Malang- 52 UMM (Muhammadiyah University of Malang) students majoring in International Relations (HI), Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) have just arrived from 3 countries (Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) from Nov 14-18, 2011. There, they were accompanied by the Department Head, Tonny Dian Effendi.

“This aims to expand their horizon as well as learn how Indonesian diplomacy is done. Looking for cooperation also belongs to cultural diplomacy," said Tonny, "this is a routine activity done by HI UMM for students of semester 7 and is usually done by the end of the year. The different thing is the activity is done to 3 countries. The previous program was done at embasies in Jakarta.“

The activity in Malaysia was discussion at Malaya University. There were 3 agendas: discussion with International Student Center represented by Noor Azam Omar as a student assistant staf about learning system, the chance for student exchange, and campus tour.

“Second agenda is the visit and discussion at Art Museum of Malaya University. There was a very interesting discussion because in this museum there are cultural things found in Indonesia such as gamelan, wayang kulit, etc,” said Tonny.

Tonny said the visit at Malaya University ended with the discussion with the Dean of Literature and Social Sciences Faculty, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohammad Redzuan Othman accompanied by Dr. Hanizah Idris as Deputy Dean. The dean asked to have a student exchange program between HI UMM and the faculty. "What maked me happy is he invites students with GPA above 3.7 and good academic skill to take doctoral progrma there," he said.

UMM students also visited Indonesian embassy (KBRI) in Kuala Lumpur. They were greeted by Educational and Cultural Attache, Prof. Drs. Rusdi, MA, PhD. “Prof. Rusdi proposed to have a meeting of Indonesia-Malaysia students at UMM, and KBRI Kuala Lumpur will give support and assisstance," said Tonny.

In Singapore, the students had a meeting and discussion at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS). They had a chance to talked to Nor Shahril Saat about the development of Islam in Malaysia. In Thailand, they were accepted by the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Prince of Songkla University (PSU). UMM delegation was greeted by Chutima Swangvaree as an Assistant Dean for International Relations and Information. 

HI UMM aspires to internationalize its students by sending as many students as possible to join an activity abroad, while at UMM by the end the year, there will be a program named “How ASEAN are you?”. This is to welcome  ASEAN Community 2015 by socializing ASEAN community 2015 to public. This event is done by cooperating with Secretariat of ASEAN, Foreign Affair Ministry, and ISEAS as a source of information. They will recruit and train HI UMM students to be volunteers to give information and socialize ASEAN Community 2015 to public.

(trans by hamzah - uhamka)