Indonesian students take part in peace mission voyage

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.