Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, different but still one. This theme led the Universitas Indonesia (UI) Student Team to win 3rd place, in the Cultural Sharing Presentation category at the 2022 Asian Universities Alliance Youth Forum (AUAYF) event. Not only that, the UI Team also won 1st Place in the Student Forum (Kenzie Ryvantya), 2nd Place in Student Forum (Raihan Ronny), and Champion of Cultural Bingo Game (Kenzie Ryvantya).
AUAYF is an annual student conference that discusses development issues in Asia, encourages youth empowerment, and promotes cultural exchange. This year, the AUA Youth Forum 2022 activity has the theme “Synergizing Regional Identity and The Future of Asian Civilization” which will be held online by Universiti Malaya, on 21-25 March 2022.
In the Cultural Sharing category, each participant is in groups with their respective university delegation teams. The UI Student Team consisted of Azzadina Nurulain Ikhwan (Faculty of Cultural Sciences/FIB class of 2020), Farrell Dzaudan Muhammad (Faculty of Engineering 2019 class), Hafizd Akbar Priambodo (Faculty of Psychology batch 2021), Kenzie Sultan Ryvantya (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences batch of 2020), Prita Diphasesari Priambodo (Faculty of Law batch 2020), and Raihan Ronny Wazier (FIB batch 2019). In this category, participants are asked to make presentations on aspects of culture that describe their country of origin.
Ronny, one of the team members, shared his experience during the competition. According to him, many universities from other countries presented food, clothing, dances, and traditional musical instruments. “We have an idea to present the motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika as a philosophy of Indonesian culture so that it is not mainstream. We also present the material with a more fiery voice and enthusiasm so that it can attract attention,” said Ronny.
Furthermore, Ronny told about the judging process. The UI team received praise and no criticism at all. The jury, who is also a professor, gave an assessment that the topic presented by the UI Student Team emphasized unity in diversity. This is very relevant to the theme raised by AUAYF 22.
The next achievement in the 1st place in the Student Forum category was achieved by Kenzie as a representative from UI. “In the Student Forum series, we are divided into groups with participants from other universities. Then, given topics of discussion, researched, and presented in front of the panelists which also included recommendations from our group to maximize cultural preservation through education in general in Asian countries. I happened to be in a group with four other participants from Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, and China. Then, we got a topic about Education and Preservation of Cultural Heritage,” said Kenzie.
Still in the same category, the next victory was followed by Ronny who won 2nd place. He was included in a group consisting of students from Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, and Myanmar. “Due to the time difference, we from Group 1 had a little trouble finding the right time. However, in the end, we were able to work together nights and mornings before the event started. There are two judges who give an assessment. Both judges are professors from the University of Malaya with a background in politics and international relations. After we finished the presentation, Alhamdulillah, we got a lot of praise from the judges and won 2nd place,” said Ronny.
Kenzie also won in the Cultural Bingo Game category, which is a series of puzzle games played in groups consisting of students from various countries. “There are dozens of trivia questions about the cultures of Asian nations and each group has to collect as many points as possible by answering as many questions and as quickly as possible while discussing. Alhamdulillah, my group has a fairly broad general knowledge about the topic, so it was completed quickly and accurately,” said Kenzie.
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Public Communication Bureau
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia