Giving voice to the voiceless
Four days ago, I attended a discussion on a draft law on interreligious harmony in Indonesia. This discussion was attended by representatives from NGOs. Everyone was expected to share his/her own view or feedback to the draft law. I saw most of the participants were youth while some other were more senior and experienced activists holding an important position in the NGO or a government institution. As in other discussion involving both youths and seniors, there is a tendency that the youth play a more passive role compared to the senior. This is because, as youth, some of us might feel insignificant and inferior. We choose not to speak and just let seniors speak. Of course there are also youth who are confident enough to speak up, but I often see the unconfident ones. And to be honest, I sometimes fall to the unconfident category, too! When the forum is dominated by seniors, I tend to just remain silent. I have some ideas on my mind, but I'm not sure if this is good enough. I some...