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 sometimes question my own thought: If I raise this issue, will people think this is a stupid idea?

I am also learning to be more confident. So, when the moderator opened the discussion and asked what we thought of the draft law, I just volunteered to be the first to voice my concern about the draft law and shared some feedback. An hour had passed, but I saw no youth speaking up. I saw a young man from a minority group sitting next to me. He was typing on his laptop. He took a note of everyone's view and feedback in the discussion. I accidentally saw the bottom part of his screen and found out that he actually had some good thoughts! I encouraged him to speak, but he didn't want to. He seemed reluctant and unconfident.

I could feel what he felt. He didn't say it to me, but I just had a feeling that he might feel inferior. Most of those who spoke were seniors with a respectable position in the NGOs and government institutions. So, my feeling about him feeling inferior might be true. 

I decided to tell the forum that he had some thoughts to share, with a joke that if we didn't give him a chance to speak up then he couldn't sleep because his thoughts would continue to be thoughts (If Indonesians are reading this, he actually wrote on his screen: kepikiranku, so that inspired the joke I made).

He then shared his thoughts. I saw everyone, including the senior, pay attention to him. Some nodded their heads, indicating that they found his thoughts inspiring or acceptable.

After he shared his view, I told him that his thoughts were indeed great! I also told him to be more confident and just speak up. He replied that he didn't feel confident because he was just a bachelor's student while most were seniors with important positions and more experiences.

I could relate. I was in his position, too, and I often chose to stay silent. But let me just motivate all youths who might read this to have confidence in yourselves. Everyone has something to bring to the table, and that's equally significant. We might think our experience is insignificant, but it would still benefit the discussion!

It reminds me of my own experience when I was the only youth and the only female in a discussion. I, too, initially felt so small compared to the rest who were all respectable in their fields. I was talking to myself if I needed to bring up my concern because everyone seemed to have delivered good comments. Then, I found the courage to just speak up because my concern hadn't been raised by others and I thought it was necessary to bring up this issue. Everyone just talked about discrimination to minority groups in general, but I was concerned with women in minority groups who faced double discrimination based on their religion/ethnicity and gender. I shared some examples of this, too, and shared my view on how we could address this and encouraged the male counterparts in the minority groups to also help. Had I decide not to speak, this issue might continue to be marginalised and women's voice will continue to be missing.

When we are given the opportunity to attend a discussion, just speak up. Confidence is built. If we don't start and just wait until we have more experiences worth to share, then it means we will just continue to be unconfident. Regardless of how many experiences we have, we will still feel insignificant because it is how we look at ourselves. May this also remind me when I feel not confident with myself and my view.

And if you are in a forum and see others haven't spoken up, you can also encourage them to speak. When someone is silent, it doesn't mean they don't have anything to share. It can be that they have good points or concerns, but feel unconfident with it. If the forum is small, calling their names one by one might also be helpful. I reflected on my own experience that when I wasn't confident with myself and stayed silent, but my name was called, I had a little more confidence to share my view.

So, let's continue to support each other and be more inclusive!