In order to celebrate 66th Anniversary of UGM, Gadjah Mada Alumni Netherlands Branch (KAGAMA NL) organized KAGAMA NL 2015 on Saturday, December 12, 2015. The forum brought theme, "KAGAMA Contribution In Order To Achieve Tough and Prosper Indonesian Society".
The event was attended by approximately 50 people from UGM alumni and members of Indonesian institutions in the Netherlands, including the Netherlands Indonesian Students Association (PPI Netherlands), Indonesian Diaspora in the Netherlands, ISTECS (Institute for Science and Technology Studies in the Netherlands), and other Indonesian institutions. The event was opened by Minister Counsellor of Education, Social and Cultural Affairs of the Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag, Azis Nurwahyudi, followed by prayers and cutting rice-cone (tumpeng) ritual as a form of gratitude for the UGM Anniversary. The occasion was attended also by Educational and Cultural Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, Prof. Bambang Hari Wibisono.
Hosted in the Groninger Forum, Groningen, Netherlands, the event was fully supported by the Embassy and the collaboration between KAGAMA NL and PPI Groningen aims to provide a forum for KAGAMA NL members and Indonesian community in the Netherlands to discuss the three main themes of development in Indonesia, which are Environment and Disaster Management, Health, and Economic and Development. A number of ideas were presented, deriving from the anthology book “Bunga Rampai Kumpulan Ide dan Gagasan KAGAMA Belanda untuk Pembangunan Jawa Tengah. The book has been submitted to the Chairman of KAGAMA as well as the Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, at the inauguration of the Gadjah Mada Alumni Netherlands Branch (KAGAMA NL) in October.
"The Forum is deliberately organized in order to provide room for two ways discussion in the topics of development in Indonesia in general," said chairman of the KAGAMA Forum NL 2015 committee, I Putu Yuda Hananta, in a press release sent on Wednesday (16/12).
In these discussions emerged various interesting ideas. For example, in the topic of Environment and Disaster Management was born the idea of water bank to cope with drought in Indonesia. In addition, in the health sector appears a solution to suppress swelling on Indonesian health budget by reflecting to the application of health insurance with eigen risico that have proven effective in the Netherlands.
Hananta said this event is a contribution and an effort to provide maximum benefit for UGM and for all the people of Indonesia in general.
"KAGAMA NL Forum 2015 is expected to be way of connecting with one another as a part of UGM big family in the Netherlands, to stay in touch and share ideas and findings in various fields of science,"Yuda said.
Deputy Chief of Embassy in the Netherlands, Ibnu Wahyutomo, in a separate statement stating KAGAMA event was a contribution of UGM graduates who are currently studying in the Netherlands and should have the support of the Indonesian Representative. He expected this kind of events and thoughts will be useful for the development of Indonesia.