Social Harmony and Local Wisdom to Prevent Social Conflict

KUNINGAN (November 4, 2020) - The Ministry of Social Affairs continues to establish the Forum for Social Harmony (FKS) and Local Wisdom (KL) to prevent social conflicts and deradicalism in society.

The Director of Social Protection for Victims of Social Disasters (PSKBS) at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Sunarti, explained that the Social Harmony Forum is a solution for early detection of the seeds of radicalism and social conflict because people can get to know each other more intimately and personally in the village.

"Through this forum, the community is invited to work together/gotong royong with each other, even though they have different backgrounds," explained Sunarti when handing over the FKS program assistance to the Kuningan Regent at the Sindangjawa Village Office, Wednesday (11/5).

Sunarti added that the Ministry of Social Affairs had formed FKS in 350 villages/sub-districts and KL as many as 300 art studios/groups in 2020.

"We hope that villages that already have this forum can prevent possible conflicts from arising," explained Sunarti.

Meanwhile, Dharma Wanita Persatuan Advisor of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Grace Batubara, expressed her hope that the community could develop FKS and KL into tourist destinations in their respective villages.

"Social harmony, if continuously fostered, can become a safe and comfortable tourist destination because with this system, arts in the village can develop. This can attract tourists to come," said Grace.

Grace asked the local government to foster FKS and KL through art studios that have been assisted in their respective areas to become tourist destinations.

"On this occasion, I ask the Kuningan Regency Government to develop the newly formed FKS Sindangjawa Village. This village has a cool climate and is suitable for tourist destinations," he added.

4 FKS in Kuningan

Meanwhile, the Head of the Prevention Sub-directorate (Kasubdit) of the PSKBS Directorate, Muhammad Tahir, explained that to help harmony, harmony and the development of arts in society, the Ministry of Social Affairs has formed the 42nd FKS and the 35th art group throughout West Java, including in Sindangjawa Village, Kuningan Regency.

"Today, we are forming the 42nd FKS. We hope that this can develop and become a tourist destination, apart from being a part of deradicalism," said Tahir.

Tahir added that the Ministry of Social Affairs had provided assistance of Rp700.000.000 to develop FKS and KL in Sindangjawa Village, Kuningan Regency.

"This assistance consists of Social Harmony assistance with a total of Rp600.000.000 for 4 villages/kelurahan and Local Wisdom with a total assistance of Rp100.000.000 for 2 studios/art group," said Tahir.

In order to facilitate Social Harmony and Local Wisdom in 2020 nationally, the Ministry of Social Affairs also synergizes with other Ministry/Institutional programs, especially related to mapping conflict-prone areas.