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mid growing intolerance leading to extremism and radicalism, youth empowerment could be the key to maintaining an environment of peace, stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia, a conference has been told.

“We are witnessing the return of identity politics in its most extreme form, where religions, ethnic groups and ideologies are pitted against one another for narrow and short-sighted interests,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in her keynote speech for a regional youth conference on peace and tolerance in Jakarta on Friday.

The conference, organized by the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) and supported by the Foreign Ministry and the ASEAN-Korean Cooperation Fund (AKCF), gathered hundreds of youths from the region to discuss how to increase youth involvement in promoting peace in the region.

“The sad part is that many of our youth have not only fallen victim to this new brand of disinformation, but have also chosen to be messengers of fake news, intolerance and hatred,” Retno said.

Numbering more than 200 million, Retno said the Southeast Asian youth population had massive potential waiting to be unlocked.

She said the government must provide an enabling environment for young people to become engines of economic growth.

“Economic development creates an incentive to drive youth today from intolerance and extremism to focusing more on improving their lives and the lives of those around them,” she said, adding that the Indonesian government under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had been very supportive of the creative
economy.

In addition, she said youth empowerment could only flourish in an open and tolerant society.

“While diversity is given, tolerance must be nurtured. Your job as future leaders is to instill tolerance, fairness and openness in our society,” she told the participants.

Actress Chelsea Islan said her generation could play many roles in the context of countering and preventing violent extremism.

“The youth of the ASEAN [region] should be involved actively and creatively in the prevention of violence and extremism through online and offline advocacy and an awareness-raising campaign,” she said.

She said the internet, social media or artificial intelligence these days provided more opportunities to act and become engaged in the prevention of violent extremism, including in advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns or in research and data analysis.

In addition, she said, the highly connected generation made it possible to communicate and amplify messages for the prevention of violent extremism.

“Our unique situation in society […] put us in a strategic position to work with key constituencies that are hard to reach. These are our unique assets that I believe should be harnessed for the prevention of violent extremism,” she said.

Noting the gap between generations, Retno said her “old people” generation needed to create the right platform to hear voices from the younger generation.

“We need to create space for peace and tolerance to be cultivated and to displace the propaganda of violent extremism,” she said.

Participants of the event included dozens of representatives from youth organizations in ASEAN countries and South Korea, students from various universities, and representatives from NGOs engaged in the promotion of peace.