Together, Compiling Indonesia

'We are Indonesia, together compiling Indonesia' was expressed by thirty students participating in Multicultural and Interreligion Dialogue training held by Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta on March 6-8, 2020 at Wisma Pojok Indah, Yogyakarta. They are students from various regions in Indonesia, with various ethnicities, religions and study backgrounds. In the opening, Rev. Em. Bambang Sumbodo, M.Min, the Stube-HEMAT board reminded them about the uniqueness of Indonesia with Unity in Diversity. With the development of time and technology, this uniqueness become a challenge that is not easy to handle when there are problems related with ethnic, religion, race and people group, will the positive words be expressed? Through the scripts he encouraged them to express positive words so that the plural society would remain united.

Regarding the diversity in Indonesia and Stube-HEMAT, Ariani Narwastujati, Executive Director of Stube-HEMAT emphasized the importance of students jointly compiling Indonesia, not just put at random but arranging different pieces into a complete unit. This is the spirit of Stube-HEMAT as a place of learning for students with diverse backgrounds, regions, religions, cultures and study programs, even encouraging students when they have finished their study to develop positive things in their hometown. Complementing the introduction of Stube, Mutiara Srikandi, shared her experience as the participant in Exploring Sumba program. As a Moslem student she truly felt the tolerance of Sumba community, which mostly Protestant Christians, "Basically, we must encourage and accustom ourselves to live in a plural society, we can live side by side without breaking our own beliefs," she said.

"Actually the interfaith interaction has been carried out by students in their daily lives in campus, their places of living, but it has not yet reached the interfaith dialogue," said Rev. Dr. Wahyu Nugroho, MA. The development of technology becomes a challenge for interfaith interaction, because cyberspace tend to be information references, both valid and fake information, then the development of social media on the other hand provides space for interaction between humans and relationships but on the other hand reduces interaction between people with diverse backgrounds. Whereas this direct interaction can be a valuable experience and dialogue space to answer curiosity and foster a sense of tolerance and solidarity.

In the session of investigating traces of religions in Indonesia, Muryana, S.Th.I, M.Hum, encouraged participants not only to deepen their own religion but also to know other religions and local beliefs in Indonesia because these will enrich their understanding, for example books with Arabic fonts are not always related to Islam, entering a church is considered to be Christian, while local beliefs are considered not true. Even the influence of religion in the history of Indonesian was revealed, such as Buddhism during the Srivijaya kingdom, Hinduism during the kingdom of Singosari and Majapahit, Islamic era with 'wali' or saints and Christianity that entered Indonesia initiated by evangelists from Europe, including the existence of local beliefs, such as Marapu in Sumba, Sunda Wiwitan in West Java and Kaharingan in Kalimantan.

Complementing the experience of inter-religion dialogue, the participants took part in group exposures to Poncowinatan Temple, Islamic Boarding School Lintang Songo Piyungan, Jagadnatha Temple and Karangdjati Buddhist Monastery to know the institution and its dynamics, explore the opinions of religious leaders about diversity in Indonesia and find their role in multicultural society. Then through movies Aisyah, Biarkan Kami Bersaudara (Aisyah Let us make Friendship), Beta Mau Jumpa (I want to See You), Atas Nama Percaya (on Behalf of Belief) and Tanda Tanya (Question Mark) they sharpen their awareness and analysis of the reality of life between religious communities.

As the follow-up of the training, the participants designed activities individually and in groups, such as sharing training materials and experiences with local student community, campus, Islamic boarding school and church, writing articles about experiences of interfaith dialogue and multiculturalism, food diversity and tolerance, making vlogs and short video about diversity and tolerance then post it on social media, even planning interfaith youth gathering in their hometown.

Differences should not be a reason for disintegration but a chance for learning and fostering tolerance. Do we feel grateful enough for the diversity of this nation? Does our faith give good impact for humanity? Let us create peace for the nation and compile Indonesia together. (TRU).