The 4th International Seminar on Malay-Javanese Studies (SEMEJA) 2025 is jointly organized by the Institute of Nature and Malay Civilization (ATMA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia with the Javanese Literature Study Program, Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), and the Department of Museum Malaysia (JMM). SEMEJA IV includes various components designed to foster meaningful dialogue, knowledge sharing, and strategic collaboration. The main focus is on how cultural heritage can contribute to community empowerment and regional unity.
The components of SEMEJA IV include:
Keynote address by visiting scholar – Secretary-General, Ministry of National Unity.
Paper presentation sessions among researchers, postgraduate students, Librarians/Curators/Archivists, government/private sector employees.
Forums featuring experts in related fields.
Poster presentations and exhibitions focusing on practical strategies in utilizing heritage for community empowerment.
Visits to heritage sites that play a role in community empowerment.
Featuring source person for studies of Malay-Javanese heritage
On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, the Instagram account @kratonjogja.event announced the winner of a competition. Not a contest to get a wife, but the #WaditraPralaga Content Competition held on two platforms, namely Instagram and TikTok. In the announcement, there was one student from the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture study program at UGM who was announced as the winner. The student is Muhammad Yasir Ramadan with NIM 24/542781/SA/23331.
The theme of the content competition was of course around Waditra Pralaga because it was still related to a series of closings from the Paramaiswari exhibition. According to Bausastra, Waditra itself means music or percussion, while pralaga means war. This is in line with the performance presented by the palace, namely a battle between male and female orchestra players. What the palace wants to show is that women have the same potential as men.
Yasir stated that there was actually no special reason for him to join this competition. Yasir happened to hear this announcement while watching Waditra Pralaga at Kagungan Dalem. While watching, the MC announced that there would be a TikTok and Instagram content competition. The content can discuss anything, as long as it is still related to Waditra Pralaga. It was stated that one of the criteria for the winner would be calculated from the total number of viewers on the content, with the provision of using the hashtag #WaditraPralaga and by tagging the social media accounts of Karaton Yogyakarta. Honestly, Yasir did not expect that he would be announced as one of the winners of this competition because the number of viewers of his content was not as many as other content. However, when his name was included in one of the 10 winners, Yasir was happy.
According to Yasir, the difficulty in preparing the content was predicting the direction of the audience's interest. With the analysis and video material that Yasir had recorded, he chose a video containing music that many people knew. With this, Yasir chose a video when the players performed one of the soundtracks in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean".
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSMob6vkG/
The prize that Yasir received for winning the competition was the opportunity to watch the Opening of the Hamong Nagari Exhibition with the performance of the Abdi Dalem Fashion Show accompanied by Acapella by the Yogyakarta Royal Orchestra for free. In addition to being free, the winner also got a special place, where they got the front seat. According to Yasir, the event was very memorable because it was opened directly by Ngarsa Dalem and was also attended by G.K.R. Bendara, K.P.H. Natanegara, and also Wayah Dalem (the sultan's grandson). In addition, what made this experience memorable was the Abdi Dalem fashion show, which is very rare to find now. Finally, there was also a performance accompanied by the Yogyakarta Royal Choir which made this event more lively and gave a magnificent impression.
Haryo Untoro represented the Javanese Language, Literature, Literature and Culture Study Program in getting an extraordinary student award in the framework of the Achievement Individual Awards at the 79th Open Senate Meeting of the FIB UGM. This open senate meeting was held on March 3, 2025.
The series of open senate meetings starts from registration, opening, singing Indonesia Raya, Hymn Gadjah Mada, and Mars Sastra, then there is a UGM Rector's speech, Dr. Ova Emilia, M.Med.ed., Sp.OG (K)., Ph.D. Followed by the ceremony for submitting a comprehensive report by the Head of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, scientific speech by Dr. Gabriel Roosmargo Lono Lastoro Simatupang, MA., Ph.D., awards to outstanding individuals, choir, prayer, and closing.
According to Haryo, the selection of outstanding individuals is likely to be seen from academic and non-academic competitions, making scientific papers, and others. Here Haryo was chosen by lecturers to represent his study program, namely Javanese language, literature, and culture.
Haryo said that he was grateful and actually did not expect that he would get this award. Because of that this award was memorable for him. When asked whether Haryo was ambitious to re-achieve the same award next year, Haryo replied that he would only try to give better than in previous years, not ambition to achieve it again.
