JABAR EKSPRES – The Indonesian Consulate General in Sydney introduced pencak silat in the “Indonesia Goes to School” (IGTS) program at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Forestville, New South Wales, Australia.
“This is the first time pencak silat has been included in the IGTS program since it was introduced in primary and secondary schools in NSW, Australia,” Consul for Information, Social and Cultural Affairs at the Indonesian Consulate General in Sydney Abdul Nazar said in a press statement received on Sunday (6/25).
The IGTS program on Thursday (6/22) was attended by around 80 students from grades 3 and 4 who were divided into 4 groups, each group following certain activities, namely angklung workshops, story telling in two languages, interactive presentations about Indonesia, and pencak silat demonstrations.
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According to the Consulate General’s statement, during the pencak silat demo, the students enthusiastically followed the demonstration guided by two members of the NSW Pencak Silat Association Inc, Ghazali and Yun.
“In principle, apart from being an art in self-defense, pencak silat also contains elements of mental education and friendship values,” Ghazali said.
Abdul Nazar expressed his appreciation to Our Lady of Good Counsel for teaching Indonesian language to the students amidst the declining trend of interest in learning the language in Australia in the last two decades.
He emphasized that learning the Indonesian language and culture can strengthen relations between the two countries.
Nazar also expressed his hope that pencak silat could one day become an extra-curricular activity in Australian schools.
Meanwhile, Our Lady of Good Counsel Principal Paola Brannan welcomed the IGTS program and hoped that students could get to know Indonesia better through language, culture and arts.
Through the program, she said, students can directly experience by speaking directly with native Indonesian speakers, as well as demonstrating Indonesian arts and culture that they have learned theoretically at school.
