Australia-Indonesia Interfaith Dialogue
Background:
The Australia Indonesia Interfaith Dialogue was established under the auspices of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to promote mutual understanding, foster respect, and achieve peace-building goals. Following the first successful interfaith dialogue in 2019, the Australia and Indonesian Governments highlighted continued support for the Dialogues in their Plan of Action for the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2020-2024).
The 2022 Dialogue was centred around three agreed and pressing issues, focusing on the ways different faith communities in each country:
1. Interact with youth and social media.
2. Approach climate change and other environmental issues.
3. Face the challenges of the COVID19 pandemic.
2022 Dialogue Overview:
- Program planned jointly with regular communication between the Indonesian and Australian co-chairs
- Presentations and contributions from 19 expert speakers and chairs from at least 6 faith groups
- 32 Australian and Indonesian interlocutors with significant expertise in the themes actively participated with lively questions and information exchange in the chat
- Total of 79 participants including observers
- Dialogue recorded and permission gained for distribution to wider audience
- Simultaneous interpretation provided by expert team
- Support for deeper engagement and continuing sharing of experiences, research findings, new models and emerging challenges and opportunities, particularly face to face
- Summative messages from the Co-Chairs, Professor Tim Lindsey and Professor Jamhari Makrut