4,204 new students at the University of Bengkulu for the 2023-2024 academic year took part in the Introduction to New Student Campus Life (PKKMB) activity, which has been refined to become the Activity Agenda for Greeting New Students at the University of Bengkulu (AKSARA ULU). This agenda lasts two days at the university level, Monday and Tuesday, July 31 – August 1, 2023, and two days at the faculty, department, and study program level, Wednesday and Thursday, August 2 to 4.
The opening of AKSARA ULU 2023 took place at the UNIB stadium on Monday morning (31/7/2023), marked by the beating of dols by the Rector, Chair of the Senate, and the Vice Rectors as well as the symbolic wearing of attributes in the form of UNIB hats and alma maters to new student representatives.
At the opening ceremony of AKSARA ULU 2023, 2 (two) MURI (Indonesian-World Records Museum) records were also broken, which was an achievement and became a historic moment for UNIB. The two MURI records are “Wearing Lantung Hats by the Most Students” and “Andun Dance Performance by the Most Students.”
Recording the MURI of “Wearing Lantung Hats by the Most Students” is an appreciation for local cultural heritage and “Performing the Andun Dance by the Most Students” is to preserve local wisdom and regional culture.
As is known, in research submitted by Undri and Nurmatias in the form of a paper at the Dissemination of the Recording of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bengkulu City, Wednesday (23/10/2013), it was clearly stated that lantung skin has been known to the people of Bengkulu since the Japanese colonial period, precisely in 1943.
At that time, lantung skin was used as daily clothing by lower-class society. This marks part of the dark colonial history of the nation during the struggle to expel Japanese colonialism. Bengkulu people use trees with gummy bark to make lantung cloth, because gummy bark is considered not easily damaged. Generally, the bark used to produce lantung is forest rubber trees, ibuh and terap.
Over time, Indonesia became independent, the people’s economy gradually improved, and the use of lantung cloth slowly began to be abandoned. Instead, the lantung skin has changed its function to become a handicraft, a source of income, and a creative tourist attraction in Bengkulu.
Then for the Andun Dance, as is known, this dance is one of the dances originating from Bengkulu. The Andun dance has become a culture and tradition from Seluma Regency, South Bengkulu to Kaur Regency. The Andun dance consists of several movements, including prayer movements, mbukuk, nauf, and nyentang movements which are danced in pairs and opposites. It is called Andun because based on the regional language of the local community, Andun means to visit. In terms of the Andun dance, it is usually danced by young people who are Ngandun or visiting a wedding procession in their village.
The Andun dance has mandatory clothing that must be worn during traditional ceremonies. The attributes are men wearing sarongs, shawls, songkoks/hats, and plain jackets. For women, they wear cloth, kebaya, shawl and headscarf. For the PKKMB/AKSARA ULU agenda, clothing is adapted to conditions and has received approval from the relevant traditional leaders.
The values conveyed in the Andun dance are the values of togetherness and cooperation as a form of depicting the social spirit to achieve common goals, a place to find a soul mate, and as a medium of entertainment. The Andun dance is generally performed to express gratitude for the blessings received at that time, where there is always a spirit of cooperation between communities that is highly respected.
“So, in the 2023 PKKMB, we will make achievements and history. First history, for the first time we refined the name of PKKMB by adding elements of Bengkulu culture so that it became the Activity Agenda for Greeting New Students at the University of Bengkulu, abbreviated as AKSARA ULU. “The second history is also the achievements for 2 MURI Records,” said the Chair of the 2023 PKKMB/AKSARA ULU Organizing Committee, Ramya Rachmawati, S.Si, M.Si, Ph.D.
Ramya explained that the AKSARA ULU series has been taking place since July 25 at the AKSARA ULU Festival which introduces SMEs at the university level. The hope is that students will not only hard skills but also soft skills.
The peak of AKSARA ULU was held Monday – Tuesday (31 July – 1 August) as AKSARA ULU at the university level and from 2 to 3 August 2023 at the faculty, department, and study program level. The number of AKSARA ULU participants was 4204 new students. The largest number of students came from the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) 863 students, followed by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) 724 students, the Faculty of Agriculture (FP) 650 students, the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) 543 students, the Faculty of Engineering ( FT) 483 students, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) 470 students, Faculty of Law (FH) 422 students, and Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FKIK) 49 students.
In AKSARA ULU 2023, new students were introduced to various student organizations, both internal and external campus organizations. Then there was socialization about the higher education system in Indonesia, about the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (Independent Learning, Independent Campus) program, about the Republic of Indonesia and National Defense as well as anti-radicalism and anti-narcotics and socialization about the Eradication of Corruption. There was also socialization on the use of digital payment system technology, namely QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard), which was delivered by a team from Bank Indonesia (BI).
Then, to arouse the enthusiasm and motivation of the students, the committee invited a national speaker (Guest Star) who is a National Motivator, namely Jovial Da Lopez. On the sidelines of the event, new students were treated to attractions and exposure to achievements from student organizations and SMEs at UNIB as well as educational entertainment and quizzes. These various activities are centered in the UNIB Multi-Purpose Building (GSG) which has a capacity of 5000 people.
“It is hoped that new students will have high motivation to study, high determination to quickly graduate on time with a maximum GPA, and achieve well at both national and international levels,” said Ramya Rachmawati. [Author: Purna Herawan/PR].