Jakarta, April 17, 2024, Public Virtue Research Institute (PVRI) together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Indonesia held the 8th edition of the A.E. Priyono Democracy Forum. Entitled “The Future of Indonesian Democracy,” the event took the form of a public forum at the Erasmus Huis Auditorium in Jakarta attended by speakers from STF Driyarkara, BRIN Political Research Center, Project Multatuli, and the ASEAN Youth Forum.

To start the day, PVRI and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Indonesia also organized an informal meeting that provided a space for Indonesian students who have concerns about the development of democracy in Indonesia. Among the eight students represented at the meeting was Cornelius Prabhaswara Marpaung, an undergraduate student of Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

In a lively and relaxed discussion, attended by staff of the Political Affairs Department of the Royal Netherlands Embassy to Indonesia as well as PVRI, everyone was able to express their concerns, hopes and expectations for the development of democracy in Indonesia. In keeping with his interests, Cornelius raised the issues of health and social inclusion for marginalized groups as important factors to consider to support the development of not only procedural, but also substantive democracy in Indonesia.

The event lasted until late afternoon, and was closed with a visit to the exhibition booths of various civil society groups at Erasmus Huis Jakarta with the speakers and Embassy staff.

UGM Master of Middle Eastern Cultural Studies Program invited Prof. Dr. Hassan Youssef, Professor from Canal Suez University Egypt in a public lecture “The Development of Arabic Literature: Theory and Application” on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 in Room 709 Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. The public lecture was attended by the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM for Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Nur Saktiningrum, M.Hum., lecturers of the Study Program, as well as students of the KBTT Master Program and the Arabic Literature Bachelor Program and a number of students from outside UGM.

In his remarks, the Vice Dean of FIB UGM explained two important points. First, the orientation of implementation is no longer to the ‘instrinsic’ of literary works, but must look at it more in relation to the culture of society. Second, the demand for international exposure for all academicians which can be done by involving lecturers from abroad and also providing financing opportunities abroad for students who want to disseminate their research.

The event continued with the presentation of material from Prof. Dr. Hassan Youssef. He explained that Arabic literature continues to develop from the pre-Islamic or Jahiliyah era to the contemporary period. Each era has its own advantages. For example, the excellence in the Jahiliy era was Muallaqat poetry. In the era of the arrival of Islam, his poems began to leave reproaches and insert the language of the Qur’an as a da’wah to spread Islam. The advantages of Arabic literature in contemporary times are the freedom of poetic patterns and the use of language that is easily understood by the public. The development of Arabic literature continues to move dynamically following the times. Therefore, students are encouraged to always actively follow its development and examine it so that they can understand the novelty in the world of Arabic literature.

On Monday, March 4, 2024 a Thesis Proposal Seminar or Sempro was held offline for S-1 Cultural Anthropology students of FIB UGM. The Proposal Seminar was held openly, so that the academic community and the general public could see the seminar. This seminar was attended by 29 students who were divided into four clusters, namely the economic tourism cluster, lifestyle and health cluster, ecology and maritime cluster, and arts, gender, and labor cluster.

Dr. Atik Triratnawati, M.A as the Head of the S-1 Cultural Anthropology Study Program who was also present as a discussant lecturer in the proposal seminar this time delivered several comments, he conveyed a message related to the need for students to refer to SDG’s values in writing a thesis. He revealed that actually Gadjah Mada University has made a regulation where the final project, thesis, and thesis of students are required to refer to the values in the SDGs and all courses in the S-1 Cultural Anthropology Study Program have also referred to the values in the SDGs. However, from the seminars that have been held, almost none of them refer to or clearly link the thesis proposals that students present with the values in the SDGs. Responding to this phenomenon, he planned that in the future there will be a socialization related to embedding SDGs values in the thesis and thesis of Anthropology students.

