Yogyakarta, 27/3/2025 – On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, the Instagram account @kratonjogja.event announced the winner of a competition. Not a contest to get a wife, but the #WaditraPralaga Content Competition held on two platforms, namely Instagram and TikTok. In the announcement, there was one student from the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture study program at UGM who was announced as the winner. The student is Muhammad Yasir Ramadan with NIM 24/542781/SA/23331. 

The theme of the content competition was of course around Waditra Pralaga because it was still related to a series of closings from the Paramaiswari exhibition. According to Bausastra, Waditra itself means music or percussion, while pralaga means war. This is in line with the performance presented by the palace, namely a battle between male and female orchestra players. What the palace wants to show is that women have the same potential as men.

Yasir stated that there was actually no special reason for him to join this competition. Yasir happened to hear this announcement while watching Waditra Pralaga at Kagungan Dalem. While watching, the MC announced that there would be a TikTok and Instagram content competition. The content can discuss anything, as long as it is still related to Waditra Pralaga. It was stated that one of the criteria for the winner would be calculated from the total number of viewers on the content, with the provision of using the hashtag #WaditraPralaga and by tagging the social media accounts of Karaton Yogyakarta. Honestly, Yasir did not expect that he would be announced as one of the winners of this competition because the number of viewers of his content was not as many as other content. However, when his name was included in one of the 10 winners, Yasir was happy.

According to Yasir, the difficulty in preparing the content was predicting the direction of the audience’s interest. With the analysis and video material that Yasir had recorded, he chose a video containing music that many people knew. With this, Yasir chose a video when the players performed one of the soundtracks in the film “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

The prize that Yasir received for winning the competition was the opportunity to watch the Opening of the Hamong Nagari Exhibition with the performance of the Abdi Dalem Fashion Show accompanied by Acapella by the Yogyakarta Royal Orchestra for free. In addition to being free, the winner also got a special place, where they got the front seat. According to Yasir, the event was very memorable because it was opened directly by Ngarsa Dalem and was also attended by G.K.R. Bendara, K.P.H. Natanegara, and also Wayah Dalem (the sultan’s grandson). In addition, what made this experience memorable was the Abdi Dalem fashion show, which is very rare to find now. Finally, there was also a performance accompanied by the Yogyakarta Royal Choir which made this event more lively and gave a magnificent impression.

[Public Relations of Javanese Literature, Fega Achillea Maydena]

Yogyakarta, 27/3/2025 – Noviyanti Alfitri (NIM 24/533646/SA/22795), a 2024 student from the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture study program, inaugurated as a Diajeng Gunungkidul 2025 at the end of February. Diajeng is a representation of a young woman from a regency—in this case, Gunungkidul Regency—specifically in the field of tourism. Usually Diajeng is paired with Dimas (as a representation of youngman). They promote nature and culture-based tourism in their district and become icons for young people.

The selection process for the Dimas-Diajeng icon began in December 2024. Starting from the selection of files and administration, written selection, interview selection, then the announcement of 15 finalists who were quarantined, and officially crowned on the coronation night on February 22, 2025.

As the holder of the title Diajeng Gunungkidul, Noviyanti or who is familiarly called Upik has the main responsibility of assisting in the marketing sector at the Tourism Office in promoting tourism in Gunungkidul Regency.

Not the coronation night, according to Upik, the most memorable experience during the Dimas-Diajeng selection process was during quarantine. During the quarantine period, Upik gained a lot of knowledge ranging from tourism, culture, regional specialties, public speaking, and others. This increased Upik’s knowledge and Upik learned a lot of new things during the quarantine period.

In addition to the most memorable moments, Upik also said that she had difficulty in time management. Because of the tight timeline of the selection process, Upik had to adjust her lecture schedule at UGM with her other activities. However, fortunately Upik was able to go through everything smoothly by making a priority scale.

Even though she has been named Diajeng Gunungkidul 2025, Upik realizes that she is still part of the UGM Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture students. Therefore, Upik wants to contribute a lot to her study program. She wants to do several things; become a writer or participant in the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali, become a talent or production team in the Gugur Gunung activity, and maybe take part in a competition to bring the name of the study program. In addition, Upik also has an ambition to be able to write her own anthology. 

Wow, it seems like Upik has so many desires and ambitions! Hopefully, all of Upik’s ambitions can be achieved smoothly without any significant obstacles. With this story, hopefully other students will also be motivated to do what they like and develop themselves even more!

[Public Relations of Javanese Literature, Fega Achillea Maydena]

Yogyakarta, 26/3/2025 – Amidst the vibrant celebrations of Indonesia’s Independence Day, an inspiring achievement emerges from the literary world. Nur Fitrianti Aspany, an alumna of the Master’s Program in Literature, has been selected as one of the seven chosen writers in the prestigious Emerging Writers program at the Makassar International Writers Festival (MIWF) 2025, themed “Land and Hand.”

MIWF 2025, set to take place from May 29 to June 1, carries the theme “Land and Hand” as a form of resistance against various acts of land appropriation, oppression, and environmental destruction that persist in different regions. This year, the festival’s visual artwork is created by Taufiqurrahman ‘Kifu,’ a multidisciplinary artist from Palu, Central Sulawesi.

