Every 28th of October, Indonesia celebrates its important historical time for Indonesian people to remember the sense of national belonging and unity, it’s called Youth Pledge Day or Hari Sumpah Pemuda.
The Youth from diverse backgrounds celebrated the Youth Pledge Day at the Training Development Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. In collaboration with Jesuit Refugees Service and Jesuit Scholastics, it succeeded to carrying out the workshop about the Youngster problematic issues in Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Afghanistan.
The event began with an opening and brainstorming of a Pledge historical story led by Aulia as LP4Y ecosystem developer. The celebration was very interesting and interactive because the guest speakers, Fr. Seng Den (Myanmar), Fr. Pon (Thailand), and Nisa (Afghanistan) were well prepared.
Small workshops
The Youth had the opportunity to take part in different workshops and discussions for 45 minutes per team in order to better understand the problems faced by the Youth from other countries.
Nisa was representing the chaotic situation that happened in her country, Afghanistan, which forced her and family to flee to Indonesia 10 years ago. She was presenting to the Youth about the struggle of being refugees and the difficulties of living as a woman in Afghanistan.
Frater Pon, as the expatriate scholastic showed to the Youth the diverse social life and culture in Thailand. The Youth were so attracted to Pon’s point of view regarding the freedom of choice which is not free at all. He explained about some issues happening with the youth's mental health problems such as mass shooting in the mall and the crime’s trend of owning guns among youngsters.
The final speaker, Frater Seng Dan from Myanmar who raised the issues of experiencing chaos since the coup in February 2021. According to him, Indonesian people should be grateful that there is the Youth Pledge and Pancasila so that their sense of belonging to Indonesia as a country is very strong. The diverse tribes in Myanmar and some political issues make his country's problems difficult to solve.
Retrospective
After a long discussion, the Youth tried to analyze the problems and brainstorm to take a position as a youth figure in overcoming problems.
They were very motivated by the idea of speaking in front of people and showing their ideas on stage.
It was a great experience for the Youth who are living in the bubble of Kampung Sawah (slum area) to learn from others to improve their resilience, empathy and sense of national belonging.
Aulia. ED.