International Relations Students Held IRF 2015

(left-right) Prof. Aleksius Jemadu, Mexind Suko Utomo, HE Ambassador Walid Al-Hadid,and Amelia Liwe

International Relations Fiesta (IRF) is the largest annual event held by the Student Association (HMJ) of International Relations (HI), under the consent of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UPH, which aims to demonstrate the existence of HI majors which also has a characteristic worth to expound. This year, for 5 days, 19 to 23 September 2015, IRF raised the tagline ‘The Exotic Middle East’, according Ayu (HI, 2013), Chairman of the IRF 2015, the reason behind making this tagline is the desire to change the perception of the public at large about Middle East that is not far from terrorism and dangerous state. “As a student of HI, we are interested in contributing to world peace, but sometimes the ‘stereotype’ inhibits the possibility of positive cooperation between countries, particularly with the Middle East. Therefore, through IRF 2015 we uncover things that may not be known by the society.” Said Ayu. 

A series of events in the IRF were highlighted by the opening of which took place on 19 September 2015 with a traditional dance of the Middle East, complete with traditional costumes and flashmob dance by the committee. The next series of IRF event is some competition such as Fashion Design Competition, Instagram Competition, and United Nations Model (MUN) followed by 25 Single Delegate coming from universities across Indonesia, including President University, Bina Nusantara University, Padjadjaran University, Parahyangan University, Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta, and much more.

In addition, one of the core event in the IRF is a talk show titled “Optimizing Relationship with Middle East: Promoting Indonesia’s Economic and Security Interest” and invited speakers who are experts in international relations, such as H.E Ambassador Walid Al-Hadid, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Jordan for Indonesia, Prof. Aleksius Jemadu, Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Science UPH and Mexind Suko Utomo, Political Observer & Young activists.

Walid Al Hadid began her presentation by giving a message to HI students to be more critical in learning the whole of a country, be it historical, economy, social, cultural, religious, and others. “As a student of HI, you have to be careful with ‘stereotyping’ or the image that is created for others. Students must analyze more deeply and look for the facts,” said Wahid.

In terms of the relationship between Indonesia and the Middle East, Wahid said that despite the distance that separates so far with cultural differences, language, social, political and economic, and others, Indonesia and the Middle East are very connected. Indonesian-Middle East work together in many areas, for example, Indonesia took oil from Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia gave spices to the Middle East

?’The Exotic Middle East? Talk Show Participants

Furthermore, Prof. Aleks added, in order to optimize the cooperation with the Middle East, it is able to be cultivated from Indonesia to the economic interest and the security. But for him, Indonesia should also contribute to the peace and order of the world. Mexind also added that in relation to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Indonesia as a ‘peace broker’ should be more inclusive of all parties. Not only is today, Indonesia gives a lot of support to the Palestine. “It’s not even a very good one, but it would be much better if Indonesia also began a relationship with Israel, which has never been done,” said Mexind. According to Prof. Aleks, the cause of the absence of relations with Israel is because Indonesia until now has no diplomacy in Israel, and he thinks it should be done considering that Indonesia is a democratic country with diverse cultures and religions, and should not be seen as siding with any culture or religion,

Furthermore, the talk show participants also gave questions to further deepen the discussion about the Middle East. A total of 200 people attended the talk show is derived from the internal UPH and the public. (fc/Mf)

UPH Media Relations