PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will host the next Southeast Asia Vegetarian Conference (SEAVC) in 2025. This was announced at the 8th 2023 SEAVC which was held in Chiangmai, Thailand, from July 4-7.
The immediate past president of the Malaysian Vegetarian Society, Raj Kumar Sheth, was elected the president of the Southeast Asian Vegetarian Congress for the term 2023-2025. This was among the decisions made at the recent conference which was held after a lapse of six years, with the previous one held in Penang in 2016.
Spearheaded by the Thai Vegetarian Association (TVA) with the theme of “Plant–based Food for a Better Life”, neighbouring nations got together to discuss the future of veganism and vegetarianism in Southeast Asia.
Rajkumar represented the Malaysian Vegetarian Society (MVS) and together with 10 others, where seven of them addressed the conference.
“The conference began with a beautiful performance showcasing the rich Thai culture which proceeded into the first panel discussion participated by the Consul General of India in Chiangmai Krishna Chaitanya,” MVS committee member Allen Wong said today.
“He shared his pleasure that this year’s conference theme was in line with one of the major seven themes of “MISSION LiFE”, Sustainable Food System. ‘MISSION LiFE’ is a mass movement in India with the aim of creating public awareness about the need to protect and preserve the environment.”
Joining the panel discussion was the former SEAVC president and the newly elected MVS president, Datuk Pishu Murli Hassaram.
“He advocated the setting up of a high-powered international committee from Asean to meet leaders both political and corporate to advocate the necessity of dealing with health and climate change issues in their respective countries using plant-based solutions,” Wong said.
He added that the 8th SEAVC marked a huge step forward in promoting vegetarianism and strengthening relationships among Southeast Asia countries.
“While the initial members are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Laos, Vietnam has become a new member with its first outing in the 8th SEAVC. In the future, we would like to expand our connections to Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines,” Wong said.
