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On Saturday, March 12th, 2011, Center for Policy Analysis (CEPA) Institut Leimena, in cooperation with the Synod of Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST) and Perkantas Central Sulawesi, held the 12th Civic Education course for young people in Palu city. Budi H. Setiamarga, CePA Director, conducted the course, which was attended by 68 people from the youth groups of various churches and other organizations, such as Perkantas, GMKI, PMKRI and World Vision International. They were mostly students and alumni from various universities, among others Tadulako University, Polytechnic of Health, STIE, STIMIK, and STT Marturia. The course was held at the GKST Effatha Church in Palu, the church that experienced a tragedy in 2004 which resulted in the death of Rev. Susianti Tinulele, STh.
In this training course, the participants were reminded of the basic consensus whereupon the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia has been established, namely the Pancasila and 1945 Constitution. Indonesia has a goal as set forth in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution, that is an independent, united, sovereign, just and prosperous state of Indonesia. These ideals must be fought for by all components of the nation as responsible citizens, including these young Christians. Christian youths should always remember that they are called to be both Christ’s disciples, holding the Bible, and Indonesian citizens, holding the Constitution. Thus, Christian youths should grow in the vertical dimension (relationship with God) and horizontal dimension (relations with others). Young people’s involvement in the public square is to show their love for other people. In addition to building the understanding of the Constitution, participants were also trained to think through a legsilative bill critically in small group setting. The participants were then encouraged to hold this housegroup/small group discussion, called “Citizen Discussion”, as a followup of this Civic Education course.
Seeing the enthusiasm of the young people in this Citizen Education course in Palu, we are hopeful that their sense of nationality will be aroused and they will pass on this spirit to others in their community, so that they will shine brighter as light to their surroundings. The seeds have been sown and they will not go in vain.
