"In the current actual context, love of one's country means, among other things, being actively involved and voting smartly," said Ignatius Cardinal Suharyo in a sermon at the Jakarta Cathedral Church on Monday (25/12/2023).
Besides that, he also highlighted the high stunting rate in Indonesia. The Indonesian Central Statistics Agency announced that the Gini ratio of the Indonesian population was 0.388 in March 2023, an increase compared to the figure in September 2022.
"The number of tengkes (stunting) is high, children who are hungry, (and) malnourished, the numbers (are) 21.6 percent," said.
He also revealed that the amount of food wasted reaches IDR 330 trillion (about US$21.3 billion) every year.
"Food thrown away as waste in 2022, if translated into rupiah, is 330 trillion. Meanwhile, our children are malnourished," he said.
He believes this can have an impact on education, health, and other areas of life.
"In a context like this, for peace and prosperity to be achieved, noble morals are needed from state administrators, the business world, and Indonesian society," he said.
In the framework of the Christmas celebration, the Jakarta Cathedral Church held a 2023 Christmas Mass on the eve of Christmas on Sunday (24/12/2023) and during the Christmas celebration on Monday.
