Introduction to the ASEAN Community is necessary for any people in the region, including children. Formal socialisation in school is not yet sufficient to raise the awareness of ASEAN to school children. One of the products that can be used for this task is the ASEAN Doll, made by UGM students.
“One important society element to deal with the ASEAN community is children. So, it is good if socialisation of ASEAN community in Indonesia starts from the first phase, namely elementary education,” said Ridwan, Faculty of Animal Sciences student of UGM, on Tuesday (7/6).
Along with friends, Mulia Ela Syifaurrahmah and Rifki Maulana Iqbal Taufik (Social and Political Sciences), Aditia Kusuma (Engineering), and Wahyu Galih Yudha Purnama (Agriculture) he made the ASEAN doll in the Student Creativity Programme for Entrepreneurship.
“We saw an interesting business opportunity to make a product of socialisation not only serving as an innovative solution to government’s socialisation policy, but also an effective media to optimise child’s intellectual capacity,” he explained.
This product carries the diverse cultures of ASEAN with the design depicting the unique characteristics of each ASEAN country.
“The ASEAN doll is designed using clothing with the motifs of images unique in each of ASEAN country, for example batik motifs from Indonesia, traditional outfit of Thai’s Khon dance, elephant motifs from Thailand, etc,” said Ridwan.
The educational function still remains the main attention of the product with the description of ASEAN countries on the dolls. These students hoped the doll can be an educational socialisation media that is creative, innovative and attractive. “Hopefully, the socialisation of ASEAN community done in Indonesia can really develop children’s awareness of ASEAN community,” he added.