Indonesian Student Association in Australia or known as Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia Australia (PPIA) is one of the largest Indonesian student association in the world. PPIA is divided into 7 branch (State and Territorial) which has 28 sub-branches (Universities) around Australia. This year, Canberra is chosen to host the 23rd Congress of PPIA that went from 15th – 17th of July 2016. By working together with PPIA Australian Capital Territory, ANU Indonesian Student Association (ANUISA), UC Indonesian Student Society (UCISS) and sponsored by The Education and Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Indonesia, PPIA has successfully made this Congress possible.
On the first day of Congress 2016, Prof. Ronny Noor. Ronny as the Education and Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Indonesia gave an inspiring speech wishing the 2016 Congress of PPIA will go as planned and will also be useful for all delegates as future leaders of Indonesia. The next session of day one was an inspirational public lecture called LDK or Latihan Dasar Kepemimpinan which divided into two sessions. The first session of LDK was from Ariel Heryanto as the Professor School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University (ANU). Ariel took “The Challenges and Projection on Indonesia’s Future” as the title, which emphasised the importance of changing the system of education in Indonesia. The second session was from the former ambassador to Indonesia in the USA, Dr. Dino Patti Djalal. He accentuated the importance of being aware of the existence of Globalisation so that all future leaders of Indonesia can compete globally with other countries. The seminar was being live streamed through the Facebook Fan page of PPIA Australian Capital Territory which successfully gained 5.800 people, watched by 914 people, and shared 20 times.
The second and third day of the 2016 PPIA Congress was mainly around AGM which was the most important event of choosing the next president. The first candidate is Leopold Sudaryono, a PhD Student in criminology in ANU. The second candidate is Muhammad Fathahillah Zuhri, a Master student of Energy Change also in ANU. It was an intense situation, alas Fathahillah is chosen to be the 2016-2017 President of PPIA. As the new president of PPIA, he encouraged all Indonesians in Australia, especially students from Indonesia, to fight for unity and bond with one another and create a warm and healthy relationship as a family. As quoted in Indonesia, Fatha said “Rasanya terharu karena banyak yang mendukung dan memberi kepercayaan kepada saya, yang baru berinteraksi langsung dengan mereka selama beberapa hari. Juga karena dukungan penuh dari teman-teman ACT. Saya merasa tanggung jawab ini tidak ringan.”
Fatha is replacing Mutiasari from Victoria, the former President of PPIA 2015/2016, who carried Cabinet Cemerlang for a year. Mutia wished, as quoted in Indonesia “semoga kepengurusan PPIA yang baru dapat mengayomi pelajar-pelajar Indonesia di Australia, meningkatkan prestasi yang telah diraih dan tentunya terus memberikan kontribusi positif dan inovasi bagi Indonesia dan dunia internasional.”
Tri Mulyani Sunarharum, the former Vice President of PPIA 2015/2016 also said, as quoted in Indonesia “Saya berharap agar teman-teman putra putri terbaik bangsa yang sudah menjadi anggota PPIA dapat berkontribusi dan menjadi bagian dari Kabinet Keluarga 2016/2017 yang diusung oleh ketua terpilih. Semoga kesempatan berharga tersebut dapat dimanfaatkan sebaik-baiknya demi pengembangan diri, kemajuan PPIA dan bangsa Indonesia.”
Written by: Ilmi Dwiastuti and Alicia Azzahra D. Deswandy
Translated by: Nathazha Sipasulta
