Gus Yahya, NU Supreme Council Secretary-General, Talks Global Peace in the US

Washington, NU Online
Nahdlatul Ulama Supreme council Secretary-General KH Yahya Cholil Staquf (Gus Yahya) visited Washington DC, United States (US) to participate in world peace activism, Saturday (10/7). According to him, although the Covid-19 pandemic still overshadows the world, the international community cannot delay efforts to find solutions to various no less pressing problems, especially related to the threat of increasingly dangerous conflict at the local, regional and global levels.

During five days in the US, Gus Yahya will follow five main agendas. Gus Yahya was asked to involve in IF20 (Inter-Faith 20), which become another plan in the G20 Summit, held next September in Bologna, Italy.

As a representative of the Global Islamic Movement for Humanity (Islam Humanitarian), Gus Yahya will hold a summit with the Muhammad Mosque Community, known as The Nation Mosque. It is the African-American Muslim community whose ancestors were enslaved in America centuries ago. This summit is entitled "Building a Global Alliance Founded Upon Shared Civilizational Values."

"In addition, following the WEA (World Evangelical Alliance), an International Evangelical organization with more than 600 million followers in 140 countries," said Gus Yahya.

Gus Yahya will also attend the International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF Summit) for three days. At the summit, he will deliver a speech at one of its plenaries with the topic "The Rising Tide of Religious Nationalism."

Besides that, Gus Yahya is also scheduled to meet several US senators, namely Mitt Romney, Benjamin Sasse, and Thomas Cotton.

In addition, Gus Yahya will also share a panel with Michael Pompeo, the former US Secretary of State, at a conference organized by one of the largest US think tanks, the Hudson Institute, to discuss issues related to stability of the Indo-Pacific region.

"I will carry the ideals of Nahdlatul Ulama ideas, the values ​​of Pancasila, and the main ideas in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution," said Gus Yahya.

He explained that the vision of humanity in NU's idealism and the foundation of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia contains the much-needed inspiration to find a way out of the most dangerous threat of global destabilization today, such as conflicts between identities, whether ethnic, religious, or secular ideologies.

Editor: Muchlishon
Translator: Muhammad Faizin