08 juli 2008 05:20

Malay Atmosphere on the Fifth Anniversary of BKPBM

Yogyakarta, MelayuOnline.com- Malay musical instruments were played frequently and three beautiful dancers performed tepak sirih dance while bringing tepak sirih. Ir. Condroyono – the Chairman of Yogyakarta Tourism Service, Drs. Aris Arif Mundayat – the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Social Studies, and Mahyudin Al Mudra – the Head of BKPBM – got the chances to taste some betel nuts offered by the dancers singing cordial welcome for respected guests.

Those were some of a very merry party to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Balai Kajian dan Pengambangan Budaya Melayu-BKPBM (the Center for Research and Development of Malay Culture) on Friday (4/7) night. Adriansyah, the host of the ceremony read a pantun indicating the ceremony would be begun.

Hendak bermalam di Indragiri (Spending a night in Indragiri)
Carilah ketam bawa ke hulu (Look for a plane and take it to the upper)
Dengan salam pembuka diri (In my cordial greeting)
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh (Peace be unto you)

The commemoration was attended by Dr. Nicholas Warouw and Budi Irawanto, M.A – from PSSAT-UGM -, Dr. Bianca Smith, and some representatives of Media Purosani Hotel, Jogja Plaza Hotel, Wisma Bahasa, and also some students of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Gadjah Mada University. Came also to the commemoration were the Head of the Association of Riau Islands Family (KMPKR), Ir. Said Fadhilah Alathas, M.Si, and ex-mayor of Yogyakarta, Sukri Fadholi, SH.

BKPBM has actualized some programmes such as Malay culture preservation, academic discussion, and Malay cultural values dissemination through either online or offline media. An awesome progress of a five years old institution.

At the same time, BKPBM conducted the grand launching of MalayTourism.com and RajaAliHaji.com. It was a grand launching of MalayTourism.com following its soft launching on February 20^th, 2008. RajaAliHaji.com is a portal on the most influential Malay figure named Raja Ali Haji.

The launching was begun while the host was reciting Gurindam 12. Condroyono cut a tumpeng (ceremonial dish of yellow rice served in a cone shape) followed by reciting a pantun below:

Pinang merah tanaman negeri (Red areca nut is a nation‘s plant)
Batang buluh tak mudah layu (Bamboo never grow dim)
Kami persembahkan situs Raja Ali Haji (We offer RajaAliHaji.com)
Sebagai suluh kalbu Melayu (As the living Malay wisdom)

Fadhillah Alatas came appear to the stage to slice the second tumpeng signing the grand launching of MalayTourism.com. One more pantun was recited

Cari perunggu letak di bara (seeking for a bronze above an ember)
Jadikan senjata laksmana dahulu (shaping it out into an old weapon)
WisataMelayu talah dibuka (MalayTourism.com has just been launched)
Menjadi ranah saijana Melayu (as the land of “exoticly Malay”)

In his speech Condroyono expressed his deep appreciation to BKPBM. “In its five, BKPBM has been involving deeply into the cyberspace through those three portals. Expectantly it would be beneficial for further development of Malay culture.” Condroyono said.

Condroyono also conveyed his opinion that Yogyakarta is the truly miniature of Indonesia, a place where people with heterogeneous cultures interact and develop. He hoped that BKPBM could be a pioneer leading to a good development of cultural life in Indonesia.

Likewise, Aris Mundayat also delivered his appreciation to BKPBM. He argues that Yogyakarta people have to learn other cultures such as Malay culture. BKPBM cleverly offers Malay culture though a savvy definition of Malay crossing geopolitical border. “Through those portals, we can learn, appreciate, and understand other cultures. Hopefully, such cultural interaction would bring into positive effect on cross-nations and cross-cultural life.” Aris said.

On the other hands, Mahyudin Al Mudra as the head of BKPM expressed his deepest gratitude for the commemorating of the fifth anniversary of BKPBM too. He thanked too much for all the crews of MelayuOnline.com since they had successfully celebrated this event.

Specifically, Mahyudin also delivered his thankfulness to Prof. Dr. Heddy Shri Ahimsa Putra and Prof. Dr. Safri Sairin for their incredible contributions in putting basic theoretical framework of studying Malay culture. To some extent, he thanked to Amalia Catering for the great support during the commemoration of BKPBM‘s anniversary.

Happy Birthday Mahyudin

The fifth anniversary of BKPBM comes along with Mahyudin‘s gold birthday. MelayuOnline.com‘s crews initiated to give him surprises by presenting a tart cake and a personal website namely www.mahyudinalmudra.com designed by a well-known web designer Ong Hari Wahyu.

MahyudinAlMudra.com‘s homepage tells a short description about Mahyudin‘s awards and his daily activities. At the middle of the ceremony, Ong gave Mahyudin a very surprised present – a very rare book entitled Sejarah Melayu (c1952).

Yeah, happy birthday Mahyudin, wish the best for you at all time.

(LS/brt/15/07-08)

(NI/ter/06/07-08)

Photo credit: Collection of Balai Kajian dan Pengembangan Budaya Melayu (Photo by: Aam Ito)

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