President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo told dozens of students taking part in the Indonesia-Australia Youth Interfaith Dialog that both nations face the same challenge: maintaining unity in a multicultural society.
Jakarta and Canberra sponsored the interfaith dialog, held in Sydney from March 12 to March 20, involving 19 Indonesian and 15 Australian young people. They were given a chance to share a light moment with President Jokowi and Prime Minister (PM) Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday.
“Diversity is beautiful and more beautiful if we respect each other. I hope young people like you can adopt the value of tolerance and peace,” he said at the meeting with the students, held on the sidelines of ASEAN-Australia special summit.
“We need millions of ambassadors like you to spread tolerance and peace.”
Previously in the morning, the President and First Lady Iriana had met with Indonesian youth from different religious backgrounds, namely Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian.
Jokowi emphasized the power of unity, saying development would be achieved faster if Indonesians could strengthen their unity.
“Our young people are smart. We often win a number of world-level science Olympiads. But the key for the economic leap is unity.”