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Pluralism activist asks Indonesians to stop spreading hate on social media
Wahid Institute director Yenny Wahid: (Antara)Wahid Institute director Yenny Wahid called on Indonesians to spread more peaceful messages during the opening of the International Peace Day at City Hall in Jakarta on Sunday
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Wahid Institute director Yenny Wahid: (Antara) (Antara)
Wahid Institute director Yenny Wahid: (Antara)
Wahid Institute director Yenny Wahid called on Indonesians to spread more peaceful messages during the opening of the International Peace Day at City Hall in Jakarta on Sunday.
The pluralism activist said she was apprehensive about bullying and hateful messages, which were easy to spread via social media.
'We have witnessed many hateful messages distributed through social media. Certain people have provoked us with messages of hate, the accuracy and reliability of which we cannot verify,' she said as quoted by kompas.com on Sunday.
The daughter of former president Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid said the ongoing actions to spread hatred were now getting systematic and radical; therefore, any effort to fight against such hatred must be conducted systematically and on a large scale.
Yenny said that through the International Peace Day celebration, she wanted to urge all Indonesian people to spread more peaceful messages on social media.
'We also want to make a more coordinated effort to spread peaceful messages. We are calling on all Indonesian people to be ready to participate in spreading peaceful messages, at least in their surrounding community,' the activist said.
'Social media should be filled with messages of love. It's the simplest way we can create peace,' she went on.
The International Peace Day celebration, jointly held by the Wahid Institute and peace movement Indonesia #BeraniDamai, offered various activities such as a fun walk. Hundreds of participants from various communities attended the fun walk, which started at City Hall. The event also presented various entertainment activities such as a flash mob, Komunitas 5 Gunung dance performance, Koto musical performance, and barongsai (lion dance). Yenny and popular singer Agnes Monica closed the event reading a peace declaration. (ebf)
