Image courtesy of Aanika Rahman via MASSA McGill
On Sunday, April 3rd, the Malaysian and Singaporean Student Association (MASSA) was once again back with the annual South East Asian (SEA) Festival where the culture of all South East Asian countries are celebrated. Amongst the many groups participating was PERMIKA (Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di Canada), the Indonesian Students’ Association in Canada. PERMIKA’s goal is to unite Indonesian students living abroad and create a community for them to feel welcomed in this foreign land. By doing so, they aim to bring Indonesian culture to Canada. However, anyone who identifies with the community is free to join as many of their members are not actually Indonesian. Members often meet up to go for karaoke or engage in art activities relevant to Indonesia. The group also holds special events such as the SEA Festival in the Winter Semester and Aloen-Aloen in the Fall Semester.
Image courtesy of Chyntia Sari
After the SEA event, I had the honor of interviewing Rizkia Amelia Sania, the President of PERMIKA, and Chyntia Sari, the advisor. Rizkia came to Montreal on August 2015 all the way from Lombok in order to do her Master’s in Law. She became the new President of PERMIKA for the 2016 year and her job is to obtain information, coordinate, and make decisions for the group. There weren’t many activities carried out by the club last year, so Rizkia hopes to make more events available this year whilst taking the number of members and budget into consideration. She said she finds it difficult to focus on both PERMIKA and school work, which are equally important to her. As the President, she’s responsible for taking care of her members, yet she also needs to consider her studies, which include writing a thesis, taking exams and compiling chapters. Nevertheless, she manages to distribute her time accordingly by focusing on being a student during the day and being a part of the PERMIKA community during the night (although she considers herself a 24-hour student when exams roll around). Most importantly, Rizkia learned what it means to be a leader by being a part of PERMIKA.
Cynthia on the other hand recently graduated from the Faculty of Engineering. She’s from East Java, but grew up in Bandung, then came to Montreal in 2004. When she joined PERMIKA during the 2000s, the group was rather dormant. So in hopes of reviving it, she was the Vice President for 2 years and VP Events for 3 years. Currently, she’s an advisor who helps answer questions about events from previous years to aid in the smooth running of the club. Chyntia noted that Rizkia gave an accurate description of what it’s like to be an executive in PERMIKA. On some level, she finds it stressful, especially around times when there are big events such as Aloen-Aloen or the SEA Festival. However, she receives the rewarding feeling of being a part of something bigger that she can’t find anywhere else. By being in this community, she feels closer to people and has made invaluable friendships that she describes as “very intimate (but within limits).”