Multicultural Training Program

Learning From Persemaian Cinta Kemanusiaan (PERCIK), Salatiga

September 7, 2013

One of Multiculture Learning Series done by students of Stube HEMAT was visiting PERCIK Institution in Salatiga, 88 kms to the Eastern way of Yogyakarta. The activity was done on September 7, 2013.  PERCIK stands for Persemaian Cinta Kemanusiaan (inseminating love among human), one institution concerning on strengthening Civil Society by empowering local wisdom in which people live in and have daily activity. According to Pradjarto, S.H., Ph.D, one of facilitators, truth values actually came out from local level, not structurally formulated by local or national government. Actually, local community had its own truth called local wisdom. Further, along with life process, it bore religions, life structures, politics, regulations, law, custom and culture. Promoting local wisdom as its approach in Multiculture became one interest of the students  of Stube HEMAT to learn about Multiculture in this institution.

The Multiculture understanding of PERCIK gives  a fondation how people should have attitude in the fact of norm plurality that not each norm has developed plurality values. People are just able to see the surface, not deeper value of life sharing in multiculture society. Pradjarto emphasized that multiculture was a deed in accepting differences with honorable manner, avoiding egoism, accepting differences, and reinforcing equality. It should be continually done in daily life. It is the attitude of people’s life actually that distinguished between primitive and modern life. However, now people tend to look back their local wisdom since modern life had ruined their origin life values.

The discussion process during the visit was interesting as the students were devided into several small groups, approaching different themes such as, environment, cross-faith marriage, youth life, and kids-teenager life. The participants analized the reality of daily life and problems from where they came and problem of place  where they lived in. Environmental problems are real ones in people’s life as it affected and could not be separated with life that in the process nature and the environment bore people’s habit and culture. So people depended much on their nature and environment. While topic of cross-faith marriage was quite challenging since cross-faith marriage might not be avoided in multicultural society including religions and faith. When it happened, communication between two parties, families and spouse, was the most required as it was not easy to accept diffrences especially religion difference. They should be aware of the consequences on what they had decided. Youth should also be aware of their compartmentalized society because of any interfering interests and further they were expected not to live any longer in such trap of life compartment. It is such urgent agenda to consider since social life would give much impact to kids’ growth and their paradigm. Parents had responsibility to introduce Multiculture to their children by exploring their experiences.

As the conclusion of the discussion process, Pradjarto once again underlined that people should know Multiculture and realize that they were often closed into the existing old paradigm. When people opened to new paradigm, they would find many questions and should find the answers in the real life. Thus, understanding Multiculture means observing the real daily life.***