Indonesia program focuses on family
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JAKARTA, INDONESIA
The government of Indonesia is making a historical and bold move to strengthen families across the nation by launching a national "Weekly Family Night" program.
Leaders from the nation's Ministry of Social Services and the Ministry of Education have taken the initiative to build strong families by encouraging and training its citizens to hold a "Weekly Family Night." The concept was introduced at a two-day seminar and workshop with Church participation July 4-5. Those attending the opening event were government officials, social workers and religious leaders.
The "Family Enrichment Manual," authored by Wendy W. Sheffield and Shirley E. Cox from BYU's School of Social Services, was introduced to assist families. LDS Charities, a humanitarian organization of the Church, recently translated the manual into Bahasa Indonesian.
H. Bachtair Chamsyah, Minister of Indonesia Social Services, opened the seminar/workshop and introduced the theme by stating, "Together we will make families strong which, in turn, will make a strong nation."
BYU's Dr. Richard B. Miller, director of the School of Family Life; E. Jeffery Hill, associate professor of the School of Family Life, and Wendy W. Sheffield, professor of the School of Social Work, instructed the training program. Local speakers included Dr. Ahmad Mubarok, a prominent family therapist, and Dr. Alwi Shihab, a well-known Muslim scholar and former coordinating minister for People's Welfare.
The attendance was more than 375 on opening day in Jakarta, with 150 attending "Train the Trainers" workshops the second day at the Sekolah Alam Cikeas nature school in Bogor, about a 1 1/2-hour drive from Jakarta.
The "Weekly Family Night" program will be implemented by training citizens to teach their families principles of honesty, good citizenship and positive moral values.
Among those responding positively to the program was Parlindungan Purba, a member of the Indonesia House of Representatives from North Sumatra. He said, "The seminar is so exiting because it addresses the important issues on family, and I want to develop the program in North Sumatra."
