UNAIR NEWS – A student of Faculty of Humanities (FIB) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) has participated in an international event. Rafli Noer Khairam just returned to Indonesia after attending an international conference, the Wikimedia ESEAP Conference on Friday – Saturday, May 10 – 12, 2024.

The international conference was held in Kinabalu City, Sabah, Malaysia. It is an event for Wikimedia contributors to share experiences. They came from the East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Pacific regions. At the conference, Rafli had an opportunity to present his project. The project title was WikiRenjana: Writing 100 Recipes for Sundanese Cuisine and Snacks on Wikibooks Indonesia.

Learning culture and language
Rafli said there were several agendas at this event. Besides sharing experiences, the participants also exchanged cultures and languages from their respective regions.

“We did not simply share experiences but learned each other’s culture and language. Each participant brought souvenirs from their region, then there was a souvenir exchange session. There were various kinds of souvenirs, snacks, stickers, and so on,” he said.

It was very exciting when the participants wore traditional clothes from their respective regions. Singing traditional songs from their made the event even more interesting. “The most interesting moment was when we sang traditional songs together. This is how we learn about each other’s culture and language,” he explained.

Visiting Mari-Mari Culture Village
Furthermore, Rafli said he had the opportunity to explore the local culture in Kinabalu City, the capital of Sabah, Malaysia. It is located in the northern part of Borneo.

He visited Mari-Mari Cultural Village. “The cultural village provides miniature traditional houses for traditional tribes in Sabah such as the Dusun and Rungus tribes, the Lundayeh tribe, the Bajau tribe and the Murut tribe,” he said. Rafli and other participants had the opportunity to tour the village and taste local specialties.

Developing WikiRenjana
Rafli revealed that this experience kept up his morale to continue the project he was working on. This WikiRenjana project is to document the archipelago’s culinary heritage on the Wikimedia project.

Rafli is not alone, he is working with his colleagues to realize this project. “After this, I hope that the project we are working on will grow. Of course, its realization requires the cooperation and collaboration of various parties,” he explained.

Through this international conference, Rafli hopes to expand the network and the potential for collaboration to implement this project. Rafli believes that the small things we do will have a big impact. “I hope that through this conference many parties will be willing to collaborate with us. I am sure that the small things we work on together will have a big impact. So let’s broaden knowledge together,” he said.

Author: Icha Nur Imami Puspita

Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia

Source : https://unair.ac.id/en/unair-student-explores-culture-of-sabah-malaysia-during-international-conference/