Chinese Government Gives Orchid Award To Dino Patti Djalal

The Chinese government awarded the "Orchid Award" to former presidential spokesman and former Indonesian deputy foreign minister Dino Patti Djalal for contributing to relations between citizens of the two countries.

"This 'Orchid Award' award is given to people who give their time for more opportunities to learn between Chinese culture and other cultures. They are artists, translators, researchers, experts and individuals who believe that pure friendship can maintain peace longer," said PKC Politburo member and PKC Head of Publication Department Li Shulei during a speech in Beijing, Friday.

The awarding was the first time Chinese President Xi Jinping has said in 2022 that China wants to actively conduct a "Global Civilization Initiative" and foster mutual understanding between people from various nations through cultural exchanges.

"As a global society, President Xi Jinping recommends maintaining the diversity of civilization by respecting differences and living with that difference. Chinese cultural secrets are also maintained because generations continue to ensure that culture can continue to exist in society," said Li.

Meanwhile, Dino Patti Djalal, who also founded the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) organization, said that he and his organization had been actively building communication from the "people to people" side.

"It is important to build trust (trust) between governments through diplomatic relations, but if there is only a 'trust' above but there is no 'trust' in the community then it is unbalanced and can even be dangerous, this is an example that occurs between Indonesia and China," said Dino.

He said that after more than two decades after 1965, Indonesia and China's relations were cut off, there were still many misconceptions from the Indonesian people regarding China.

"Indeed, the 'public trust' has not been built 100 percent, but it can be ascertained that it has improved, especially now that the global dialogue is getting narrower. Many people can talk to each other but don't listen to each other, so they don't create peace because they don't trust each other," said Dino.

He said his institution used the "kock on the door" approach, namely contacting experts, business actors, and influencers from various countries to be able to have a dialogue with each other.

"We found that it turned out that they admitted that no one had ever contacted them before to be able to have a dialogue with each other so that actually the space for dialogue exists even though it must also be noted that the dialogue will not always bring positive results but must continue to be built," added Dino.

The award was given to 10 figures in three categories, namely "Lifetime Honorary Prize" to music lecturers from the United States as well as founder of Tianjingal School Joseph William Police, "Outstandment Achievement Prize" given to Mexican synologist Flora Botton Beja, senior British translator David Ferguson and former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.

The last category is "Friendship Envoy Prize" which was given to 6 people who were considered to have contributed to building community relations including Dino Patti Djalal and the director of the Japanese documentary Takeuchi Ryo.

In Chinese culture, orchids (orchids) are referred to as noble flowers while at the same time showing the value of integrity.

The "China International Communication Group" as the organizer of the awarding said that orchids symbolizeularity, defamation, and noble morals, as well as represent harmonious coexistence, and are friendly between humans and nature, as well as between humans and other humans.