DDHK News, Indonesia - Five young Australian Muslims were in Indonesia for two weeks to study the lives of Indonesian Muslims.
Site Australian Radio ABC reported that, as a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia attracted the attention of many Muslims on various continents, including Australia.
Kashif Bouns, a Muslim youth exchange participant initiated by the Australia-Indonesia Institute, who is also a former Australian football player from Melbourne, told Nurina Savitri from ABC International, that traveling to several cities in Indonesia by discussing with a number of Muslim communities and visiting several Islamic boarding schools, impressed him.
Apart from Kashif, who works as a Multicultural Coordinator for the Australian Football League, four other youths namely Laila Ibrahim, Mohamed Salia Dukuly, Nur Shkembi, and Reuben Brand are also very interested in observing the life of Indonesian Muslims, and have the opportunity to see first hand how the dynamics in it.
While in Indonesia, the five exchange participants were invited to tour three cities, namely Jakarta; Bandung and Yogyakarta, to absorb Indonesia's multicultural atmosphere. They also even witnessed the Vesak celebration in the city of Gudeg.
This exchange program is held annually and 2014 is the 13th year of its implementation. This exchange program is expected to be able to build brotherhood between Australian Muslims and its close neighbor, Indonesia. The Australia-Indonesia Institute collaborates with Paramadina University to organize this program in Jakarta. (radioaustralia.net.au). *
