Bandung, Indonesia. The First Indonesia International Conference on Anthroposophy
It was the introduction to Theosophy during Ita Wegman’s formative years on the island of Java, at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, that led her to Rudolf Steiner and her destiny with anthroposophy. Not far from her birthplace, the first Indonesia International Conference on Anthroposophy (IICA) was held recently in Bandung, Indonesia, known as the “intellectual capital” of the country.
With Dr. Michaela Glöckler as keynote speaker and a diverse international and local group of presenters, over 200 participants assembled at the prestigious Parahyangan Catholic University for this inaugural event. The four days of the conference in July/August provided a wide range of themes and experiences enlivened by anthroposophical spiritual science, including economics, education, health and nutrition, biodynamic farming, and various arts and crafts.
During the Dutch rule of Java in the 1930s, there was a short-lived Waldorf school in Bandung, the third-largest city in Indonesia. Today, there are a half dozen fledgling kindergartens and a couple of Waldorf schools in the country. Biodynamic agriculture was introduced some years ago, but anthroposophy in other fields of endeavor is still relatively unknown here.
Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with over 283 million people, 17,000 islands, and hundreds of languages, making it something of a dormant superpower. Its national motto, “Unity in Diversity”, directly addresses the theme of the conference, “No One Left Behind: Towards Sustainable Well-Being.” The entire IICA conference, blessed by the gentle courtesy and warmth of its host people, seemed to be naturally accompanied by the spiritual presence of Dr. Wegman.
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Image Bandung. Photo: Rifqi Ali Ridho
