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In celebrating Universitas Gadjah Mada’s 67th dies natalis, Niti Laku was held on Sunday (12/18). Niti Laku is a cultural parade that depicts the process of UGM moving from Kraton Ngayogyakarta to Bulaksumur, its current campus. In this event, themed “Djogja Djadoel Sehari, Djogja Muda Kembali (Jogja Goes Old School for a Day, Jogja Becomes Young Once Again)”, delegates from students, lecturers, staff, student activity units, and alumni participated and made the event a whole lot more lively.
From ugm.ac.id, we know that IKPMD (Ikatan Keluarga Pelajar Mahasiswa Daerah), a student organization for students from different regions in Indonesia, showcased many cultural traditions and performances with five entertainment stages from the streets of Malioboro to Jalan Sudirman. The committee also facilitated 67 pedicabs, 19 andongs and 5 gerobaks for older alumni to participate in Niti Laku. Not only were there cultural and arts activities, sticking to the big theme of UGM’s dies natalis, Dari UGM untuk Indonesia Sehat (From UGM for a Healthy Indonesia), jamu was handed out for free by lots of traditional jamu gendon sellers for the people of Yogyakarta. Jamu is a traditional drink with all-natural ingredients that is good for the health.
The participants, a mass of more or less 6000 people, all used traditional or nationalistic themed clothing. The delegates from our faculty are Gabriela Desy (2013), Ruth Psikila (2013), Nisa Ramadani (2013), Ovin Savitri (2013) and Rashifa Fauzia (2016), who dressed in the style of mbok jamu (female jamu sellers). The route that participants walked through in the parade started from Kompleks Pagelaran Keraton to Jl. Malioboro, continuing to Jl. Margo Utomo/P. Mangkubumi and then to Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Cik Di Tiro, finishing at Graha Sabha Pramana’s field. Desy, one of the delegates from our faculty stated that she enjoyed participating in Niti Laku although she had to walk quite far in traditional clothing. She said, “It makes me imagine who in the old days people had to walk far in order to get to campus, so there’s some philosophical value that I got participating here.”
Other than student delegates as participants in Niti Laku, one of the students from our faculty, Adri Waskito (2013) took part in being part of the committee. Adri said that he took pride in being the only psychology student in the committee. “I’m glad that I got new friends and links outside of the faculty, consisting not only of students but also alumni,” said Adri. Ganjar Pranowo, UGM alumni who is also the governor of Central Java and the head of the alumni association (Keluarga Alumni Gadjah Mada or KAGAMA) also participated in Niti Laku. Pratikno (Menteri Sekretaris Negara), Budi Karya Sumadi (Menteri Perhubungan), and Basuki Hadimuljono (Menteri Pekerjaan Umum dan Perumahan Rakyat) participated as well. While being part of the committee, Adri felt that contributions from alumni are one of the factors that help in advancing UGM. “UGM is strong because there a lot of alumni that still maintain relations with their alma mater and care about UGM’s development,” said Adri. Hopefully in the future there will be even more alumni and students that contribute for not only UGM, but also Indonesia [Alifah].