Indonesian students take part in peace mission voyage

Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Nine Indonesian students took a flight on Saturday to be part of a "reconciliation voyage" together with other young people from various countries with an objective to promote mutual understanding among people from various backgrounds, cultures and faiths.

The program, which called the Voyage of Understanding is organized by Encompasstrust -- the Daniel Braden Reconciliation Trust -- a foundation established by Braden's family, following the Bali blast in 2002.

Braden was one of those killed in the Bali terror attack on Oct. 12, 2002.

The participants of the program from Nov. 7 to Nov. 17 on board the Tall Ship Prince William will come from various countries including Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Palestine and Israel.

Encompasstrust representative in Indonesia Heroe Soeprapto said on Saturday that the program was initiated by Alexander Braden, the father of the Bali bomb victim, in trying to promote mutual understanding among young people from all over the world.

Citing Braden's viewpoints, Heroe said radicalism, which is the root of terrorism, could grow well among people, if they had no opportunities to witness and experience differences.

"Through this program, Indonesian youngsters are given the opportunity to get together with their colleagues from different cultures and religions. They discuss their differences freely to reach mutual understanding," Heroe added.

Heroe said Encompasstrust was established one month after the the 2002 Bali bombs with initial funding taken from US$50,000 of Daniel Braden's savings account.

The Voyage of Understanding began in 2003 after Alexander Braden, a ferry businessman, donated $25,000 per year to organize the program, which has taken place five times so far. Encompasstrust also receives donations from concerned individuals.

Heroe said his Agadipha Foundation, which is mostly focused on environmental issues, was tasked to recruit 18 Indonesian youths every year to take part in the program.

He said that initially, he recruited only students of Islamic boarding schools for the program.

But this year, he recruited students from secular universities with the hope that more young people from various backgrounds would have the opportunity to expand their horizons.

According to Heroe, only 13 Indonesians took part in the program this year, four of whom had taken part in the Land Journey of Understanding, which was organized in Scotland in September.

Meanwhile, the nine others, all of whom are students from universities in Malang, East Java departed for London on Saturday for the ten-day voyage.

Team leader Singgih Kiswantoro, who is also a student at the University of Malang, said the Indonesian team had prepared several papers to be presented to the other participants.

"Basically, we want to convince them that Indonesia, which is predominantly Muslim, is only a victim of terrorism. We will also say that there is no relationship between Islam and terrorism," asserted Singgih.

According to Rila Kristanti, 20, another Indonesian participant, the participants will visit ports in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.