Yogyakarta, May 21st 2022─On Saturday (21/5), the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol) UGM together with the Alumni Family of Fisipol Universitas Gadjah Mada (Kafisipolgama) held a Syawalan event with limited attendees at Fisipol UGM’s West Hall, and also online through Zoom Meetings and Youtube Fisipol UGM. The event was attended by alumni families, lecturers, staff, and a number of students. Also, at the end of the event there was an entertainment performance from Neo Letto.
The 2022 Shawwal with the theme “Improving Post-pandemic Solidarity”, is the first offline Shawwal held after two years of the pandemic. “This is a very happy moment for us all. After we refrain from gathering together, we can finally chat with each other for two years,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM, Wawan Mas’udi.
This event was not aimed to do halal bi halal, but also to strengthen the solidarity of Fisipol UGM big family after a long time without seeing each other in real life after the pandemic. The head of the alumni family, Setya Utama, hopes that the pandemic doesn’t weaken the solidarity amongst the members of the family. “Alhamdulillah. This year we can still see each other even though the pandemic is still going on and the event is held in a hybrid scheme. I’m sure the circumstances don’t reduce the significance of the event,” he said.
The speech of the Shawwal was given by a representative of Kafisipolgama, a representative of the lecturers, and the staff. The Head of the Faculty Senate, Susetiawan, responded to the speeches by saying that it is important to maintain our ukhuwah (fraternity) not only amongst Muslims but also with the Wataniya (amongst countries) and basyariyah (amongst individuals on earth).
“These are our values. Hopefully, Fisipol can maintain this ukhuwah in protecting the Republic of Indonesia and building Indonesia with the help of the alumni,” he said.
Next, the prayer was led by Yudian Wahyudi, the Head of Pancasila Ideology Development. Yudian said that Idul Fitri means going back to the sacred fitrah.
“It does not mean that by fasting all our sins will be forgiven. The truth is that, vertically, God already forgave us. However, horizontally, we need to forgive each other, which is why Shawwal is so important,” he concluded.