Noviyanti Alfitri (NIM 24/533646/SA/22795), a 2024 student from the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture study program, inaugurated as a Diajeng Gunungkidul 2025 at the end of February. Diajeng is a representation of a young woman from a regency—in this case, Gunungkidul Regency—specifically in the field of tourism. Usually Diajeng is paired with Dimas (as a representation of youngman). They promote nature and culture-based tourism in their district and become icons for young people.
The selection process for the Dimas-Diajeng icon began in December 2024. Starting from the selection of files and administration, written selection, interview selection, then the announcement of 15 finalists who were quarantined, and officially crowned on the coronation night on February 22, 2025.
As the holder of the title Diajeng Gunungkidul, Noviyanti or who is familiarly called Upik has the main responsibility of assisting in the marketing sector at the Tourism Office in promoting tourism in Gunungkidul Regency.
Not the coronation night, according to Upik, the most memorable experience during the Dimas-Diajeng selection process was during quarantine. During the quarantine period, Upik gained a lot of knowledge ranging from tourism, culture, regional specialties, public speaking, and others. This increased Upik's knowledge and Upik learned a lot of new things during the quarantine period.
In addition to the most memorable moments, Upik also said that she had difficulty in time management. Because of the tight timeline of the selection process, Upik had to adjust her lecture schedule at UGM with her other activities. However, fortunately Upik was able to go through everything smoothly by making a priority scale.
Even though she has been named Diajeng Gunungkidul 2025, Upik realizes that she is still part of the UGM Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture students. Therefore, Upik wants to contribute a lot to her study program. She wants to do several things; become a writer or participant in the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali, become a talent or production team in the Gugur Gunung activity, and maybe take part in a competition to bring the name of the study program. In addition, Upik also has an ambition to be able to write her own anthology.
Wow, it seems like Upik has so many desires and ambitions! Hopefully, all of Upik's ambitions can be achieved smoothly without any significant obstacles. With this story, hopefully other students will also be motivated to do what they like and develop themselves even more!
During the 30th Temu Budaya Nusantara (TBN), a new Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture student from the 2024’s batch took part in the competition as a delegate and immediately came out on top! Who is the winner? Let's take a peek at the story!
Ghibran Arsha Daffa' Musaffa' is the 3rd place winner of the Storytelling Competition held at the 30th TBN in 2024. Although Ghibran is a new student, this did not dampen his determination to compete in this national competition. Ghibran said that as soon as he heard that a national storytellers competition would be held and he could represent Universitas Gadjah Mada, he was immediately interested to join.
Initially, the theme he wanted to take was children's games (dolanan anak). Ghibran had even arranged the storyline of the story in such a way. However, after consulting with an elementary school teacher in Yogyakarta, it turned out that the story was considered less relevant to youngster. The teacher finally suggested a romance theme, but it could be connected to culture. Finally, the theme chosen was jathilan. Ghibran stated that this story was inspired by the story of Dr. Inggar Bagus Wibisono. A doctor, jathilan dancer and an Keraton’s abdi dalem all at once. The synopsis of the story is as follows.
There are 2 college students who are dating named Joko and Wati. Wati is said to like things that have to do with culture and has the opinion that she must take part in preserving and maintaining culture, especially Yogyakarta culture. The peak of the conflict takes place in Malioboro where Joko finally finds out that Wati is a jathilan player. Here Joko represents the thoughts of the people who like to swallow the stigma about jathilan raw. However, Wati still chooses to break up with Joko and preserves the jathilan dance and becomes a skilled dancer, to the point of being nicknamed Nyai Rangga Wati.
However, there is a unique fact, namely that Ghibran is actually afraid of jathilan! Even now, when he hears the accompaniment of jathilan gamelan, he still feels nervous because in the past there was an incident where a jathilan dancer almost wanted to enter his house, hihihi. So the process of making this fairy tale is one of Ghibran's ways to get out of his comfort zone. For the sake of this fairy tale, Ghibran was willing to observe and interview female jathilan figures.
Ghibran got a lot of things from this TBN XXX event. Ghibran is grateful because he became brave enough to try new things and put aside his fear. Ghibran also got new friends, even from Bali. Although at the beginning of the event Ghibran felt afraid, because of his father, Ghibran was convinced to try his best because winning or losing is a later matter.
