Tasnim Lokman of the New Strait Times reported the proceedings of the Global Peace Convention held from December 5th-8th at the Shangri La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Tan Sri Datuk Joseph Kurup, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Malaysia welcomed delegates, elaborating upon Malaysia’s pride as a “multicultural and multi-religious state that promotes equality, stability of economy and government and plans to develop Sabah and Sarawak further to ensure a better quality of life through the Economic Transformation launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2010.”

Held on the morning of Nelson Mandela’s passing, the Opening Plenary took time to honor Mandela’s legacy of peace and inter-racial cooperation. The New Strait Times reported President of Global Peace Foundation and session moderator James P. Flynn calling on the participants, “Let’s take a moment of silence for the honorary Nelson Mandela, a champion of the people of his nation and the world.”