Indonesia Mengglobal is celebrating its eighth anniversary this year and as the current President, Siti Octrina Malikah, has a few thoughts to share as points of reflection and reasons of celebration.
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Children who enter 8 years of age tend to develop more complex skills and become more aware of their being. Similar to that, navigating this organization passing its eighth year, for me, is a special opportunity not to be wasted. I see this as an ideal time to ask ourselves why our work matters and how it should be moving forward.
In celebrating our anniversary, we definitely should throw a party in our own way and make it a good one. But I do not want to just celebrate. On our 8th anniversary, we should celebrate and reflect not only about the challenges of the future ahead but about the role that Indonesia Mengglobal should play in the world of education. So, here is my thought on that and a little flashback and future hope.
Eight years ago, in 2012, our founders who were students at Stanford university at that time never once forgot their roots, where they belonged, and where they came from. Our founders were passionate young Indonesians who were eager to contribute to Indonesia and show their love although they were thousands of miles away from Bumi Pertiwi. From that point of departure, they came to realize that many Indonesians have the potential to study at world class universities yet lack access to information and mentorship with regards to applications and financial assistance, that was why they initiated Indonesia Mengglobal by publishing our very first article in March 2012.
Eight years later, in 2020, just like our founders and predecessors, Indonesia Mengglobal are still run by a large pool of volunteers who are spread all over the world, from Oxford to Paris and Stockholm, from Boston to Wisconsin, from Seoul to Singapore, from Auckland to Melbourne, and from Surabaya to Mataram and Jakarta. Distance is not an issue for us, it has taught us to be creative in communication and I am proud to say that Indonesia Mengglobal still tirelessly continues its mission to inspire and empower Indonesians to pursue their education and professional careers on a global scale.
As of April 2020, our website has more than 5 million total page views with over 1400 articles written by at least 800 contributors. Our annual mentorship programme has touched the lives of more than 350 mentees, many of whom were able to get into their dream universities. Various educational events that we held/were invited to speak at have enabled us to reach more than 3000 people (in 2019 alone) and preserve our partnership with various government and non-government institutions. We are also utilising our strong online presence to send out our messages to 25K Instagram followers, 21K Facebook followers, 19K Twitter followers, 7.3K YouTube Subscribers, and 1K LinkedIn followers.
Reflecting on that, I sincerely believe that our roots and love for Indonesia ties us together as a team and makes it possible to make impactful contributions. It is the reason why our anniversary theme “Embracing Your Roots Beyond Borders” becomes relevant and paramount.
Throughout the next one month, multiple commemorative initiatives will take place all over our online platforms to highlight our achievements and celebrating our anniversary theme. We will launch a social media campaign of #EmbracingYourRoots, publish articles, and conduct webinars that highlights the stories of Indonesians overseas who found a way to embrace their identity, their roots, and their love of Indonesia beyond borders. So that everyone can get to know and be aware of Indonesians abroad who are preserving the richness of Indonesian perspectives, history, culture, and biodiversity, and sharing it at the global scale.
This year, we want to emphasize that although you will likely be adapting to new cultures when you are overseas, it does not mean you need to let go of your original customs. Remember that the more we let our roots die out and unpreserved, the more monochromatic our world becomes. Preserving our roots is one way to make our world colourful and more dynamic. We want to send this message to all Indonesians who are currently studying or aspiring to study in the top notch universities in other countries or all Indonesians who are currently working abroad or aspiring to kick-start their international career.
Happy birthday, Indonesia Mengglobal!
With love and gratitude,
Siti Octrina Malikah
President 2020/2021
Indonesia Mengglobal