From Ghibran we can learn that in order to achieve what we want, we must put in a lot of effort. In addition, as young people, Ghibran gives an example that we can create cultural-themed works and clear the negative stigma that has been attached to the culture. Finally, there is a message from Ghibran that young people should not be ashamed to preserve their own culture. Because if we don't preserve it, who else will?
Finally, the 2024 management period has ended! However, this does not mean that the journey of the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture Student Family Department (HMJ KAMASTAWA) has also ended. The transfer of positions event last Monday (February 24th, 2025) marked the birth of a new cabinet from HMJ KAMASTAWA. This cabinet consists of 6 core administrator members, 7 division heads, and 2 sub-division heads. Here is the latest formation of the HMJ KAMASTAWA management:
Head of PSDM Division: Pingky Putri Khairani (NIM 23/516628/SA/22326)
Head of Medinfo Division: Talitha Ulayya Iskandar (NIM 23/519645/SA/22511)
Head of Scientific Division: Meifira Arini Pitaloka (NIM 23/519246/SA/22498)
Head of Entrepreneurship Division: Erlinda Azzahra Rahmadani (NIM 23/516700/SA/22334)
Head of Social Division: Nadiffa Setya Nugraheni (NIM 23/522757/SA/22755)
Head of PR Division: Alfi Nurmaliasari (NIM 23/520908/SA/22617)
Head of Interest and Talent Division: Lakshita Pradnya Dayinta (NIM 23/516081/SA/22308)
Sub-Head of Interest and Talent Division: Audrey Gizella Islamey (NIM 23/515221/SA/22254)
Sub-Head of Interest and Talent Division: Muhammad Rizki Saputro (NIM 23/521240/SA/22647)
When inaugurated and officially held the responsibility, the advisor of HMJ KAMASTAWA, Mr. Rudy Wiratama, S.I.P, M.A., gave several important messages. One of them was the message that HMJ Manager students should not be fixated on routines alone. In addition, he also advised not to give in to the stigma that 'Javanese people are lazy'. Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture students should actually be able to show the opposite, namely punctual, diligent, and hardworking.
In addition, Mrs. Dr. Dra. Daru Winarti, M.Hum. as the Head of the Study Program also gave advice that students must carry out their responsibilities with a happy heart. Because if the heart is happy, other people can see the peace within us.
The event ended with the signing of the minutes and the reading of the oath of office. Thus, the new HMJ KAMASTAWA management has been officially formed. Good luck with your duties!
Studying and understanding ancient manuscripts may sound complicated to some people. However, in the Codicology course taught by Dr. Sri Ratna Saktimulya, M. Hum., we can understand it better from a fun side!
Codicology itself is a course that focuses on the science of dealing with the physical condition of manuscripts. So basically here, students will study the physical condition of manuscripts in terms of materials, size, paper and everything related to the physical nature of the manuscript, as well as the elements in the text, such as illumination, stamps, script, and others.
On Monday, February 17, 2025, Mrs. Sakti entered the Codicology class bringing a new learning method for students. In this second meeting, students conducted a case study. The case given was the analysis of a manuscript. However, what was different here was the object of study. The object that became the example of the manuscript was the student himself.
There were 5 students who were chosen to be the 'objects of study', while their friends formed groups to discuss and analyze each of the objects. The things that were asked to be described included manuscripts, texts, and history.
An example of the requested script analysis is a physical description of the object of study. For example, in that day's meeting, according to the 'script', the object had curly hair, was 165 cm tall, had narrow eyes, had brown skin, and so on. Then in text, students could describe that the object was shy, kind, liked to show off, and so on. Finally, historically, students were asked to mention the life journey of 'the script' such as year of birth, parents, home address, age, and et cetera.
By imagining things like this, students can understand better how to analyze and describe scripts more concretely. And in the future, students are expected to be more enthusiastic about dissecting Javanese Literature scripts so that the essence of the script can be conveyed to the public.
After conducting a series of registrations and member selection of the Students Association, finally on Monday, February 10th 2025, the Family of Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture Students (KAMASTAWA) held the first gathering for the new members of the association. This meeting was held in room 303 of the Margono Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences in the afternoon after the class was finished.
The purpose of this First Gathering is to familiarize all members of HMJ Kamastawa so that in the future they will have a good and close relationship with each other. Familiarity and personal closeness can also support the performance and cooperation between members in an organization.
