Kalla Appreciates Agreement Between Rival KNPI Camps

Ambon, Maluku, (Antara Bali) - Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla said he appreciated the fact that the two rival camps in the National Indonesian Youth Committee (KNPI) had agreed to jointly hold a congress in Jakarta on October 25-28, 2011.

"The agreement is  good because it shows that our youth can be innovative  despite their differences, an indication they can prepare themselves for  greater things," Kalla said on the sidelines  of a World Youth Forum on Peace and Harmony in Ambon, Maluku, on Saturday.

He said the agreement between the two conflicting sides in KNPI was  something positive  because the efforts to create world peace should begin  with peace inside the KNPI itself.

"The efforts to create  peace and harmony in the world should start with steps to do the same within the  KNPI itself. Afterward, KNPI's peace and harmony initiatives can be made nationally and eventually internationally," Kalla said.

He said  creation of peace and harmony was not just a matter of adopting resolutions or recommendations at seminars.

"Youths as leaders of the future should be innovative by seeing and capturing every existing opportunity to manage our abundant natural resources properly for the people's welfare," the former vice president said.

Kalla then urged the younger generation to  prepare themslves to face and solve  rather than run away from problems.

"Show your capacity as  youths who are ready to continue the development of this nation by finding the best possible way out of problem," Kalla said on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum on Peace and Harmony which was officially opened by Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu.

Organized by the World Assembly of Youth (WAY), the two-day meeting is attended by around 100 KNPU members and eight foreign youths representing  Timor Leste, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Russia, and the Netherlands.

Ralahalu on the occasion expressed  high appreciation to the KNPI central executive board and the World Assembly of Youth which
had chosen Maluku as the event's host.

The governor also  welcomed the presence of foreign youths at the meeting to discuss concrete steps to maintain  peace because he believed  security conditions in Ambon were getting more conducive after a communal clash on September 11, 2011.(*/T007)