07 Nov Youth in praise of diversity
Dozens of people gathered at Salihara in Jakarta last week to celebrate young activists who pledged to appreciate life and consider other perspectives.
Nine people out of more than 100 participants were recognized in three categories at the Ahmad Wahib Awards, an event held every two years by the Wakaf Paramadina Foundation, which aims to preserve and respect diversity.
Ahmad Wahib, a Tempo journalist who died in a motorcycle accident in the early 1970’s, was a solid promoter of interreligious affairs in his time.
There are three categories of Ahmad Wahib Awards: essay, personal blog and video. They are Nicholaus Prasetya from Jakarta for his essay, Arman Dhani Bustomi from Jember for his blog and Ahmad Syadidul Fahmi from Yogyakarta for video.
Nicholaus has real-life experience that taught him the importance of upholding humanity above all. Nicho, as he is widely known, revealed that the life of his Catholic family was once in the hands of a good neighbor during the 1998 upheaval in Jakarta that had many Chinese-Indonesians as victims.
“Our Muslim neighbor hid my family for nearly a week in his house to avoid those who were seeking revenge toward anyone of Chinese descent at that time. Now I can see my neighbor’s values in Ahmad Wahib,” he said.
Thousands of Indonesians of Chinese descent fell victim during the May 1998 riots, which led to the downfall of long-time dictator Soeharto. The targeting of ethnic Chinese was in part due to a massive yet continuous campaign by Soeharto’s New Order regime that said the Chinese couldn’t be trusted and were corrupt.
Many noted figures such as poet Goenawan Mohamad, artist Sitok Srengenge, economist Didik J Rachbini and activist Ulil Abshar Abdalla attended the event.
A short video titled A Plur, which won the video category, was aired during the event, drawing tons of laughter and applause from attendees. The video told of a Muslim teenager who experiences opposition from her parents when she attempts to send a Christmas card to her friends.
Following the screening, Sitok Srengenge read selected fragments from Ahmad Wahib’s diary. He read beautifully and was rewarded with massive applause from hundreds in the audience.
An insightful 10-minute speech by Goenawan, who was the chief editor of Tempo magazine during Wahib’s time there, was also appreciated by the audience.
However, given its youthful atmosphere, most applause was granted to the closing performers, Efek Rumah Kaca, an indie group that drew the crowd with their industrial sound and insightful, critical lyrics.
Ihsan Ali Fauzi, head of the selection committee, acknowledged that the committee has received an enormous response from the very beginning. The response, he continued, has made him and the rest of the people backstage optimistic that the country still has a future.
“Youth have a significant role in the whole effort to preserve good values in life. We’ve been very moved by their efforts so far,” Ihsan told The Jakarta Post.
He then unveiled that among those efforts was a group of students who made a short video with production costs way more than those the award had to offer.
When he confirmed this with them, their answer was that participating in the awards had brought enough satisfaction to the group. They expected no further reward.
Ucu Agustin, a filmmaker and member of the selection committee, said she was deeply impressed by the works submitted, many of which were, in her opinion, very original.
As for those who didn’t win, Ihsan said he would invite participants to contribute in future workshops next year.
Sumber: thejakartapost, 07 November 2012.