PDI Perjuangan Holds RedTalk Forum as a Platform to Hear Young Voices

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) held the RedTalk forum in Malang, East Java, on Saturday, as a platform to listen to the voices of young people. Said Abdullah, Chairman of the PDI Perjuangan Central Executive Board, stated that for the party, the voice of the youth is the voice of idealism because they are not yet bound by various interests. “The dialogue will discuss our Indonesia, not just belonging to a handful of political or economic elites,” Said noted in a written statement. He added that the discussion would explore young people’s imagination about Indonesia’s future, its challenges, and their critiques of intergenerational behaviour. He assessed that today’s youth have vastly different experiences compared to the Boomer generation in their younger days. He noted that Generations Y and Z, along with the early Generation A, live in ‘two worlds’: the real world and the digital world. According to him, digital access has become a bridge for today’s youth to reach across the globe, encountering events and experiences far more complex than the Boomer generation did when they were young. “This is why today’s youth can be much more critical in digesting situations, because they can compare with circumstances in various regions,” said the Chairman of the PDI Perjuangan Regional Representative Council for East Java. “Therefore, a dialogical communication pattern with today’s youth is needed.” Based on this, Said explained that RedTalk has been held over the last two years as PDI Perjuangan’s way of listening to the voices of young people. This second-year RedTalk was held at the Malang Creative Center. To spark the dialogue, RedTalk featured several youth figures, including Selvi Asna Prestianawati, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business at Brawijaya University; Suko Widodo, a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Airlangga University; and comedian Abdel Achrian. Discussion catalysts from activist backgrounds included Kafitan Aidil Fitra Sukirman from the Brawijaya University Student Executive Body, Deputy Coordinator of the Greater Malang Student Executive Bodies Aryo Bimo Soebagio, Malang City Branch Manager of the Indonesian National Student Movement Mochamad Ali Firdaus, and Malang City Branch Chairman of the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement Benny Miftahul Arifin. Said invited all young people in Greater Malang to discuss and love Indonesia by sharing ideas about education, academic freedom, the future of the economy, creative spaces, and various issues that currently concern the youth.