It is important to build conducive issues among people. The 75th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence is a momentum to promote positive issues in the mid of plurality and diversity of Indonesia. It is an irony at the 75th anniversary of independence, a news reported that a religious leader in Solo was persecuted by a group of people, (https://www.google.com/amp/s/jateng.tribunnews.com/amp/2020/08/11/cerita-saat-habib-umar-assegaf-dipukuli-diinjak-kepalanya-oleh-ormas-disolo). It was not the first case of intolerance. A series of cases that occurred have ruined the diversity.

The momentum of commemorating the anniversary of Indonesian is interesting to reflect together. The age of 75 years for human is categorized as old. Naturally, it is time to enjoy the fruits of hard work and struggles for years before. However, this country is still struggling with various things, one of which is intolerance. The Republic of Indonesia was born in 1945, but actually this nation has existed for thousands of years. The heritage of local wisdom is imprinted in each of the islands. The differences are not considered as a problem, and the history recorded that independence of Indonesia is the result of unity among differences!

As an effort to continue knitting communication, eight youths of Doloksanggul, Humbang Hasundutan regency, North Sumatra, joined a visit to the mosque at Doloksanggul as follow-up activity done by Multiplication of Stube HEMAT in Bengkulu. They looked so enthusiastic to participate the activity. Ramli Nababan, the mosque administrator and also the deputy chairman of the infrastructure and development, warmly welcomed the participants and accompanied them observing around the mosque (Thursday, 20/8/2020).

Ramli considered that the relationship among religious communities in Doloksanggul is well maintained. The majority of residents around the mosque are Christians. "We are very careful about the inter-religious interaction around the mosque environment, for example, in the last celebration of Eid al-Adha, we did not let our mosque neighbors only smell the aroma of sacrificial meat, but we distributed beef and mutton to all,” Ramli said. He said that he had returned to Doloksanggul for the last 10 years, after 30 years of wandering to other places with his family. Approximately 10.000 m2 of the mosque came from the endowments of his grandparents. Finally, he was called to take care the mosque. He said that at the past time people were closely related even though they had different religions, and the celebration of religious holiday was a chance to strengthen friendship among them.

“When I was young and still in Doloksanggul, I always celebrated New Year's Eve to visit my Christian neighbors. For Christian Batak people, the annual tradition is always preceded by praying with their church’s liturgy and the ‘Mandok Hata’, a Batak forgiveness event. It did not matter for me to join it, even I am respected there,” he said. "However, this tradition has begun to disappear at this time," he added.

Yedija Manullang, one of the participants, responded and asked Ramli about the ‘silahturami’ tradition that had begun to disappear. “When I was a child I was the most diligent kid to knock on the door of my neighbors with a plate filled with New Year's cakes, but along the passing time, that tradition seemed to have disappeared. I miss that time to repeat. According to Pak Ramli, what makes this good tradition of building ‘silaturahmi’ gradually disappear? " Yedija asked.

"The development of technology drove individualism and difficult to bring back the good times. Youth is needed to play role in building friendship and keep it to be established now and then,” he answered.

While walking around, Ramli pointed out the place of ablution, the sacred area, the hall, the place for prayer, the direction of the Qibla and the place for prayer call. One of the participants asked about the condition and relationship of the mosque with the two churches nearby. "How about the communication between the two churches which are nearby to this mosque, for example on Sundays the church holds services past 12 at noon, and it is the time for prayer call for Muslims," he asked. “Our communication is good and we do not feel disturbed by one another due to the sound of the call to prayer which is only brief and does not interfere with the worship process in the church. That is the difference, do we have to make a fuss about it? After all, we also do our obligations and our respective faith calls. That is what beautifies the difference,” Ramli said.

More than 45 minutes have passed, the clock indicated that it is almost 12 noon, the time for Ramli and other Muslims to pray. The youths ended the conversation and left the mosque. Laura, one of the participants in the activity, felt lucky because she learned new things. She stated that the differences are actually beautiful and this was the first time for Laura visited a mosque, and hoped to visit other places of worship, such as Catholic church in Doloksanggul with Stube-HEMAT. ***