On 26th of September 2020, Saturday, the Scouts Association of Malaysia through Messengers of Peace (MoP) Initiative hosted an International Day of Peace 2020 in the national level, following the theme of “Shaping Peace Together”. Since 2015, the International Day of Peace is celebrated by almost all scouts in Malaysia every year, taking the opportunity to engage young people, leaders and communities in peace action and inspiring them to become active global citizens. However, this year celebration is different, because this is our first time hosting a ceremony. In this ceremony, there were lots of activities such as the Better World Framework exhibition, award ceremony, prize-giving ceremony, and MoP ambassador recognition.

In a total of 148 participants that consist of young people and adult leaders from several states in Malaysia has come to celebrate the International Day of Peace 2020 held at the Rumah B-P, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia or known as National Office of the Scouts Association of Malaysia. This year celebration has been clearer than ever that we are not each other’s enemies. COVID-19 has thrown our world into turmoil and forcibly reminded us that what happens in one part of the planet can impact people everywhere. In hope, that the celebration will help in reconfigure and aligning the mental and emotional state of scouts from the stress and depression caused by the virus as mentioned by the Asia Pacific Regional, National Scouts Organisation, Messengers of Peace Coordinator (2020-2021), Mr Sam@Aliff Ajwad Bin Marzuki during the event.

Also, present Honorable Datuk Zamani Bin Tambichek, Vice President, National Scouts Council to officiate the celebration of International Day of Peace 2020. He’s impressed, this celebration has successfully carried out a total of 33 activities throughout Malaysia with the participation of a total of 2075 scout members of various ages. This shows that the program has attracted a lot of attention and interest from our scout children in promoting a culture of peace. In his speech at the closing ceremony, he mentioned that programs like this can be continued and strengthened in order to give a more meaningful impact to the community in Malaysia through scouting activities that bring elements of peace.

In this celebration, the Messengers of Peace Initiatives has recognized thirty (30) scouts from three (3) different programmes the Messengers of Peace Award for their contribution providing support for frontliners during a hard time of pandemic crisis of COVID-19. This award has been presented by the Honorable Datuk Zamani Bin Tambichek, Vice President, National Scouts Councils. This International Day of Peace can be carried out perfectly even though the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia is still there. MoP initiative through the Scouts Association of Malaysia succeeded in carrying out this celebration program by taking into account the standard operation procedure in social distancing and physical distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19 virus.

This Peace Day celebrates the power of global solidarity to build a peaceful and sustainable world. The culture of peace is a culture of dialogue and prevention, and, in this context, our role as scouts, as well as Messengers of Peace ambassador is very important for the maintenance of universal peace. It was a challenging experience for me and my committee to manage a gathering program like this when the COVID19 epidemic was still in Malaysia. However, all precautions have been taken into account to prevent an increase in cases. Taking all prevention steps into account and prepared for the worst-case scenario.