Mahatir Global Peace School (MGPS) is a program focusing on world peace with emphasizing conflict resolution by peace instead of war. MGPS has been conducted four times, and the fifth MGPS will be organized on 25 November – 5 December 2016.

MGPS alumni come from various countries and comprise of 200 people that most of them are young generation. They are required to be the agent of peace, and are expected to coin new networking in their home country or international level.

In an interview on Monday (14/11) at International Relations Office of UMY, chief of committee of the 5^th MGPS Indira Prabasari, Ph.D. stated that the new networking may become a mean of promoting peace in their home country so that public will be familiar with the notion of peace. “I believe that an idea will easily be delivered by youths,” she contended.

Indira told that the MGPS alumni gained materials dealing with peace aiming at changing their mindset. “Academic lectures and training of peace may come to an end in the 5^th MGPS. Thus, UMY and PGPF parties try to think how to hold a program for the alumni to implement what they have obtained from MGPS so that the idea of peace can be perceived everywhere,” she conveyed.

‘Peace an Inter-Religious Dialogue in World Wide Education’ is the theme of the 5^th MGPS. “The first goal of the 5^th MGPS is the notion of peace can be broadly promoted since the participants vary from public, representatives of Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), UMY’s partners, and UMY’s students. The second goal is to write a book covering peace, the 1^st MGPS to the 5^th MGPS, and the themes of all MGPS from territorial dispute to interfaith conflicts. The book will be the groundwork for the following cooperation between UMY and PGPF,” she informed.

Additionally, participants of MGPS come from Indonesia (13 people), Pakistan (2 people), Yemen (2 people), Uzbekistan (2 people), Malaysia (7 people), the Philippines (5 people), Bangladesh (1 person), Azerbaijan (1 person), India (2 people), Poland (1 person), the United Kingdom (1 person), Uganda (1 person), Sudan (1 person), Singapore (1 person), and 10 UMY’s students (sit-in participants). Whilst, the speakers are Dr. Sidi Omar (Universitat Jaume I, Spain), General Tan Sri Panglima Mohd Azumi Mohamed (Board of Trustee of Perdana Global Peace Foundation, Malaysia), General (Ret.) Ryamizard Ryacudu as well as Prof. Greet A Van Klinken (Amsterdam University), Dr. Imtiyaz Yusuf (Director of the Center for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding in the Collage of Religious Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand), Dr. Elga Sarapung (Interfaith Dialogue in Indonesia), Lieutenant General (Ret.) Agus Widjojo (Governor of The National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), Stephane Reynier de Montlaux (Humanitarian Consultant), Dr. Chandra Muzaffar (President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)), Irfan Amalee, M.A. (Co-Founder and Director of Peace Generation Indonesia), Prof. Dr. Alberto Gomes (Director of Dialogue, Emphatic Engagement and Peacebuilding), H.E. Ahmed Amer Ahmed Mouawad (Ambassador of Egypt for Indonesia), and Assoc. Professor Dr. Mohd. Hisham Mohd. Kamal (Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyah of Law, International Islamic University of Malaysia).