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| Zain who was successful in receiving an award at IYS 2022. (Photo: Istimewah) |
Raising the issue of social inequality due to public policies in eastern Indonesia, students from the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) managed to become the first winner in an international conference. Muhammad Al-Qadar Zain won first place in The Best Group Project category at the 2022 Istanbul Youth Summit. The Youth Break Boundaries (YBB) conference was held for three days last February.
Zain, his nickname, explained that the projects he brought with the team came from actual events in eastern Indonesia. Inadequate infrastructure and different policies between regions make it difficult for disadvantaged areas to access social and health services.
"One of the cases that happened in the Bima area was the case of giving birth on a ship. The hospital is far away, and there is no emergency call like 911, so this husband and wife have to give birth on a small boat while traveling across the island to the nearest hospital," explained the student majoring in Islamic Religious Education (PAI).
Therefore, Team Zain held a webinar and created a 911 application in eastern Indonesia. Several webinar agendas have been held before the international conference in Turkey. They started from webinars on handling cases of social violence, developing the quality of education, public service innovation, and growing food prices.
"The holding of this webinar takes particular themes that are still a problem in eastern Indonesia. We also took speakers from credible people in their fields, such as Gresika Sylvana, the auditor of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Andira Batara, the UNHAS anti-sexual violence committee, Gabriella Rosa Theofanis, a scholarship recipient from a Japanese university, and Budimansyah Nasution, a food technology activist, "said the student from Bima.
Zain admitted that he was very grateful for the first-place achievement he got at the 2022 Istanbul Youth summit. The journey to get to the international conference was very tough. This happened because he had to pay for his needs to go to Turkey. "I took a lot of scout teaching schedules at the Malang Junior High School (SMP). I also work part-time in several cafes to pay for my departure and my life while in Turkey," said Zain.
Furthermore, Zain said that the achievement of this first place was the beginning of an increase in public policy that eastern Indonesia would experience. In the future, he hopes that there will be many positive changes for the lagging regions in Indonesia. "The program that we will run does not stop until the Istanbul Youth summit 2022 performance, but we will develop other programs such as making the 911 application there. I hope that in the future, the government and the community will also help carry out these positive programs," he concluded. (apg/syi/wil)
