Student’s Participation to Reduce Prejudice

By Rivaldo A. Padaka

The experience joining Stube-HEMAT training is a pearl for young people like me, because I have a chance to interact directly with different religion believers, such as Islam, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian. To meet many people with different religions is interesting. With the spirit of openness and brotherhood, it is far from prejudice, reluctance or fear, and it is erasing the first impression of violence, dissension, and other bad prejudices to talk about religion. Religion must return to its essence by teaching love, kindness and forgiveness, not violence and hatred.

Nowadays it is important to establish dialogue as a living communication among different religion believers, so the understanding of religion is not just the concept but a struggle for good morals and ethical attitudes in social life and an encouragement for each religion not longer to claim more dominant compared to others. Religious life should not only practice religious rites, but also the believer’s attitude to respect and to love one another and as their homeland to manifest nationalism, especially for young generation or students that can develop themselves and become role-model as interaction bridges among religious communities and to strengthen brotherhood.

In this occasion Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta provided new knowledge by helping me, especially as a Theology student not to be misunderstanding with other religions and not to give negative prejudice to others. Thus, it is really encouraged me to initiate mutual understanding among students with different religions to foster tolerance and to be able to avoid actions that harm others, so that they finally result on the realization of harmony among religious communities. I learned what Rev Dr. Wahyu Nugroho M.A, said that each religion has its own uniqueness, so it is important to open chance for others to find out the differences without leaving their religious faith. Even to meet someone others will enrich his knowledge of faith.

The experience of visiting and knowing deeper about Hinduism at Pura Jagadnatha, Banguntapan was very memorable for me. I was so pleased having a chance to ask about the salvation concept to Mr. Budi, the chairman of Pengempon Pura, who welcomed us openly. He explained that salvation concept in Hindu is based on karma which means deeds, that whoever does goodness will also reap goodness, and whoever does evil will also reap punishment. In  the book of Upanisad, it is said that doing something good becomes good, doing evil becomes evil, because everything is based on karma, and man's fate depends on his actions, that is karma, even it also influences one’s past and future lives.

Various unique experiences that I found in the Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta training, especially the interaction with other believers should be experienced by other students, so that they will also have the opportunity to reduce prejudice and to implement good relations among them in Indonesia. (Rivaldo Arinanda Padaka)