Malang – The opening ceremony of Pengenalan Studi Mahasiswa Baru (Pesmaba) of Muhammadiyah University of Malang (UMM) 2014 went merrily. There were 7632 new students who wore red blazer and white shirt and trousers/skirt filling the UMM helipad on Monday (9/8). Even, there were 70 international students among them.

The presence of Vice-Governor of East Java, Syaifullah Yusuf or commonly called as Gus Ipul as the ceremonial inspector made the new students a lot more enthusiastic. In his speech, Gus Ipul said that it was a sure thing that the students of UMM should be thankful for they were able to be in the college, because only 30% of the high school graduates were able to continue to the higher education. He also stated his pride because UMM was one of the best universities in East Java. “UMM is a pride of East Java people,” he said.

On the same occasion, the Rector of UMM Muhadjir Effendy elected Gus Ipul as the honorary family of UMM, marked by embedding of red blazer. Before that, the same award was also given to the Ministry of National Defense, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the Commander of TNI Moeldoko, the General Chairman of Indonesia Red Cross Jusuf Kalla, and the Ministry of Forestry Zulkifli Hasan on different occasions.

After the ceremony, the new students walked to the Dome of UMM to attend another session, which was begun by the presentation of some Unit Kegiatan Mahasiswa (UKM) and followed by the opening speech by the Rector of UMM, Muhadjir Effendy and the Chairman of Badan Pembina UMM HA Malik Fadjar. The activities that day were ended by general stadium by the General Chairman of Muhammadiyah Central Executive, KH Din Syamsuddin.

HAPPINESS: New Students of UMM Threw Their Hats on the Air

In the beginning of his speech, Din asked the new students, how many percent of them who were Muhammadiyah and who were not. Most of them admitted they were not from Muhammadiyah.

“Based on my survey in this podium, the ones from Muhammadiyah is just 20%, the rest 80% are not Muhammadiyah. This is a proof that the quality of UMM has been proven to be true, not only among Muhammadiyah members. I even heard that this year UMM has 70 international students. This is remarkable,” he said.

Din also mentioned, this went according to UMM tagline, which was red blazer, white college showed that the university was Muhammadiyah’s loyalty towards the Nation. Therefore, he continued, the national characteristics should be realized by the students of UMM, which was becoming the front liner in warding things that could impair our nationalism.

“Moreover, our country is enlivened by the phenomena of Islamic State of Iraq and Syiria (ISIS). I think, UMM as a prideful university firmly rejects this,” concluded Din, who was also the Chairman of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), enthusiastically. (han) (mac)