As in previous years, MIWF provides an opportunity for writers to participate by submitting works in various forms, including poetry, short stories, novels, and literary criticism. This year, 256 applicants from diverse backgrounds submitted outstanding works in various genres. Out of these hundreds of submissions, only seven writers were selected, including Nur Fitrianti Aspany.

Nur Fitrianti captivated the jury with two of her works: a digital poem titled “Aporia dan Epiphany dalam Sebuah Puisi Digital“ and a printed poem titled “Tragedi yang Dibalut Serendipity.“ These works were born from her creative process under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Faruk, S.U., a distinguished cultural studies expert and professor at Gadjah Mada University.

Reflecting on her achievement, Nur Fitrianti admitted that she initially had doubts about participating, given the fierce competition. However, she remained consistent in her writing, which eventually led her to this valuable opportunity. “At first, I wasn’t sure. Compared to my peers, I wondered if I could compete in both fiction and non-fiction. But when this opportunity arose, I happened to have some works ready, and fortunately, I never stopped writing,” she said.

Nur Fitrianti Aspany’s accomplishment is a testament to how passion and perseverance in the creative process can yield remarkable results. Her success at MIWF 2025 is not only a proud moment for the Master’s Program in Literature but also an inspiration for the younger generation to continue creating and contributing to the literary world.

[Public Relations Master of Literature, Anisa Dien Rahmawati]

Yogyakarta, 15/3/2025 – The 4th International Seminar on Malay-Javanese Studies (SEMEJA) 2025 is jointly organized by the Institute of Nature and Malay Civilization (ATMA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia with the Javanese Literature Study Program, Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), and the Department of Museum Malaysia (JMM). SEMEJA IV includes various components designed to foster meaningful dialogue, knowledge sharing, and strategic collaboration. The main focus is on how cultural heritage can contribute to community empowerment and regional unity.

The components of SEMEJA IV include:

• Keynote address by visiting scholar – Secretary-General, Ministry of National Unity.
• Paper presentation sessions among researchers, postgraduate students, Librarians/Curators/Archivists, government/private sector employees.
• Forums featuring experts in related fields.
• Poster presentations and exhibitions focusing on practical strategies in utilizing heritage for community empowerment.
• Visits to heritage sites that play a role in community empowerment.
• Featuring source person for studies of Malay-Javanese heritage

[Public Relations of Javanese Literature, Fega Achillea Maydena]

Yogyakarta, 28/2/2025 – During the 30th Temu Budaya Nusantara (TBN), a new Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture student from the 2024’s batch took part in the competition as a delegate and immediately came out on top! Who is the winner? Let’s take a peek at the story!

Ghibran Arsha Daffa’ Musaffa’ is the 3rd place winner of the Storytelling Competition held at the 30th TBN in 2024. Although Ghibran is a new student, this did not dampen his determination to compete in this national competition. Ghibran said that as soon as he heard that a national storytellers competition would be held and he could represent Universitas Gadjah Mada, he was immediately interested to join.

Initially, the theme he wanted to take was children’s games (dolanan anak). Ghibran had even arranged the storyline of the story in such a way. However, after consulting with an elementary school teacher in Yogyakarta, it turned out that the story was considered less relevant to youngster. The teacher finally suggested a romance theme, but it could be connected to culture. Finally, the theme chosen was jathilan. Ghibran stated that this story was inspired by the story of Dr. Inggar Bagus Wibisono. A doctor, jathilan dancer and an Keraton’s abdi dalem all at once. The synopsis of the story is as follows.

There are 2 college students who are dating named Joko and Wati. Wati is said to like things that have to do with culture and has the opinion that she must take part in preserving and maintaining culture, especially Yogyakarta culture. The peak of the conflict takes place in Malioboro where Joko finally finds out that Wati is a jathilan player. Here Joko represents the thoughts of the people who like to swallow the stigma about jathilan raw. However, Wati still chooses to break up with Joko and preserves the jathilan dance and becomes a skilled dancer, to the point of being nicknamed Nyai Rangga Wati.

However, there is a unique fact, namely that Ghibran is actually afraid of jathilan! Even now, when he hears the accompaniment of jathilan gamelan, he still feels nervous because in the past there was an incident where a jathilan dancer almost wanted to enter his house, hihihi. So the process of making this fairy tale is one of Ghibran’s ways to get out of his comfort zone. For the sake of this fairy tale, Ghibran was willing to observe and interview female jathilan figures.

Ghibran got a lot of things from this TBN XXX event. Ghibran is grateful because he became brave enough to try new things and put aside his fear. Ghibran also got new friends, even from Bali. Although at the beginning of the event Ghibran felt afraid, because of his father, Ghibran was convinced to try his best because winning or losing is a later matter.

From Ghibran we can learn that in order to achieve what we want, we must put in a lot of effort. In addition, as young people, Ghibran gives an example that we can create cultural-themed works and clear the negative stigma that has been attached to the culture. Finally, there is a message from Ghibran that young people should not be ashamed to preserve their own culture. Because if we don’t preserve it, who else will?

[Public Relation of Javanese Literature, Fega Achillea Maydena]