University students and school pupils learn about governance at the Presidential Palace

A hundred students from various universities and school pupils from several schools studied how government works firsthand by visiting the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta as part of the Istana for Schoolchildren programme. ‘At first I expected it would be only on the outside, but it turned out we could go inside as well,’ said Abielle Darren, a criminology student at Universitas Budi Luhur, quoted from a press release by the Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of the State Secretariat in Jakarta, on Tuesday. A total of 500 participants from middle schools and around 200 university students from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and Universitas Budi Luhur (UBL) took part. Since early morning, the groups had gathered in the Hoegeng Auditorium to receive briefings on the workings of government and state administration. After the briefing, the whole delegation moved to explore areas inside Istana Merdeka, the Office of the President, and Istana Negara, which are sites where the nation’s important decisions are made. UGM student Salsabilah Azzahra said the visit provided a very different learning experience and she hoped the educational programme would continue to be available sustainably for various levels of education. ‘My hope is that Istana Negara can welcome university students as well as pupils from primary to secondary schools to visit this national palace directly, because there is so much we can learn,’ she said. Meanwhile, Richwan, a representative from the Archive and Information Recording Management Study Programme at UGM’s Vocational School, assessed the agenda as providing a real new perspective on the management of the country’s documentation. Richwan explained that they could learn directly about how the State Secretariat maintains and preserves cultural heritage as a tangible part of the process of documenting information. In addition to students, the event was attended by representatives of pupils from SMPN 94 and SMPN 4 Jakarta, who expressed their thanks to President Prabowo Subianto. Jakarta’s SMPN 5 pupil Alzena looked notably eager when given the opportunity to speak at the podium. For her, the moment felt so close to her dream of becoming a leader in the future. ‘I feel very excited to speak before so many people, and in front of the ladies and gentlemen as well, which makes me feel very inspired and motivated to become a leader, especially a national leader,’ she said.