The Institute for Research and Community Services (LPPM) UIN Salatiga with the Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga collaboratively held an International Community Development Seminar on Monday, September 19, 2022. The event was held in the hall of Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga. A total of 50 participants consisting of teachers, extension workers and invited guests attended the international seminar.
The opening speech is delivered by the head of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga, Mr. H. Taufqur Rahman. He welcomed this event and said that this activity was a form of follow-up of the collaboration between UIN Salatiga and the Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga. Furthermore, Mrs. Sari Famularsih, M.A as the Head of the Research and Publishing Center of LPPM UIN Salatiga was also very enthusiastic about the good response from the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga regarding this seminar event.
The speaker of this international seminar was Dr. rer. Pol. Reinhard Aehnelt from Germany. He is one of the senior experts from the German SES program who came to UIN Salatiga and stayed for 3 weeks. SES is a German institution that sends experts to several countries, one of which is Indonesia. As one of the efforts of LPPM UIN Salatiga in serving the community, collaboration was held to hold an International Seminar entitled Community Development with the aim of providing an overview of how the condition of society in Germany and Indonesia is.
Reinhard delivered material related to community development. In the seminar, he told about the journey of Germany to become one of the developed countries in Europe as it is today. One of the things he emphasized was about equality in life. That is, what can be enjoyed by those who live in Jakarta, for example, must also be enjoyed by those who live in Papua, be it in infrastructure, education, and health facilities. Even though it’s difficult, Indonesia has to keep working on it.
Participants also seemed very enthusiastic in participating in this seminar. It was proved by the number of questions asked during the question and answer session. One of the teachers who attended the event asked about the role of religion in Germany. Reinhard said that in Germany, religion is a subject taught in schools. This is done because religious education is important for its citizens because religion teaches good things. The question ended with a note that the religious curriculum to be used must be approved by religious leaders from each community and also the ministry.
Reinhard also said that Germany had experienced great damage after the World War II. But slowly they were able to rise again to become what they are today. He believes that Indonesia will also slowly rise to become a developed country by paying attention to the development of its people through various kinds of businesses.
After the seminar, the representatives from UIN Salatiga discussed further with the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga in the Head’s Office. Mr. Taufiq hopes that in the future, the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Salatiga can hold a follow-up collaboration with LPPM UIN Salatiga. Especially, if there are guest lecturers from abroad, there will be another event to share information so that in the future it can contribute to improve community development programs.