The fifth Mahathir Global Peace School was officially opened on Monday (28/11) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). The fifth school peace focuses on ‘Peace and Inter-Religious Dialogue in Worldwide Education’ that the theme is represented the world nowadays.
In his welcoming remark, Rector of UMY, Prof. Bambang Cipto, M.A. stated that peace is a vital aspect for this world.
“Inter-religious dialogue reflects what occurs in this world recently such as an oppression issue of Rohingya in Myanmar by the military and Buddhists, and genocidal issues. Thus, this MGPS is expected to enable the participants to share their ideas on the inter-religious issues to create world peace,” he declared.
Furthermore, chief of the MGPS committee, Indira Prabasari informed, “This MGPS is the last MGPS, thoughts of all alumni of MGPS will be written and published on 5 December. Therefore, the notions come up during MGPS can be shared and promoted to other institutions in several countries.
Indira also wished that the thoughts can be buzzed through social media. Indeed, young generation is active users of the social media.
In her speech, Indira told how the MGPS was established and the theme of previous programs. “MGPS was commenced in 2013 when Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) conducted a peace exhibition at UMY. Afterwards, both parties attempted to give obvious contribution to world peace, and ultimately the MGPS was carried out. The first MGPS discussed conflict resolution and how to manage conflicts. The second and third MGPS organized in 2014 concerned with inter-religious countries as well as migration and border issues. The fourth MGPS in 2015 concentrated on justice and prosperity,” Indira mentioned.
On Monday (28/11), the participants were explained the 10-day activities of MGPS. Besides lecture sessions, the participants are required to write a paper and discuss it. On previous days (Saturday and Sunday), the participants went to Jombang and Malang to have a dialogue with Islamic figures of Islamic Boarding School of Tebu Ireng.
