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| Indonesian traditional clothes worn by lecturers and employees of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM). (Photo by Lintang PR of UMM) |
Thousands of people wearing traditional clothes were crowding the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) helipad on August 17th to attend the flag ceremony commemorating the 78th independence of Indonesia. Some wore traditional clothes from Malang, while others were Minang, Aceh, and Papua.
In response, Dr. Fauzan, M. Pd., the Rector of UMM, said that the independence commemoration has its philosophical value. The traditional clothes of the archipelago, aka Nusantara, depicts that independence is indeed jointly strived. If, in the past, the fighters expelled the invaders together, now the community must collaborate to establish generations and build civilizations.
“In the context of higher education, this commemoration must be our spirit to expel ignorance, unemployment, and various things that disrupt the nation's integrity," said Fauzan.
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Furthermore, he said that the diverse traditional clothes illustrate the importance of unity, aligning with the motto of Indonesia: Unity in Diversity. On the same occasion, the White Campus UMM also gave special awards to the cleanliness fighters who had struggled: the UMM janitors.
The same idea was delivered by the UMM’s coordinator of the Indonesian Independence Day commemoration, Yunus Saputra, M.Pd. The ceremony attendees were asked to wear attractive traditional attributes and clothes. They were even enthusiastic about competing to show the most unique conventional garments. For instance, all the Faculty of Medical Science of UMM staff members wore traditional Papuan clothes. Also, some of the UMM’s business units did the same.
Besides being embellished with thousands of traditional clothes, the commemoration also presented a dozen regional foods. Several street vendors around the university were invited, and the ceremony participants bought their selling food. Some served pecel rice, chicken soup, meatball, beef black soup. After the ceremony, the attendees could immediately take thousands of food portions and take pictures together.
“This is our attention to empower street vendors around the campus. We celebrate the independence moment cheerfully and festively together,” ended the Rector. (imh/wil)
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