Yogyakarta – Youths were seen as the spearhead of development and the bringer of world peace in the future. Youths had adequate influence in creating the world peace. Youths who always had creative thinking and new innovation in their mind were considered of having big opportunity to participate in creating the world peace. However, there were not many youths who understand their strategic position. Therefore, international forums to bring out youths’ awareness to participate in creating world peace were currently encouraged. International Young Leader Assembly was one of the aforementioned international forums.
In the 5th International Young Leader Assembly which was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 27 to 31, 2014, which brought the theme of “Moral and Innovative Leadership: Service and Entrepreneurship,” the young representatives from all over the world gathered in the event initiated by Global Peace Foundation and Global Young Leaders Academy. There were given explanation on youths’ opportunity as the agent of world peace. Even, they were given chance to formulate statements and everything that should be done by youths to contribute in creating the world peace. The statements were summarized in Bangkok Statement, which was ratified by United Nations (UN) on October 28, 2014.
In the forum, there were 11 youths from Indonesia who also played their roles as Indonesian representatives. They were students of Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UniversitasMuhammadiyah Yogyakarta/UMY), Universitas Indonesia (UI), UniversitasPadjajaran (Unpad) of Bandung, InstitutTeknologiSepuluh November (ITS) of Surabaya, UniversitasNegeri Manado, andUniversitasNasional Jakarta. Besides the eleven college students, there was also a representative from DewanPerwakilan Rakyat (DPR) RI.
When the editorial met Ahmad Jawwad and FitriNavisahFauziyah, as the representative from UMY, on Wednesday (11/26), they explained that there were two main activities in the forum. First, it was the discussion on the youths’ role and potency in the world in creating peace. Second, to formulate Bangkok Statement that included the important points of how and the steps the youths could do in creating world peace. “The first agenda was the discussion, which was conducted in gala dinner held in the American Embassy for Thailand. In the gala dinner, we, the youth representatives from all over the world, talked about the influential role of youths. In the discussion, our main focus also about raising awareness of more youths, that as young people we also have strong influence in creating world peace for the future,” said Ahmad Jawwad.
“They were all included in the draft of Bangkok Statement. Furthermore, to help in creating world peace, youths need to have some important factors. They are, participating in youth empowerment; this could be done through social media, which was widely favorable among the youths. Then, collaborating with social institution in conducting research about young generations’ knowledge on social issues, raising voluntary capacity of youths in national and regional level, participating in multilateral and international voluntary organization, and contributing in creating sustainable development plan,” explained the student of International Relation of UMY, who was also the Deputy of General Secretary of ASEAN Youth Leaders Association.
Jawwad also added that the statements written in Bangkok Statement would be included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015. SDGs 2015 was the follow up plan of MDGs (the program to eradicate world poverty). However, SDGs would focus more on the development agenda after 2015 for the expanded and wider sustainable development. In this event, the youth representatives from each country would be given Global Ambassador Award. (bhpumy)(mac)