Irfan Amalee has created channels for young people to become peacemakers, to make peace within one self, in one’s relation with others, and actively promote and practice non-violence ways in dealing with conflicts.
The New Idea
Irfan created Peace Generation, a vehicle for youth community to link 12 basic values of peace to their own personal experience, and become Agent of Peace, spreading the skill and value in their schools and community environment. While many youth retract to violence to prove their existence, Irfan introduces Peace Generation as a brand of cool alternative lifestyle through pop culture, music, fashion, and youth events. He realized that the culture of violence comes from people’s permissiveness, which later turn into justification on the use of it to reach one’s purpose. To reverse the trend, Irfan initiated a model of peace education based on 12 basic values of peace, aiming schools, youth activists, and youth groups based on their level of knowledge about peace issue.
To spread the values, Irfan relies on Agent of Peace, selected teachers, volunteers, activists, and students/ children representatives from Training of Trainers held by Peace Generation in partnership with many institutions, such as UNICEF, local office of Education Department, corporate CSR, and a number of schools and local NGOs. Agent of Peace is equipped with facilitation capacity and materials needed to organize peace education.
Agent of Peace further instills the values on basic learner, the majority of youth, either through school based peace education as part of the curriculum or through community group activities. Starting from 50, Peace Generation has now 10,000 Agents of Peace, involving around 25,000 students in peace education lessons in hundreds of schools all around Indonesia. These alumnae of peace education have later fed into Peace Generation Community.
To maintain this community and gain more followers, Irfan designed various model of event based peace campaign. Aware of his market character, Irfan showcases groups who have stereotyped prejudice against each other in hype events such as rock concert, sport, camp, or school exchange visit. This model serves also as social franchise for replication in other local Peace Generation Community. As the community began to form a market, Irfan also introduced peace merchandise business unit to sustain the movement and promote social ventures among local agents of peace.
The Problem
In sought of security and acceptance, youth are susceptible to participation in gang activity and use violence to resolve conflict. Indonesian Police Database (2009) stated that within the last 3 years, among children and youth (4-18 years) there’s an increase of 129% peer crime/ violence, not including unrecorded school gang violence and peer bullying. Another research in 2009 mentioned that within a year 2390 cases of student mass fight cases have resulted in 89 fatalities among students, not to mention fight among football supporters and motorcycle gang.
Historically, youth today was grown up in an intrinsically violent system during the New Order era where the state used violence with impunity to impose stability. Furthermore, children learn violent behaviors from their family and peers, as well as observe it in their neighborhoods and in the community at large. Physical aggression then perceived as common by the community. Youth and adult are lacking conflict management’s “how to”, as most schools and religious institutions indoctrinate people with teachings if not prejudice against others.
Many have implemented peace-building activities; nonetheless, they are more as remedial measures. Workshops on conflict resolution and trauma healing are often organized for victim community though only on project basis rather than continuous and independently. Even though there are many violence cases among students, very limited parties work with education institutions, and hardly anyone teach the practical skills needed to cope with the reality.
The Strategy
Learning from various trainings about peace and non-violence, Irfan realized how the peace building failed to be spread to schools simply because the materials are too conceptual and complicated, not applicative and fun to be learned. He started designing a peace education model by formulating 12 basic values of peace, introducing 3 sets of conditions and skills prerequisite to build the path to peace: proper view of self – how to build self awareness and overcome stereotype, proper view of others – how to deal with differences in ethnic, religion, gender, economic class, and other grouping, and proper relationship and conflict management – how to understand conflict, admit one’s mistake, and forgive. Here Irfan relates the abstract understanding of peace to youngsters’ everyday experience, for example bullying, thus instilling the value that peace is not merely the absence of war.
To communicate the message, he translated the model into education modules for youth, including fun teaching method and tools for the teachers. Mobilizing other institutions, schools, and volunteers, trainings then followed on 2 levels: teacher training to specifically implement the model in schools, and training of trainers to prepare Agent of Peace, those who will be spearheading the spread of the model on community level. Lobbying effort is also made to integrate the model into local curriculum.
