The Center for Cultural Studies UGM is working with the Center of Educational Policy and Cultural Research, Ministry of Education and Culture, to hold a National Seminar from December 6-8th 2015. The theme is Development on a Cultural Perspective. The first session was held Sunday (12/06) at the Santika Hotel and opened by Vice-Rector of Research and Community Service, Prof. Dr. Suratman and the head of The Center of Educational Policy and Cultural Research, Ir. Hendarman, M.Sc., Ph.D, a keynote speaker.
Prof. Suratman in his remarks mentioned that many cultures are left behind, one of them is traditional languages. Many young people are more proud of speaking foreign languages, but they cannot speak their own traditional language. Because of that, he suggested young people to be proud of their own cultures than any other nation’s culture, because culture is what makes Indonesia different from other countries.
Related to cultural perspective, one of aspects of development that was discussed was education. Cultural based education, according to Hendarman, is important to achieve sovereignty of Indonesia based on politics, economy, and cultural personality that is set in Nawa Cita goals set out by the government. “I hope the nine priority agenda of President Joko Widodo- VP Jusuf Kalla could be references for the speakers in the next session,” he said.
The seminar taking place in Yogyakarta, according to Dr. Aprinus - head of The Center of Cultural Studies, became an important piece since Yogyakarta is a cultural city. This theme, he added, is not a new theme. But the optimistic theme is always important to be talked about, to criticize the development process in Indonesia, generating new perspectives and solutions to the current problems.
“Development problem is always relevant and actual to be discussed consistently. Even in one or two years, we will certainly talk about this again, evaluating if our development processes are on the right parth that we fight for or not,” he explained.