To commemorate the 77th anniversary of Indonesian independence and to celebrate the bonds of friendship between Indonesia and the Kingdom, the Indonesia-Cambodia Friendship School in Prey Veng province on August 14 sponsored a bike ride called “Bakti Kayuh Social”, a mash-up of Indonesian and English which means “cycling for social service”.
As part of the 77th anniversary on August 17, the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh also held a flag-raising ceremony along with a blood donation drive, and several sporting events involving Indonesian and Cambodian athletes are planned to take place between August 20-27.
During his opening remarks for the Bakti Kayuh Social event in Prey Veng, Indonesian ambassador Sudirman Haseng said the Indonesian-Cambodia Friendship School is one of the most successful markers of Indonesia’s presence in Cambodia within the framework of people-to-people contacts, which he said must be maintained and enhanced for the cultural, social and economic benefit of both nations.
The school, established in 1995 with assistance from charitable Indonesians, has kindergarten and grades one through 9 with a total of 807 students and 18 teachers in 21 classes.
“The school was founded with the assistance of some Indonesian nationals and businesspeople. It has been renovated and upgraded several times through donations from Indonesians and other friends of Indonesia such as members of the Indonesia-Cambodia Business Club,” said Lauti Nia Astri, the head of chancery at the Indonesian embassy.
Indonesia also helps several schools in other Cambodian provinces in the form of providing school infrastructure assistance such as upgrades to facilities and computers, textbooks and distance learning courses for the Indonesian language.
To assist the improvement of Cambodian human resources, the Indonesian government and educational institutions have also provided university scholarships to Cambodian students from the undergraduate level up through doctoral degrees as well as non-degree scholarships to learn the Indonesian language and about Indonesian culture.
“We believe that in order to achieve mutual, beneficial and tangible relations between our two nations, we must start with contacts between our peoples, and so it started with schoolchildren. We believe that nurturing, developing and enhancing the quality of Cambodian human resources will create the return of investment for Indonesia, since they will become Cambodia’s leaders in the future.
“By creating good impressions of Indonesia in their childhood, by creating a sense of brotherhood between our countries, then these children will understand and have a sense of love for Indonesia as brothers and true friends in the region,” Lauti told The Post.
The Bakti Kayuh Social was held with the full support of the Indonesian community of Cambodia, the Indonesian bicycling community organisation Phnom Penh Ride and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, or IndoCham.
The event was attended by Prey Veng deputy provincial governor Douch Kunthea, as well as many principals, teachers and around 200 students from schools in the area.
The day began with a cycling event participated in by both Indonesians and Cambodians, and later there was a ceremonial exchange of the two nations’ flags, the announcement of donations to Prey Veng schools, a tree-planting event as well as fun and games for the kids in attendance.
The cyclists were divided into two groups: Team Garuda and Team Bhinneka. Team Garuda consisted of two Indonesian and one Cambodian long-distance cyclists who covered a distance of 80km. Team Bhinneka consisted of 20 cyclists, both veterans and amateurs – including some children – who covered a distance of 10km and took a more leisurely route through a beautiful and scenic expanse of rice fields in Prey Veng.
Team Garuda carried both the Indonesian and Cambodian flags with them which were then raised at the Indonesian-Cambodian friendship school with ambassador Sudirman and Kunthea, both on hand to greet their arrival.
“We named the first bike riding team Garuda, after the golden eagle on the national coat of arms of Indonesia, because it symbolises strength and ability to endure in the face of difficult obstacles,” Lauti said.
She continued that Bhinneka means diversity in Indonesian and is taken from their national motto of “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” or “Unity in Diversity”.
“The riders on Team Bhinneka were a diverse group, with children from six years of age on up to older adults. That team also had amateur cyclists as well as experienced cyclists who have gone on trips of 1,000km around Java Island.
“All of them are members of a cycling association in Cambodia called Phnom Penh Ride that is mostly made up of Indonesian citizens living in the Kingdom,” she said.
Upon arrival at the school there was a brief ceremony to raise the flags of the two countries and to present donations from the people of Indonesia and IndoCham, as well as the planting of two trees in the schoolyard by the presiding officials.
The donations from Indonesia to the school came in the form of clothing and shoes, backpacks, stationery and other school supplies, story books including bilingual books meant to teach the Indonesian language to children, sports equipment like volley balls, soccer balls, badminton rackets and table tennis rackets and even some music equipment and instruments.
“IndoCham and Indonesian citizens also sent assistance to this school in the form of bookshelves, 60 electric fans for the classrooms, school equipment for underprivileged students and office supplies for teachers. In the near future, there’ll be a regular corporate social responsibility programme with periodic donations from some Indonesian companies in Cambodia to assist with improving the infrastructure of the school.
“In the past other donations have covered school repairs, especially to the roof, doors and windows back in 2017. There have also been volunteering efforts by Indonesian students who are currently studying at the National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia (NPIC) and free medical treatment for 200 local residents,” she added.
IndoCham representative Felix Hendrata said the school is material proof of the strong and abiding friendship between the two countries and that it is hoped that the students at the school will become future Cambodian leaders – whether in business, the arts or in public service – who will continue to grow the friendship between Indonesia and Cambodia.
In his speech at the event, Kunthea conveyed his congratulations to Indonesia on the occasion of its 77th independence day and thanked the people of Indonesia for the donations that had been given to the school and its students.
He hopes that in the future the school will be expanded to include the senior high school grades and begin to educate students from the first day of kindergarten all the way through their high school diploma exams.