The event began with an opening by the MC, then continued with the introduction of the division heads and their members. After that, each division briefly presented its work program. After all divisions presented their work program plans, the event continued with an exchange of gifts and simple games. This event can be said to have run smoothly and had a warm atmosphere because of the enthusiasm of the new members. And in this First Gathering, each division was also asked to wear a certain color to distinguish between one division and another.
The First Gathering was relaxed and fun because it involved a bonding process without seniority walls between the 2023 and 2024 classes. It is important to eliminate the sense of seniority to foster a sense of kinship. Ultimately, this sense of kinship will bring a comfortable and safe organizational atmosphere for all its members.
It is hoped that with this activity, the work programs that will be held by HMJ Kamastawa in the future can run smoothly without significant obstacles. It is also hoped that the dynamics and cooperation between division members can flow without obstacles.
In order to encourage the study of Indonesian art archaeology as well as to participate in the field of inclusive education, the scientific division of the Javanese Language, Literature and Culture Student Association (HMJ Kamastawa) collaborates with Artefak Magazine, a publication of the Archaeology Undergraduate Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FIB UGM). This collaboration resulted in the 2024 edition of Artifact Magazine which raised a theme entitled “Archaeology of Art.”
The magazine features a variety of interesting content, including a feature article, four scientific papers, six popular scientific papers, three opinions, and four essay photos. The presented material also varies from traditional to contemporary, so that the broad discussion can spark curiosity and open a deeper horizon about art archaeology.
So, what is discussed in this edition? How does art and archaeology relate? If students' minds have already come up with such questions, there is nothing wrong with visiting the Instagram account @artefak.hima.
The collaboration between two different academic programs—Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture, with Archaeology—is a joint effort to produce critical and in-depth studies of cultural objects. This collaboration not only enriches the educational landscape but also as a form of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) points, especially in information gathering, innovation, and education, as well as a form of collaboration in realizing quality education, especially in the field of art archaeology.
An innovative movement in the world of education is back through the implementation of the final exam for the 'Tata Cara' course in the Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture study program at Universitas Gadjah Mada. This exam is not only an academic assessment event, but also aims to train students' observation skills and strengthen their connection with local culture. With a learning method based on direct experience, students are invited to explore, understand, and document the traditions of the surrounding community as part of preserving cultural heritage.
In this final exam, students were asked to form groups and plan a reportation video of events and cultural products in the area around their homes. In approximately one month, the student groups successfully produced diverse and interesting outputs. Among them were those that discussed traditional herbal drinks, various forms of offerings, procedures for panggih manten, jathilan, and so on.
Mayla (class of 2023) said that she was very happy because this reportation assignment gave students more opportunities to learn more about related arts. She said that this was a completely different experience than just watching. Rachel (class of 2023) added that it was fun because she could watch the panggih procession live. There was a prayer for the bride and groom to be able to build a household. Then there was also Nadiffa (class of 2023) who stated that this activity was fun and taught many lessons about mutual tolerance.
This step is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially point 4 on Quality Education, which emphasizes relevant and skills-based learning. In addition, this exam also contributes to point 11, namely Sustainable Cities and Communities, by maintaining and appreciating cultural diversity in local communities. Not only that, the involvement of students in direct interaction with the community reflects the implementation of point 17, Partnerships for The Goals, through collaboration between educational institutions and local communities.
This innovative approach is expected to strengthen the awareness of the younger generation towards the richness of Indonesian culture while honing their observation skills in understanding social phenomena around them.
Bibliography
Ana Safitri. (Dec 14, 2024). "Aja Waton Payu" Video Dokumenter Mata Kuliah Tata Cara & Pranatacara | UGM | Kelompok 7. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/doC4jVOlluY?si=KdF8wiuBkeBzyMjs
Asmarawijaya. (Dec 13, 2024). KEBUDAYAAN DALAM HARMONI PERNIKAHAN || RANGKAIAN TATACARA PERNIKAHAN GAYA SURAKARTA. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ETIavdVdAh8?si=u-aoJLJdEje8Uwr2
Fifi. (Dec 14 2024). "Sabaya Mukti, Sabaya Pati" - Upacara Panggih Manten Gaya Surakarta di Magelang. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/LlVSazdFAPo?si=WnU3AF8NuSvqvuGw
Rizki Saputro. (Dec 13, 2024). Sajen "Wujud Doa Tanpa Kata". [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/IILkq0dEGPc?si=3ol8mQkLMJyLNr91
