The SGI exhibition “From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit” was held at the SMK Sri Sentosa, Kuala Lumpur on August 19 and 20, 2009. School Principal Puan Hajjah Rahmah binti Abdul Haji declared the exhibition open during the school assembly attended by 1,500 students and several SGM representatives.

Books donation	Presentation of certificate of appreciation

The exhibition was organised through the initiative of SGM student division members from Kuala Lumpur’s Region 4. In his speech, SGM Kuala Lumpur representative Mr Tan Chek Meng said that the exhibition was created to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of second Soka Gakkai President Toda’s declaration against nuclear weapons. Tan urged those present to confront apathy and take concrete actions for peace.

In her speech, Principal Puan Hajjah Rahmah said, “It is such an honour for our school to have this exhibition here for students to be able to see clearly what is going on around the world. Ultimately, this is an exhibition about life. The starting point of religions is the value of life. And what makes human life unique is the scale of our choice, for good or evil, to help or to harm, to choose between a culture of violence or a culture of peace – the very title of this exhibition.” She then urged the students to replace the culture of violence with the culture of peace, quoting Martin Luther King, “…only love can soften hatred, only peace can defeat violence.”

In recognition of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s contribution towards world peace and humanity, SMK Sri Sentosa presented a certificate of appreciation to President Ikeda. In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, SGM also donated a total of 58 books to the school. Among the books donated were SGI President Ikeda’s peace proposals and writings on peace and education.

Thirty students of the Form Six Society of the school were on hand to assist as narrators for the exhibition. In total, over 2,500 people viewed the exhibition, which has already been viewed by more than 180,000 people since 2007.