Yogyakarta --University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) would open a language center for Palestinian students who would pursue further studies in Indonesia. It became one of the contributions of UMY on the Palestinians to the advance the education of Palestinian citizens because education was an important key to the liberation of Palestine from the colonial state of Israel.
IndiraPrabasari, Ph.D explained those statements while delivering the results obtained from a brief visit of Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Fariz Nafi 'Atieh Mehdawi, to UMY. The visit which were on Tuesday (10/2) was welcomed by the Rector of UMY, Prof. Dr Bambang Cipto, MA, Vice Rector 3 of UMY Sri Atmaja P. Rosyidi, ST., MSc.Eng., Ph.D., PE, Secretary of University Ir. Nafi Ananda Utama, MS, Head of Cooperation Bureau in UMY, Indira Prabasari, Ph.D., and Head of Public Relations and Protocol of UMY, Ratih Herningtyas, S.IP/, MA.
According to Indira, the Palestinian government currently focused and intensely sent their lecturers and students to undertake further studies abroad, one of them was to Indonesia. Indira explained further that it was because Palestine wasnow also preparing themselves to be freed from the shackles of colonialism of Israel. "Actually, there are some teachers and students from the University of Palestine who continue their studies in Indonesia. And starting this year, UMY also contributes by providing scholarships for professors and students in learning Indonesian culture and Language, before they continued studying at the universities that have been determined, "he explained.
The language center where would be a place for the Palestinians to learn Indonesian culture and language, according to Indira, would be placed in the building of Language Training Centre in UMY. "For this first year, there will be four Palestinian students who will continue their studies at University of Gajah Mada. And we provide scholarship of learning Indonesian culture and language for them for 3 months, before they undergo their student days in September 2015", he explained.
Indira added that in the near future, MY and the Palestinian government would also sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the academic field. "In the cooperation, we plan to hold a student exchange, staff exchange, and other academic activities at the University of Palestine. It is also a contribution UMY in advancing education in Palestine," he added.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Fariz Mehdawi confirmed that the cooperation in education is an important key for the country to be free from the hands of Israel. Therefore, according to him, a lot of professors and students of the Palestinians continued their studies abroad. Because after they completed the master's and doctoral studies abroad, then they are required to return to his country to develop education in Palestine. "This is the key to liberating Palestinians from Israeli," he said.
Fariz left a message that if anyone wanted to help the people and the Palestinian state, it was no longer time to provide assistance by sending people to strive physically. "It would be better to support by helping the teachers and students of Palestine in order to study further. Because of the education, our nation can escape from Israeli colonies, "he concluded. (Icha) (mac)
Tags: muhammadiyah, umy, jogja, palestine