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Youth Spreading Peaceful Narrative

Andrian Habibi still remembers kantong asoy (plastic goody bags) from his childhood in Deli Serdang. On every important day of any religion, Andrian and friends would be walking around carrying plastic goody bags. In addition to greeting people celebrating the day and tasting various dishes, they were also busy collecting treats in their goody bags.

"After the Reformasi in the late 90s, this tradition began to disappear from our village," said Andrian, who is now active in a human rights association in Jakarta. The stories of Jihan Avie about Kutuk Village in Kudus and Vili Indri about Kemiri hamlet in Temanggung, Central Java are different. Practicing pluralism with a variety of religions and beliefs in everyday life is not something alien to them, even outside their vicinity. When Vili was in Jakarta, for example, her bikkhu (buddhist priest) neighbour would pay a visit and ensure her well-being.

Andrian, Jihan, and Vili, along with 29 young people from different parts of Jabotabek, West Java, Central Java and East Java, shared their experiences in the discussion session of the Peace Journalism Camp, organised by the Wahid Foundation and Qureta, with the support of the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice 2 (AIPJ2), and held in Jakarta from 10–12 November 2017.To be selected for this camp, each person was required to submit an essay on religion and tolerance.

The Peace Journalism Camp ran for three days and combined the principles of journalism with an understanding of violent extremism in different regions. The camp also brings about ideas of young people to counter violence by disseminating a creative peace narrative.

The findings from the Wahid Foundation's national survey in 2016 of 1,520 respondents were extrapolated to an estimate of 600,000 Muslims in Indonesia claiming to have been involved in radicalism.  Around 7.7 percent expressed their willingness to be involved in radical action if they have the opportunity (this percentage extrapolates to 11 million Indonesians if applied to the whole Indonesian population). According to the Senior Officer for Media and Campaigns Khoirul Anam, the high percentage triggered the Wahid Foundation to carry out various activities to build a young generation of peaceful narrators across Indonesia.

"The spirit of this camp stemmed from low literacy levels among Indonesian people. This makes it difficult for them to screen information and understand various issues," said Luthfie Assyaukanie, the founder of Qureta and main facilitator of the Peace Journalism Camp.

The growing number of intolerant messages posted on digital communication networks increases the vulnerability of teenagers to being influenced. Through journalistic writing principles, accompanied by appreciation of tolerance values, the participants are expected to acquire capacity to act as agents of peaceful narrative in each region. Furthermore, their active role will eventually help to counter hoaxes and radical content among youth.

This view has also encouraged Ariyanti S. Dewi (Ari), a marine and fisheries researcher and an Australian Awards alumnus from 2013, to participate. Ari often felt uncomfortable about “heated” comments on social media due to differences in political views.

"What baffles me is that some of the people posting such comments have been studying abroad. In short, they have already experienced being a “minority” in a foreign country. My experience at Queensland University in Australia made me question whether I could be so tolerant myself of those belonging to a minority group. My professors and colleagues were very attentive in providing a special prayer room for me in the laboratory (although there is already another prayer room on campus). Small things like this stay in my heart and since then, have influenced my interaction with other groups," Ari said.

But Ari often felt unprepared to reply to cynical comments. "Hopefully by participating in this training, I will be more confident to express my opinion. I must be ready, though, to be the target of bullying on social media," she added.

After the training, each participant, in accordance with their respective territories, will resume discussions and submit a dissemination proposal for a peaceful narrative for the Wahid Foundation's approval. Follow-up activities will take place throughout 2018. "We are also ready to assist each region to get direct support from their stakeholders," said Anam.

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