Catholic Nun: Young People Must Stop Being Hateful

PPIM.UINJKT.AC.ID – Fernanda Ambar Pratiwi, a Catholic nun, warned the young generation to not easily insult and humiliate other people. “Don’t be julid [hateful] and don’t make fun of it,” she said on Friday (24/7).

She made the statement in a virtual seminar series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Interfaith Millennials Talking about Religious Moderation”, which was organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

The head of Syantikara Student Dormitory emphasized the importance to be open-minded and respect diversity. She believed that every individual was born as a good person because God created him or her with full of love.

She also underlined that it was important to hold dialogues to talk about the issues faced by the country. As citizens, all people had equal obligations to defend the country and preserve the cultures, regardless of their religions. They had to develop the nation with dignity, uphold fairness, help each other, gotong royong (work together) and maintain cultural nobility, she said.

“Dialogues are crucial for us to know our real selves. That does not mean to be selfish, but to be more tolerant and to respect humanity. The deeper [the dialogues] get, the more open-minded we will be towards [the things] that are different with us,” Fernanda said.

Besides Fernanda, the discussion that was moderated by Convey Indonesia Team Leader Jamhari Makruf also presented several young figures from different religious backgrounds, such as Meilan Rahayu Putri (Head of Indonesian Konghucu Youth, Bogor chapter), Ida Ayu Prasati (a representative of Hinduism), Yerry Pattinasarany (a young Protestant Pastor), Anes Dwi Prasetya from HIKMAHBUDI, and Fikri Fahrul Faiz from Convey Indonesia.

Writer: Andita Putri Ghassani
Editor: Zhella Apriesta