JAKARTA (UCAN): The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, expressed his gratitude to Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung, West Java, one of the nation’s oldest Catholic universities for its contribution to the country’s progress.
Speaking on January 17 during celebrations marking the institution’s 67th anniversary, Widodo said he was grateful for the role played by the university “in the history of the nation in the form of thoughts, human resources and real works for the progress of Indonesia.”
Widodo appealed to the university to continue to live up to Pancasila, the five principles of Indonesia’s national ideology based on secularism, which he said was the strength of the country.
“I hope that this university will contribute to the transformation of Indonesia, contributing through superior human resources, through innovation in science and technology,” he said.
Widodo also inaugurated the new Arntz-Geise building on the campus to commemorate the names of the two pioneering European missionaries: Bishop Pierre Marin Arntz of Bandung, and member of the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross; and Bishop Paternus Nicholas Joannes Cornelius Geiseof Bogor, of the Order of Friars Minor.
Mangadar Situmorang, the rector of the university, thanked Widodo for his visit while assuring the president that they were committed to Indonesia’s development and honouring Pancasila.
He remarked that historically, this was based on the university’s proximity to Indonesia’s founding fathers, both the first president, Sukarno, and the first vice president, Muhammad Hatta, who had visited the campus in its early years.
“In the history of this country, this university can be proud because it inherited the noble values of Pancasila from the two founding fathers. This sense of pride and gratitude is also a responsibility to liven up Pancasila in academic studies and the practice of living with the people,” Situmorang said.
The university has seven faculties, including philosophy, a place for seminarians from the dioceses Bogor and Bandung, as well as from several congregations such as the Order of the Holy Cross, to study.
The board of trustees of the campus foundation is chaired by Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunyamin of Bandung, with members including Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur of Bogor.
