Convey Indonesia's Cultural Contribution, Minister Fadli Zon: It Is Important To Build World Peace

JAKARTA - For more than four decades, the Indonesian Student Association for International Studies (ISAFIS) has built understanding and collaboration among youth, encouraging cultural diplomacy as the foundation for global harmony. In order to celebrate the 41st anniversary, ISAFIS today held a discussion forum entitled "Cultural Diplomacy for Peace Building: On Soft Launching of Jakarta School of Peace - World Peace Messenger Foundation and 41st ISAFIS Anniversary.

The forum, which is located at the National Library Auditorium, Gambir, Central Jakarta, was attended by the Minister of Culture, Fadli Zon, who delivered a culture speech entitled "Cultural Diplomacy for Peace Building." In addition, this activity was also attended by Drs. U. Saefudin Noer, MSI - as the President of the WPM Foundation.

The Minister of Culture in his cultural speech told the participants that in the international world, soft power or culture can unite. However, according to him, our cultural wealth has not yet been used as a soft power.

"So we are one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Talking about culture and civilization, we are talking about the archipelago from 1.8 million years ago which has twisted many civilizations such as equipment to ancient paintings," explained the Minister of Culture.

According to the Minister of Culture, if we look at Indonesia from cultural diversity, this should be a national identity. According to him, the birth of the Ministry of Culture, one of them is to invite us to rediscover our culture. According to him, if we can move from there (culture), we can get a strong foundation. Namely as one of the countries with the oldest civilization in the world, not as a new country of independence.

"I really appreciate what the alumni who are members of peace building are doing through this forum, and cultural diplomacy is the right way because on the one hand humans cannot be separated from conflict," explained the Minister of Culture.

According to the Minister of Education and Culture, he saw how Indonesia's cultural power should be maximized as soft diplomacy. Furthermore, Minister Fadli said that we must convey Indonesian culture to the world. "Don't let our culture not be occupied by our own culture.

"Our current work is how to make culture penetrate the community. I believe Indonesia's cultural contribution to the world can be an important part of building peace in the world," concluded the Minister of Culture, which was welcomed by the guests who were present.

The event then continued with the cutting of the cone as a symbol of the 41th anniversary of the ISAFIS celebration, which was given by the President of the WPM Foundation to the Minister of Culture. After that, a discussion was held which was also attended by a number of names as Panelists, including: Caka Alverdi Awal, MA - Director of International Security and Guncutan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mardisontori, LLM - Director of Cooperation, Culture of the Ministry of Culture; Farrell Maja - Vice President of ISAFIS 2025, and Dr. Ir. Lely Wahyuniar, MSc - Secretary of the WPM Foundation.

ISAFIS itself is a student organization founded by Faizal Motik and nine of his colleagues in 1984. Carrying the mission of Promoting Mutual Understanding Among Nations, the organization ISAFIS as a forum for Youth Diplomacy prioritizes relations between countries carried out by young people as agents of change. ISAFIS as a student organization in the field of international issues studies is the first student organization in Indonesia to receive the honorary title of Peace MessengerAward from the United Nations (UN).