SENAYANPOST – The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation visited the Kraton Majapahit Jakarta Palace on Sunday May 5, 2024. They were personally greeted by Prof. Dr. AM Hendropriyono. The Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation group was led by Sugianto Kusuma, who goes by the nickname Aguan.
The Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation is a non-givernmental organization (NGO) founded by Bhiksuni Master Cheng Yen in the city of Hualien, Taiwan, in 1966, as a humanitarian foundation with the principle of universal love. Its volunteers comprise a diverse range of ethnicities, religions, races and countries. The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation currently has 372 offices in 54 countries, one of which is Indonesia.
The Kraton Majapahit Jakarta Palace is a replica of the Majapahit Kingdom palace in Trowulan, Mojokerto. When the Majapahit Kingdom was in power, Hindus and Buddhists lived side-by-side with a sense of tolerance.
As the founder of the Kraton Majapahit Jakarta Palace, AM Hendropriyono explained that this palace is a replica of the Majapahit palace, covering six hectares. It has been recognized for its establishment as having an academic and philosophical basis by Gajah Mada University Professor of History Prof. Dr. Djoko Suryo.
"I really want to change the international image that depicts Indonesia as a barbaric nation, which was the justification for foreign nations to colonize Indonesia," he explained.
In fact, long before America was discovered by Christopher Columbus, the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago already had a noble and high civilization which was united under the Majapahit Empire, whose influence stretched from Cambodia in the north, Sri Lanka in the west, Papua in the east and to the west coast of Australia in the south.
This former Head of the State Intelligence Agency said that nowadays colonialism is not only done through the military but also through culture, such as the use of a foreign script in one area on the island of Sulawesi.
"If we develop culture, other nations will respect us and will not defeat us," he added.
The Kraton Majapahit Jakarta Palace will become one of the cultural, historical and educational tourist destinations which will be open to groups of foreign tourists and groups from social foundations and schools.
Meanwhile, Tzu Chi Vice Chairman Sugianto Kusuma said that he has known and been friends with Prof. Dr. AM Hendropriyono for fifty years. "Our love continues to exist as brothers," he said.
On April 24, 2002, Sugianto Kusuma received a new name from Master Cheng Yen, namely Chi Hong, which means helping others. Meanwhile, his wife Rebecca Halim got a new name, namely Tzu Yuan, which means noble determination.
That founder of Hotel Nusantara in the capital city of Nusantara (IKN) talked about his trip to China and noticed that cities in China continue to promote their culture and history or what is known as culture tourism, thus attracting the interest of many foreign tourists to visit. "It's time we go in that direction," he said.
He said he was proud and would support the Kraton Majapahit Jakarta Palace as a cultural and historical tourist destination in Indonesia.
"The history of Majapahit is the pride of the Indonesian nation," he stressed.
Tzu Chi entered Indonesia in 1993 through one of its volunteers, Liang Cheung, who saw that many Indonesian people were still suffering from poverty. On September 28, 1997,Master Cheng Yen gave a Buddha statue as a blessing for the establishment of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation in Indonesia, which has now spread to 18 cities in Indonesia.
The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation has a number of schools, orphanages, nursing homes, hospitals and housing for the poor, such as the Cinta Kasih Housing Complex in the Cengkareng area, West Jakarta, with facilities in the form of schools, polyclinics, meeting halls, waste recycling centers and prayer rooms, which were inaugurated by the Fifth President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mrs. Megawati Sukarnoputri, on August 25, 2003. (Muqoddas - Translated by Jafar Karim)