WORLD PEACE DAY TO BE OBSERVED IN AMBON NOVEMBER 25

Ambon, Nov. 7 (ANTARA) - President of the World Peace Committee Djuyoto Suntani said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had agreed to conduct a World Peace Day commemoration in Ambon on November 25, 2009.

"Initially, it was scheduled for November 10, but due to the head of state's tight agenda, it was agreed to hold it on November 25, 2009," Djuyoto said on Saturday.

President Yudhoyono is expected to stay overnight in Ambon, together with 15 foreign ambassadors, 32 governors, district heads, mayors and national figures invited to the 29th commemoration of World Peace Day.

Ambon, the Maluku's provincial capital, was chosen as the venue of the World Peace Day commemoration ceremony to remind the Maluku people they should never again allow themselves to get involved in sectarian conflict such as occurred in their region from 1999 to 2004.

"The moment is programmed to make Ambon a noble place, where the sun rises to light up the world," Djuyoto said.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi and Minister/State Secretary Sudi Silalahi were instructed by the president to coordinate the presence of a number of veterans from 32 provinces at the upcoming World Peace Day commemoration ceremony, according to Cak Saimima of the organizing committee, recently.

Central Java Governor Bibit Waluyo would hand over the Peace Gong to Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono, who would later pass it on to Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu in Jepara on November 9, 2009. The Peace Gong then will be brought to Ambon.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to strike the gong to mark the opening of the World Peace Day commemoration ceremony.

Nobel Peace Prize winners Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh have been invited to attend the 29th World Peace Day commemoration ceremony in Ambon this month.

World Peace Day committee chairman Djuyoto Suntani said in Semarang, Central Java, last Monday that Mandela, the former South African president, had been invited to attend the event in Ambon.