RI students take part in peace mission voyage
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Nine Indonesian students left for London, Britain on Saturday to take part in a "reconciliation voyage" aimed at promoting mutual understanding among people from various backgrounds, cultures and faiths.
The program, which is 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 that killed over 200 people and injured some 300 others.
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 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.
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.