CRCS Holds Concert of Harmony “Youth, Religion and Peace”

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www.ugm.ac.id

After the success of the youth interfaith gathering event entitled Youth, Religion and Disaster with students representatives from religious organizations from each campus as the participants on February 12, 2011, as the final event of the World Interfaith Harmony Week activities (WIHW), CRCS held a music concert entitled Concert for Harmony. The concert in the Koesnadi Hardjosoemantri Cultural Center, Saturday (26/2) aims to promote messages of peace and the spirit of inter-religious dialogue which is the soul of WIHW. The committee intentionally presents the students with different religious backgrounds, with the hope of improving interfaith cooperation among young people, especially students.

Besides Adhitia Sofyan, the arising young musician from Jakarta, the event is also enlivened by several Yogyakarta musicians like Rizky Summer Bee and the Honey Thief, The cadenza, Sastromoeni, Blacklist Hip Hop, and Diyn. As the host, Blangkon and Hahan brought laughter from the whole audience in attendance at the building.
“We hope the messages of harmony and spirit of peace of this event are not only transferred to the audience, but also to the musicians performing, thus in the future the works they create will be highlighted by the spirit of this event,” said Director of CRCS UGM, Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir, Saturday (26/2) on UGM campus.
Zainal Abidin said that religion actually presents to bring happiness and peace to human life and the environment. Unfortunately, in its development, it often becomes a source of conflict and hostility, so that the religious life is often characterized by suspicion and violent acts in the name of religion.
Various efforts of dialogue have been conducted to eliminate any suspicions and promote tolerance among religious followers. Moreover at the end of 2010, after a series of meetings between religious leaders in the world, the UN set the first week of February as the World’s Harmony Week between religions or the World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW).

This decision, said Zainal, was made based on the proposal of King of Jordan, King Abdullah during a speech in front of the UN General Assembly 2010 – He emphasized that humans are bound to one another, not only because of common interests but also by God’s command to love God and neighbors. For that purpose, King Abdullah proposed that there is a special week where everyone in their respective places of worship expresses their religious teachings of tolerance, peace and respect to others. “This resolution was well received by the UN General Assembly, and the World Interfaith Harmony Week was born, aiming to improve tolerance and peace between religions in the world,” said Zainal.

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