SLEMAN, Indonesia (UCAN) – Two Jesuit-run institutions based in Yogyakarta have set up a public space for young intellectuals to discuss issues related to multiculturalism.

Kanisius Publishing House and Realino Study Center have set up Multiculture Campus Realino within the Catholic University of Sanata Dharma in Yogyakarta Special Province’s Sleman district. Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the governor of Yogyakarta, inaugurated the campus on July 25. About 100 university students, lecturers and representatives of interreligious organizations attended.

At the opening, Jesuit Father Agustinus Sarwanto, director of Kanisius, told UCA News Multiculture Campus Realino is a space for “young intellectuals with fresh and healthy ideas to be relaxed and serious as well.” Accordingly, he said, “we provide books and magazines like Basis, which is often used by intellectuals as a reference for various social issues.”

Basis, first published in 1951, is a local Jesuit-run monthly magazine containing social and cultural analyses.
Besides providing a discussion room for people to sit on mats in traditional style, Father Sarwanto said the 600-square-meter campus has a cafe, a book showroom, a printing room and an open stage. All facilities, he pointed out, must deal with multiculturalism, and “the space is intentionally open so that youths in the area can easily watch or join in the activities.”

According to the priest, the campus was set up strategically near several other private and state universities, as well as student boarding houses.

Angelina Ratna Kumalasari, a 22-year-old student of the Catholic University of Sanata Dharma, welcomes the campus. “It is needed nowadays when many people feel more comfortable mingling only with people of the same belief, religion and culture,” she told UCA News on Aug. 5.

During the inauguration, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X acknowledged that Indonesia has one of the world’s greatest arrays of religions, ethnicities and cultures. However, even if “diversity is like a mosaic decorating this country so beautifully,” he noted that modernization, accompanied by a growing number of religious, ethnic and cultural issues, has brought about conflicts.

The governor, a Muslim, said he welcomes the new campus as a space that will enhance Yogyakarta’s image. The city, 430 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, is already known as “City of Tolerance.”
Kiai Hajj Abdul Muhaimin, who chairs the Fraternal Forum of Religious Believers of Yogyakarta, led the inauguration’s opening prayer.

He later told UCA News that Indonesia’s diversity of cultures and religions, with their various symbols and philosophies, is “extraordinary.” Stressing that one must appreciate, not reject, such diversity, the Muslim leader said he hopes people will wholeheartedly support Multiculture Campus Realino.

Jesuit Father Paulus Wiryono Priyotamtomo, rector of the Catholic University of Sanata Dharma, also attended the inauguration.

Kanisius Publishing House temporarily runs the campus, but there are plans to make it an independent institution in the future.