Global World Is Not OK, Jokowi Asks ASEAN To Be A Peace Anchor

Jokowi believes that the IIDC 2023 participants are committed that ASEAN must be an example of tolerance and unity as well as anchoring world peace / ANTARA

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo said that ASEAN and member countries that have a high religious spirit must be able to anchor world peace. "ASEAN must be an anchor of world peace. I am sure that the ASEAN community has an increasing religious spirit," said Jokowi in the 2023 ASEAN Interculture and Interfaith Dialogue Forum (ASEAN IIDC) in Jakarta, Antara, Monday, August 7. Jokowi added that ASEAN needs to be an anchor for world peace because the global world is currently not doing well. According to the Global Peace Index 2023, global conflicts are increasingly prevalent. In 2008 there were 58 countries involved in conflict and currently 91 countries. In addition, the death rate due to global conflict increased to 238 thousand people with the impact of economic losses rising 17 percent to 17.5 trillion US dollars or equivalent to 13 percent of the global GDP. On the other hand, in the religious field, the world community is starting to become increasingly non-religious. A survey from IPSOS Global Religion 2023 of 19,731 people from 26 countries showed 29 percent of them were agnostic and atheist. "According to EU Research Center data on behalf of religion and the belief in the number of physical violence is increasing," he explained Jokowi believes that the IIDC 2023 participants are committed that ASEAN must be an example of tolerance and unity as well as anchoring world peace. "ASEAN has shown evidence. ASEAN countries, among others, have succeeded in maintaining a strong tradition of tolerance in the midst of cultural and religious diversity. Indonesia is able to continue to maintain harmony and manage the diversity of ethnicity of religious culture and beliefs," said Jokowi. The President believes that the ASEAN community is able to become a catalyst for world peace and become a caring and sharing community that is not only the Epicenter of Growth but is the Epicenter of Harmony that maintains regional stability and world peace. "Therefore, I warmly welcome the constructive role of religious and cultural leaders in ASEAN. Through strategic initiatives, PBNU together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in holding the ASEAN Conference for Interculture and Antaragana 2023 Dialogue," said Jokowi. He hopes that the forum will bring mutual understanding that is increasingly widespread and can become a solid foundation in building ASEAN as the center of growth and center of world harmony. "I hope this forum brings mutual understanding that is increasingly widespread, becoming a solid foundation in building ASEAN as Epicentrum of Growth, Epicentrum of Harmony," said the President. Meanwhile, General Chairperson of the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board Yahya Cholil Staquf in his speech said that this event was a continuation of the Religious Of Twenty (R20) Forum which was held last year, but with a stronger status. He said that this year Indonesia holds the Chairship of ASEAN 2023, and is the host of the ASEAN Summit. He saw that people in ASEAN and Indo-Pacific actually inherited a common civilization and became constituents of a cultural heritage together with the main characteristics of the values of tolerance and harmony. Therefore, said Yahya, his party took the initiative to organize the IIDC 2023 Forum as a kind of initiation to start consolidation from the constituents of large civilizations that could encourage the growth of tolerance and peace which is expected to inspire international dynamics as a whole. "If at the ASEAN Summit the chairmanship of Indonesia puts forward the ASEAN Epicentrum of Growth Theme, we want to contribute with ideas that hopefully can go hand in hand and support the ASEAN Epicentrum of Growth theme by making the ASEAN Epicentrum of Peace, Tolerance and Harmony," he explained.

The event was attended by 200 participants, including 11 domestic speakers, 15 foreign speakers, and 27 delegates from ASEAN countries and invited countries, such as the United States, China, India, and Japan.