga is an ancient Indian
philosophy that dates back thousands of years. It was designed as a path to
spiritual enlightenment, but in modern times, the physical aspects of yoga have
found huge popularity as a gentle form of exercise and stress management. It
has now gained increasing interests among the Cambodian people and some local
TVs have even promoted the yoga-inspired exercise as their regular shows.
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Your Holiness, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Well
conscious that you all are eager to listen to the discourse by His Holiness Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar, who will explicate his philosophy of life regarding the
promotion of business ethics, personal development and stress-free living, I
now wish to conclude my short remarks by once again thanking His Holiness and
the Art of Living for making this event happen here in Cambodia.
I
firmly hope that today’s event, with hundreds of participants from
universities, businesses and the general public will help promote a proactive
approach to improving health and living a better life, which would contribute
to the Royal Government’s efforts in building a healthy workforce and thus
alleviating poverty.
Finally,
I wish Your Holiness, Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen, distinguished
national and international guests good health, great success, and happiness.
I
now declare the “Interaction with His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on
Promoting Ethics in Business, Personal Growth and Happy Stress Free Living and
Launch of the International Yoga Day” open.
Thank
you!
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