Welcome to the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference (IIDC)

I am convinced that ASEAN is capable of becoming a catalyst for peace, a ‘caring and sharing community,’ not merely an epicentrum of growth, but an epicentrum of harmony that maintains regional stability and fosters peace worldwide.

In keeping with this vision, I warmly welcome the constructive role being played by religious and cultural leaders throughout ASEAN who are participating in the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference 2023 — a strategic initiative of Nahdlatul Ulama and the Republic of Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

~ H.E. Joko Widodo
President of the Republic of Indonesia

On 7 August 2023, senior religious and cultural figures from across South and Southeast Asia convened with the leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Government of Indonesia to chart a course for the region’s re-emergence as a cohesive, vital, and proactive civilizational sphere.

Hosted by Nahdlatul Ulama with the full support of the Government of Indonesia and the ASEAN Secretariat, the two-day ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference (IIDC) offered a striking demonstration of broad institutional, popular, and governmental backing for a regional strategy pioneered by NU leaders and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values (CSCV), known as the “Ashoka Approach.”

The ASEAN IIDC is the brainchild of NU Chairman KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, founder of the Humanitarian Islam movement and the G20 Religion Forum (R20). Following the success of the R20 International Summit of Religious Leaders in Bali, Indonesia, Mr. Staquf proposed establishing a regional intercultural and interreligious dialogue mechanism to President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”), as a means of reviving the ancient civilizational heritage of Southeast Asia and thereby contributing to international peace and security.

President Jokowi pledged his government’s full support to the ASEAN IIDC initiative, which leverages a burgeoning synergy between the world’s largest Muslim organization and the government of ASEAN’s largest nation and economy, in service to a visionary agenda: i.e., the re-emergence of Southeast Asia as a coherent civilizational sphere and powerful, independent pillar of support for a rules-based international order. If achieved, this consolidation has the potential to impact geopolitical dynamics worldwide.

“We have launched the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference in order to begin consolidating a vast constituency upon the basis of shared civilizational values, capable of fostering peace, tolerance, and harmony throughout ASEAN and, God willing, of inspiring a similar dynamic worldwide.”

~ KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board

The inaugural ASEAN IIDC witnessed the adoption of the ASEAN IIDC Jakarta Declaration, a 5-page document that articulates a clear strategic vision and program of action to foster the re-emergence of Southeast Asia as a coherent civilizational sphere and powerful, independent pillar of support for a rules-based international order.

Indonesian President H.E. Joko Widodo chairs the opening plenary of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta. Photo Credit: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr

On 5 – 7 September 2023, the Heads of State/Government of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the 43rd ASEAN Summit under the Chairmanship of the Republic of Indonesia, with the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.” The Chairman’s Statement of the 43rd ASEAN Summit explicitly endorsed the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference (IIDC) and its outcomes.

The Chairman’s Statement of the 43rd ASEAN Summit reads, in part:

1. We, the Heads of State/Government of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 5 September 2023 for the 43rd ASEAN Summit under the Chairmanship of the Republic of Indonesia, with the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.” The Summit was chaired by H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, and convened in accordance with the ASEAN Charter.

122. We reaffirmed the importance of fostering the values of an inclusive, sustainable, resilient, dynamic, and harmonious ASEAN Community through facilitating a greater understanding of shared civilisational values derived from the ASEAN region’s culture and religions, and commended the convening of the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference 2023 with the theme ‘ASEAN Shared Civilizational Values: Building an Epicentrum of Harmony to Foster Peace, Security, and Economic Prosperity,’ in Jakarta on 7 August 2023, and recognised the values of its outcomes.

A student of State Middle School 1, Magelang, Central Java, poses for a photo with an award presented by H.E. Nadiem Anwar Makarim — Indonesia’s Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology — who commended students for their “outstanding proposal [which] has helped shape key elements of the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference and its long-term agenda.”

“We urge government leaders to strengthen character education within the national curricula of ASEAN Member States, so that youth may successfully adapt to the modern world, while simultaneously developing a way of life that imparts the inner resources, character, and resilience required to overcome the negative influences of modernity and globalization.”

~ Students of State Middle School 1
Magelang, Central Java

Above: KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf hands over the ASEAN IIDC Banner to Venerable Dr. Vanh Keobundit, Head of Domestic and International Relations, Central Buddhist Fellowship, of Laos, which holds the 2024 ASEAN Chairmanship.

Haw Pha Bang Temple in Luang Prabang, Laos. Photo Credit: Basile Morin