UiTM`s Students Take a Study Tour at BKPBM

Yogyakarta, MelayuOnline.com - Friday (30/1/2009), 20 students and eight lecturers of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Malaysia made a study tour to Balai Pinang Lima, the office building of the Center for Research and Development of Malay Culture (BKPBM). The visit was aimed at exploring the Malay cultural heritage from crews of MelayuOnline.com.

The visit of UiTM`s students was part of a programme called Titian Malaysia-Indonesia (Malindo), Kelab Bahasa dan Budaya Melayu (Kebayu) of Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia. Before reaching the Balai Pinang Lima, the entourage had once visited Borobudur Temple, Gadjah Mada University, and some museums in the Province of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The entourage was welcomed warmly by Yuhastina Sinaro – BKPBM`s Public Relations, Ahmad Salehudin – RajaAliHaji.com`s Chief Editor, Lukman Solihin – MalayTourism.com`s Chief Editor, Khidir Marsanto – MelayuOnline.com`s Research and Development Division, and Samsuni – CeritaRakyatNusantara.com`s Chief Editor.

The entourage was first invited to look around the Balai Pinang Lima, which is functioned as either BKPBM`s office or Malay Museum in the Land of Java. Some of UiTM”s students got really excited as they took photographs everywhere and played the Malay gamelan in a room of Balai Pinang Lima.

Soon after hanging around the Balai Pinang Lima, the entourage was invited to the meeting room of Balai Pinang Lima for a small discussion. Ahmad Salehudin delivered a welcome speech, representing Mahyudin Al Mudra, the head of BKPBM and the director of MelayuOnline.com, who was not able to visit Balai Pinang Lima that day.

On behalf of BKPBM, Ahmad introduced briefly the entourage about BKPBM, MelayuOnline.com, MalayTourism.com, RajaAliHaji.com, and CeritaRakyatNusantara.com. Likewise, Ahmad also told a glance about MelayuOnline.com`s vision and missions on efforts to preserve and develop the Malay culture in modern way, that of through the internet.

Azhar Ab. Wahab, the entourage`s coordinator, expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome from all the crews of MelayuOnline.com. “We hope that such a friendship chain could exist for long time. And hopefully we could gain so much knowledge and information about the Malay culture in the perspective of MelayuOnline.com,” he said.

Replying the gratitude from UiTM, Yuhastina Sinaro also thanked to the entourage because they had decided to make Balai Pinang Lima as one of the destinations visited during in Indonesia. BKPBM, she added, is a non-profit institution thus this is important to establish strong base co-operative networks with some other institutions concerning on the same field, Malay. “We are open to all co-operative networks and study tour like this,” she remarked.

At the end of the meeting, BKPBM gave some souvenirs to the representation of the entourage. Some books of BKPBM were bestowed to the entourage as the symbols of long last cooperation in the further.

Tasyriq Hifzhillah (brt/25/01-09)

Irfan Nugroho (ter/135/07-09)

Photos by: the Center for Research and Development of Malay Culture, photographers: Lukman Solihin and Des Christy. 

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