Four Fijians Learn From Bali Democracy Forum
Four Fijians were part of a recent forum in Jakarta, Indonesia, deliberating on issues related to democracy from the perspective of youth.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia organised a student conference to mark the 10th year of the Bali Democracy Forum from December 7-8 with the theme ‘From Campus for Democracy’.
The conference brought together 150 students from various universities in 61 countries including the four Indonesian scholarship Fiji alumni participants.
The role of youths in democracy building is vital in society because they are the future leaders of tomorrow and need to actively participate in democratic processes and parliamentary sittings.
Participant, Christine Nikola, said it was a good learning experience for her, especially when Fiji goes to the polls next year.
Ms Nikola said adopting ideas from participants of larger nations on how they deal with democratic processes was an eye opener. She added that true democracy of a nation is all about an equal and fair election.
The conference started with a joint session with the Bali Democracy Forum for the opening session followed by discussions with all participants to transfer and share knowledge about the discourse on democracy with the younger generation.
Education plays a critical role in informing youths to practice their rights to freedom of speech and access to information using social media positively to raise awareness on democracy that best serves the interest of youths with transparency, accountability and inclusiveness. The outcome of the Bali Democracy students conference was presented as a report to the Bali Democracy Forum called ‘Voice of the Youths’. “Government and stakeholders should recognise youth participants at the local, regional and international levels to actively raise issues on democracy which includes the protection of human rights and creating opportunity in business to make the economy grow. “Democracy does not belong to one country and for democracy to thrive it must deliver and it will deliver,” the forum endorsed.