The Consulate staff were amazed at the enthusiasm and respect Rehoboth’s students had toward the traditional cultures of Indonesia.
On Thursday 22 April, students from our Year 8 and 10 Indonesian classes, along with staff members, went on an excursion to the Indonesian Consulate General. This was followed by a hands-on cooking demonstration and lunch at the Tempayan Indonesian Restaurant in Nedlands.
At the Consulate General Republic of Indonesia, the program began with an opening prayer in Indonesian by Daniel Matthews in Year 8. We were then welcomed by the Acting Consulate General Perth, Ibu Shanti Utami Retna Ningsih. She addressed that as neighbouring countries, Australia and Indonesia should maintain a good relationship and that this excursion is one of the ways to make that happen. She surprisingly also addressed and praised our school for winning the Education Perfect Championship 2021 in Indonesian. Ibu Elly Kurniawan, our Indonesian teacher, then replied (in Indonesian) thanking the Consulate General for the warm welcome.
A singing and dancing presentation was performed by Year 8 students, Lovenia Anggadjaja, Jacinta Billet, Summer Phillips, and Kayla Santoso as the dancer. They sang and danced gracefully to a famous Indonesian national song: Tanah Air, which means homeland.
Students participated in an instruments workshop, Gamelan and Angklung, where they had the chance to play traditional Indonesian instruments led by Bapak Sofari from the Consulate.
After enjoying some Indonesian delicacies, Risoles (Indonesian rectangle croquettes) and Kue Lapis (Indonesian layer/rainbow rice flour cakes) provided by the Consulate, we were presented with an Indonesian traditional dance by Bapak Tohirin. The traditional dance is from the city of Surakarta Central Java.
Deon Burger from Year 8 impressively delivered a speech in Indonesian thanking the Consulate and closing the program. At the end, all Rehoboth’s students and some of the staff from the Consulate danced the Indonesian line and community dance together. This line and community dance is from the city of Menado, North Sulawesi province in Indonesia, Tarian Poco-Poco (pronounced as Pocho-Pocho) or Poco Poco Dance.
The Consulate staff were amazed by how enthusiastic and respectful Rehoboth’s students were toward the traditional cultures of Indonesia. They were also impressed by the items that were presented by Rehoboth, from prayers, speeches, singing and dancing to presentations that were all given in Indonesian.
After the Consulate, we went to Tempayan Indonesian Restaurant to enjoy an Indonesian meal together.
Daniel Dalais in Year 8 opened in prayer, then the students participated in hands-on cooking of Lumpia (Indonesian Spring Rolls). Then we had a main course buffet style of Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice), Mie Goreng (Fried Noodles) and Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken), with Sambal (chilli sauce) and Krupuk (Indonesian prawn crackers) as side dishes. Our meal ended with a dessert, Es Cendol (Indonesian rice flour jelly with coconut milk and palm sugar). Micah Radford from Year 8 concluded the meal by praying in Indonesian before we boarded our buses and headed back to school.
