Jalan Bersama 2018, a gathering of Indonesia Diaspora on Sunday, 12 August 2018 held in the Botanic Garden

 

            Sydney – The annual Indonesian Diaspora Network gathering this year taken place in the Royal Botanical Garden under the theme Melangkah Bersama Merajut Merah Putih. Indonesian Consul General for NSW Heru Hartanto Subolo and Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Yohanes Kristiarto Legowo have inaugurated the event alongside IDN NSW President, Hendra Wijaya. Around 150-200 people attended the event, the atmosphere was merry and rousing with Indonesia attributes such red and white domination colours and batik to be seen. The walk purposely held just a week before Indonesia Independence Day to celebrate the National Day whilst the main aim is to gather the member of IDN as a day to silaturahmi, get to know each other and ties the shared bond.

Inauguration moment of the event, an honour shared between IDN, the Ambassador, and the Consul General

            The event started at 9 AM with an opening speech from IDN NSW President, then the attendees were grouped into smaller troops before starting the 1.6 km route circling Botany Garden. The initial 20-30 minutes walk expanded into an hour walk with many pauses taken for photo sessions and courteous talk between Mr. Subolo, Mr. Legowo and attendees. The windy and chilly morning didn’t seem to affect the mood and enthusiasm of everyone. The familiar Indonesia nuance was spotted easily: a lot of smiles and introductions, jokes to be heard frequently, selfies in every few steps, and national songs sang along the walk. The walk was improvised to Opera House where it wasn’t included in the initial plan, the few first groups cheerfully took photos and waved their Indonesian flags in front of Opera House and soon, few visitors who are familiar with Indonesia cultures joined the group and asked for photos.

A glimpse of the cheerful event featured countless smiles and jokes

          

  Once everyone got their muscles loosened down, fun activities such as games and flash mob were carried out. Ular Naga, a game played by 20 to 30 people who divided snake children and the dragon children was an effective game to break the ice amongst the groups. Screams and laughs were shared within the short 5 minutes before the flash mob was taken place. Papuan folk song Sajojo, Ende’s original song Gemu Famire, to Indonesian Pop song Lagi Syantik were played and got everyone danced along.

A flash mob lead by Indonesian zumba instructor

            At the end of the event, fundraising for the victims of the Lombok Earthquake and prays were sent as support for the misfortunes. Before the event was ended, PPIA from the University of Sydney grabs the opportunity to share information about their event Nusantawa which hold on September 8th. Nusantawa is a creative event of Indonesian students from USYD, the event which will be presented by duo MC Darto & Danang, stand-up by Gilang Gombloh and Adjis, and performances from Glenn Fredly hoped to reach more people in order to introduce Indonesia show business. All in all, Jalan Bersama this year rekindled the spirit of semangat amongst Indonesian diasporas in Australia.