In addition to mentioning about SDGs, Dr. Atik Triratnawati, M.A also responded to the seminar from a technical point of view, she advised related to the question sentence in the problem formulation. She revealed that there are still many students who underestimate the question sentence “why” and feel enough with the question sentence how, even though according to her if the why sentence is used in the right context, it will lead to broader and deeper research findings. He advised students who will take part in proposal seminars in the future to consider the aspect of the question sentence “why”.

From the proposal seminar that has been held, it can be seen that although the University has emphasized the importance of referring to SDGs values in the thesis, there are still gaps in its application by students. Support and socialization planning that will be initiated in the future are important steps to ensure that students can better understand and apply these principles in their thesis. In addition, messages related to the importance of asking “why” questions are also important points in improving the quality of research. All of this is an effort to encourage the achievement of the ideals contained in the SDGs, especially point 4 (Quality Education) through the contribution of Cultural Anthropology students at Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM.

Two students of the Master of Middle Eastern Cultural Studies, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Fahmi Mubarok and Lutfi Nurfadli became Liaison Officers and Translators at the Hajj and Umrah Organizers Association (Himpuh) Deliberation on Wednesday-Friday, February 27-29, 2024 at the Marriot Hotel Yogyakarta. The event was attended by Prof. Hilman Latief, M.A., Ph.D. as the Director General of Hajj and Umrah of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. The two students accompanied Mashariq’s VIP guests from Saudi Arabia, Wael Mohammad M. Rasheedi and Mohammedamin Hassan M. Andergiri.

Fahmi Mubarok and Lutfi Nurfadli are graduates from two leading universities in the Middle East, Al-Azhar Cairo University in Egypt and Yarmouk University in Jordan. Armed with experience and communicative Official (Fusha) and Local (Ammiyah) Arabic language skills, these two outstanding students successfully translated directly the remarks of Saudi Arabia’s VIP guest representatives at the event. They also received positive responses and good appreciation from the VIP guests who were accompanied. Thus, knowledge of Arabic and Arabic language skills, especially spoken language, play an important role in establishing and improving the quality of cooperation between countries.

On February 25, the American Studies Students and Alumni Association (ASSAA) held a weekly online discussion to discuss this year’s Charity Act event. Every year, ASSAA holds Charity Act activities as one of the realizations of the Tridharma of Higher Education, namely in the field of Community Service by providing services to the community by utilizing the knowledge and skills gained during study.

In the last 2 editions, Charity Act activities have focused on environmental awareness and cultural development. In the ASSAA 2023 Charity Act entitled “Resilience of the Pandowoharjo Community through the Development of Culturally Based Integrated Tourism Villages”, in this activity, students focus on providing an overview and education to the Pandowoharjo community regarding insights and practical guidance in overcoming the challenges of developing environmental and cultural-based tourism villages in the era of globalization. In this activity, the Charity Act Team provides exposure and practical guidance related to aspects of Personal Branding in marketing tourist villages digitally, aspects of Social Media Utilization in creating content related to the theme of natural tourist villages, as well as aspects of Multi-Language Access in translating documents as facilities and marketing tools for tourist villages. Then proceed with the translation activity of the Pandowoharjo tourist village brochure document which is used as a marketing tool.

In the ASSA Charity Act 2022 entitled “Eco-Pesantren”: Instilling a Critical Mindset and Awareness of the 3Rs (Recycle, Reduce and Reuse) in Santri Pondok Pesantren Modern Tazakka. Aims to increase the awareness of santri of a healthy or environmentally friendly environment. This activity was carried out through a series of activities that focused on instilling a critical mindset and awareness of the importance of knowledge about the 3Rs: Recycle, Reduce and Reuse. The students are trained to solve real environmental and waste problems such as; the closure of the TPU because the waste collected has exceeded capacity. The results of the discussion, which are solutions to the problem, are then made into a mind-map and the activity participants present the solution ideas from each group in front of other activity participants.

This Charity Act activity is supposed to not only contribute the knowledge possessed by Master of American Studies students, but also make people aware of the importance of environmental and cultural awareness. It is hoped that this year’s Charity Act activities can be held successfully as before, and provide many benefits to the wider community.