In Aceh province, for example, Irfan’s module was chosen by UNICEF to be adopted for peace education program, and is later integrated into the school curriculum. The module is now modified with local contents by the District Education Office and soon will be applied in schools throughout the province. In the evaluation report, teachers and headmasters noted a change of students’ behavior, among which improvement in public speaking, teamwork, and respect to others. Most teachers reported, as curriculum adds teaching tools, their problem solving and critical thinking skills had as well improved and changed the way they behave within their own families, especially in regards to disciplining their children, and managing their anger while dealing with students. The students and schools also organize public events to further spread the campaign and encourage the practice of peaceful behaviors among wider society.
To upscale spread, Agent of Peace are trained and certified to train teachers, other Agent of Peace, or implement directly peace education both in schools or community groups, such as community learning group. Peace Generation also encourage them and acknowledge their effort to take initiative and spread the peace virus by giving them The Young Peacemaker Award. Among 2010 awardees is Ishaq Sawawa, undergrad student of Muhammadiyah University in Gorontalo cum part time English teacher who independently including the modules into his English class, initiated public interfaith dialogue in his university under “Peace of Celebes” movement, and now integrating this module to a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) curriculum in Surabaya under character building subject.
Realizing that a sense of identity is important to youth, Irfan initiated Peace Generation community among graduates of peace education. Upon completion of peace education, students organize a ceremony or celebration, declaring together a “Peace Promise” and awarded Peace Generation wristband and pin. The school also received Peace School certificate in recognition to their participation.
As the community grows, Irfan captured them as market and marketer of Peace Generation, as active participant and organizer of various peace campaign public events. Irfan basic formula for such event is “programmed confrontation of different stereotypes.” For example in “Breaking Down the Wall,” students from one international school visit a pesantren, giving them a chance to fall down their stereotyping. Another example is “Rock the Peace” inviting 2 bands from different cultural backgrounds performing on one stage.
Though originally intended for junior high students, the module is now used also for high school and primary school curriculum in hundreds of school and pesantren in Indonesia, as well as independent community groups organized. Irfan also presented this model during peace building workshop in Budapest, Hongaria, 2008. The module has been now translated into Moro (the Philippines), Thai languages, and Urdu (for the Talibans). Irfan also strategically plan to translate it into English, as another opportunity to tap into more schools by providing the module as teaching material for English subject while at the same learn about peace. Due to popular demand, it’s also to be adapted based on various religious teaching, and adjusted for younger audience.
The Person
Irfan was born in a strict and conservative Islamic family and grew up in alley connected high-density residential area in Cibeureum, Bandung, West Java. He experienced living among people with different culture and faith. However, his father later sent him to a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Garut for him to be a cleric. Six years living in a closed community of Pesantren made him puzzled as he was taught doctrines with tendency of prejudice against others.
During his university days in Islamic State University Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung, he joined Muhammadiyah Youth Association, in which he participated in various trainings about peace issue. Together with his colleagues, Irfan then adopted and popularize active non-violence reflective study. They conduct training and focus group discussion among youth, screening movies about Chico Mendez and Mahatma Gandhi, to show that violence is not the only way to reach the goal.
He also initiated with his colleagues “Pesan-trend” magazine, which was well accepted and distributed in Garut District, and later Retas (Resistensi Tanpa Kekerasan – Resistance without Violence), which then became supplement for national prominent teen magazine. He joined Indonesian delegation in a number of regional and international forums about peace and tolerance.
After getting married, Irfan worked at Mizan Publishing company where he learned about making media for children and youth and later served as CEO of Mizan Pelangi, a direct selling subsidiary. Familiar with modern marketing theory, Irfan match the concept in his business and social activism, for example by empowering housewives to become book reviewer and sales agent, thus increasing literacy culture. On his third year of work with Mizan he returned on his peace work together with his American colleague Eric Clinton and developed the Peace Generation program as the CSR program of the company.
Irfan dreams to set up international standard school with peace as the core value. Students can have broad vision of humanity, make friends globally, and grasp a good intercultural understanding. This school will serve also as a lab for peace, conflict, and tolerance. Irfan is also an active writer, editor, and filmmaker and in 2008 won the British Council International Young Creative Entrepreneur.
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