Berita

City of Kupang-Two Lecturers Departement of Government Affairs and Administration University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) that is David Efendi and Suswanta this week researched at Muhammadiyah University of Kupang, NTT. The research with the theme of multicultural life in Muhammadiyah University was conducted by Focus Group Discussion (FGD) method and in-depth interview method. The FGD was held on 29-30 March 2016 with two clusters of participants namely the first bunch of students, and the second group consists of components of lecturers and staff. One of the targets of this research is to know how the planning process of multicultural education programming in UM Kupang and how stakeholders’ involvement in the planning. Also, this study sees the challenges faced in the implementation of multicultural education programs in Unmuh Kupang and how to overcome them.
The city of Kupang called the former chairman of PP Muhammadiyah, Professor Dien Syamsuddin, as “miniature Indonesia” is appropriate given the diversity of ethnic and religious in this city, there is also at Muhamamdiyah University of Kupang since its establishment in 1987. There is a non-Muslim founder; there is ahead of anthropology who is also a Catholic. From the student aspect, it can be said 70% is non-muslim. Nevertheless, there has been no conflict so far. In fact, non-Muslim students follow two compulsory subjects namely Arabic and Islamic & Muhamamadiyah-an. It is regarded as a life practice and maintains delicious harmony sesame (best practice).
One FGD participant, Drs Ipi de Rosari, said that the hallmark of NTT is a culture of the harmony-the community is more peaceful for many things, so circumstances do not easily provoke it. Such practices are straightforward to see inside the campus. One of the UMK lecturers in Ngonggoek, who is Protestant, acknowledges that there is a sense of comfort working in Muhammadiyah institution because there is an appreciation for the difference. “I feel this since I was teaching from the year 1987 ago,” said Wellem.
David Efendi, a researcher, explains that this multicultural research is intended to see best practices on how institutions manage diversity (universities), stakeholders, and by individuals as well as local government support. This situation needs to be investigated to obtain a more objective picture including the practical importance of policy-making, eg to ‘reduce’ the potential risks of SARA conflict that still threaten many places in Indonesia. (DVD)