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| Dr Pradana Boy MA (second from left) was in a dialogue in Vienna, Austria, along with 23 other interfaith leaders. |
Lecturer of Faculty of Islamic Studies (FAI) University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), Dr Pradana Boy MA, just got a prestigious chance as an international fellow in Interreligious dialogue by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), based in Vienna, Austria.
KAICIID was founded by four governments, namely the Government of Saudi Arabia as a major funders, supported by the Government of the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Spain and the Holy See Vatican. "The terms international fellow is more difficult to translate into Indonesian appropriately. However, when we see the context, my role is as an ambassador for international interfaith peace, "explanation of Head of the Center for Islamic Studies and Philosophy UMM.
Pradana Boy would take this work for one year. The first meeting already took place a few weeks ago. It was on November 26 to December 5, 2016. Then, Vienna involved the leaders of the world religions. The next meeting was conducted in Bali around March and April 2017. After the second meeting in Bali, each ambassador would have a duty to hold activities geared towards interfaith dialogue and religious peace with the full support of KAICIID.
"At the first meeting, we intensively discuss important issues that often become a barrier occurrence of harmonious interfaith relations and culture in the world. Here, the leader of the world religions are welcome to make their views during this time to other religions, "said Pradana.
"For example, participants of the Hindu and Buddhist are welcome to put forward his views on Islam. Likewise, representatives of Islam, is given the same opportunity to confirm to the participants of the Jewish, Christian, Buddhism, and Hinduism, "said doctoral graduate of National University of Singapore (NUS).
Pranada explained that, forum of dialogue but occasionally it could lead to tensions. For example, he added, almost all the participants of the non-Muslims always questioned about the impression Islam as a religion of violence. Likewise, there was also a question asked about the details of Islamic law, including the law of Qisas.
Other sensitive issues also could not be separated from the debate, such as the matter of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or the issue of racial massacre (genocide) in Myanmar. However, because the main goal was to find a way out and to campaign for peace, the emergence of sensitive issues was not interfere the dialogue.
Besides Pradana, who was also selected as an international fellow was Alissa Qatrunnada Munawaroh, or commonly known as Alissa Wahid, the first daughter of former Indonesian President, Abdurrahman Wahid or Gus Dur. Both of them were chosen as the international ambassador with 22 other leaders from the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, Nigeria, Uganda, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Philippines and Myanmar. Instead of representing the religions that have been popular in Indonesia such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, there were also representatives from the Jewish and Sikhism.
Through these activities, said Pradana Boy, opportunities involved Muhammadiyah. "Muhammadiyah is a moderate Islamic organization that called for peace and tolerance intra and inter. So it is in line with this program, "said Pradana.
After a series of activities that take place in a number of countries, this team also would meet formally for the last time in Vienna, Austria, at the end of 2017. Although the program officially ended, in fact the great task of the international ambassador of peace and inter-religious dialogue did not stop.
Because, at a forward stage, they would be incorporated in the International network KAICIID Fellow Network tasked to promote interreligious peace through various ways.
One of them was the exchange of college. In a sense, a fellow of a certain religion would be invited to give a lecture to the community instead of religion to break down various misunderstandings and prejudices that often happened among religions relation.
"One of factor which holding the peace and harmonious interfaith relations is prejudice and misunderstanding. Only by intensive dialogue, both can be overcome and peace and harmonious interfaith relations can be achieved, "concluded Pradana. (Can / han)
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