Youth, Leadership, and Responsible Citizenship

IL News 004/2019

Tjilik Riwut. Central Kalimantan airport is named after his name. He was the first governor of Central Kalimantan. As the Dayak, he represented hundreds of Dayak tribes to vow faithfulness for the nation. His service for Central Kalimantan advancement and Indonesia has awarded him a National Hero.

Youth Regional Consultation for Kalimantan region of Indonesia Church Council member was held on 17-19 January 2019 in this Tjilik Riwut city. Seventy teenagers and youths attended this consultation and discussed nation’s issues as summed in the subtheme “As a Solidarity, We Practice Pancasila Values to Fight Poverty, Injustice, Radicalism, and Environment Destruction”.

Puansari Siregar from Leimena Institute was the speaker for Youth, Leadership, and Responsible Citizenship topic.

She started the session by asking participants to reflect deeper on the fact that youth always played significant role in history. The 1928 Youth Pledge is the living proof when the youths were pioneers for our nation’s unity.

Their role must be continued by today’s youths. Not only by being responsible in personal sphere, but also by going out of church’s wall to dissolve society’s problems. Christian youths are called to be impactful in exercising their calling and be sensitive for the sake of society’s advancement.

Hence, the responsibility as citizens become life practice. This way, the hope to continue Tjilik Riwut’s leadership become more real too.