(Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo’s acceptance speech at the Harmony in Diversity Award rites in Jakarta on 15 July 2026. Quevedo was the inaugural recipient of the award launched in August last year. Organizers received “more than 70 nominations” from across Southeast Asia.)
Distinguished government and diplomatic officials, Her Excellency Halimah Yacob, the former President of Singapore, His Excellency Nasaruddin Umar, Minister of Religious Affairs, representatives of various organizations, honorable members of the Judging Committee, esteemed officials and staff of the Temasek Foundation and 5P Global Movement, my dear Friends:
I am deeply humbled by this inaugural award of Diversity in Harmony.
I consider Indonesia as a country that constitutionally and concretely practices Diversity in Harmony. Panjasila is a constitutional mantra and I see inter-religious “dialog of life” among Muslims and Christians every day in the streets, at the marketplace, in government, and in business. That the Catholic Cathedral of Jakarta is in close proximity to the biggest mosque of Southeast Asia is a structural metaphor of Christian-Muslim friendship in Indonesia
The story of my own work in harmonizing diverse cultural and religious groups began when I was appointed in the early 1970’s as President of Notre Dame University (NDU) in Cotabato City, southern Mindanao, at a young age of 31. Cotabato City is located in Maguindanao Province, which has a majority Muslim population.
The University, while being Catholic, had also a majority Muslim student population. Former Governor Bai Nariman Ambolodto, who is present here today, studied at Notre Dame University. So did her husband, Atty. Suharto Ambolodto. It was Atty Ambolodto and his fellow members of the Bangsamoro Parliament who had nominated me for this award.
Cotabato City is the capital city of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a region that is more than 90% Muslim.
At Notre Dame University, I decided to start harmonizing cultural and religious diversities by establishing a program of attitudinal change for faculty and students. The purpose was to eliminate or at least significantly reduce mutual biases and prejudices among Christian, Muslim, and members of Indigenous Peoples.
We began conducting seminars and workshops for attitudinal change. The success of the program, I was named as one of the 10 Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in 1973. Its success also signaled other Catholic educational institutions in southern Mindanao to institute the same program of attitudinal change. Many of the older commanders of the Moro revolutionary forces graduated from our Notre Dame schools and went through the program. The Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front studied Engineering for four years at NDU before he joined the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). So did the Chairman of the MNLF break-away group. Some officials of the Bangsamoro Parliament were my own students in NDU in the late 1960’s.
The overarching motivation for my work has been the Common Word both found in the Qur’an and in the Christian Scriptures: Love God and love your neighbor.
I am profoundly grateful to the 5P Global Movement and the Temasek Foundation for this invaluable award. Know that I consider my work for Harmony in Diversity as a continuing mission from the Almighty, Most Merciful and Most Beneficent God.
May God, our God of Peace and Reconciliation be with us all. My prayers go with you, my dear Friends.
Terima Kasih.
READ: Cardinal Quevedo accepts Harmony in Diversity Award: “Love God and love your neighbor”
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