STADIUM GENERAL: RELIGION AND ETHNICITY IN INDONESIAN NATIONALISM PERSPECTIVE 

Saturday, November 19, 2016, Graduate Program of Social Sciences held a Stadium General at Graha Cendekia IKIP PGRI MADIUN. The keynote speakers was Prof. Dr. Hermanu Joebagio, M. Pd. He is a professor at the University of March Surakarta. Participants who joined this event were around 849 people. They were the students of Graduate Program of Social Scences and undergraduate students who were taking Pancasila, Civics, and Religion courses. This activity was aimed to the educated younger generation or prospective teachers because teachers have a vital potential in growing nationalism which contained bhineka tunggal ika.

The title taken was RELIGION AND ETHNICITY IN INDONESIAN NATIONALISM PERSPECTIVE. It was chosen because of the up and down of the current political dynamics in Indonesia. Indonesian diversity should be maintained, but it triggered the rupture of unity. It would require the provision of hard work and prayer to achieve the objectives of the Indonesian nation. As explained by Prof. Hermanu, "Nationalism is the power that will encourage unity and friendship based on mutual respect for the rights and ethnical characteristics, ethno religious and ethno cultural as the implications of the historical heritage of the Indonesian culture. Hence the growing nationalism is a variant of multicultural nationalism. Reformation which is demanded by the majority today is the common identity. So, reformation designs conservative nationalism as opposed to a multicultural nationalism."

Dr. Moh. Hanif, M. Pd. as a moderator of the event said, "By the holding the General Stadium, it is expected to increase knowledge about the issues of ethnicity and religion related to Indonesia nationalism, raise awareness of bhineka tunggal ika, and improve the skill of developing Indonesian nationalism." (Div. Humas-BKHK) Picture was taken by Rio Sempana