A student from the Japanese Language Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (PBJ UMY), Muhammad Iqtan Madani (Dani) placed fourth in the 48th national Japanese Speech competition which was attended by competitors from all across Indonesia. This event took place on Saturday (20/07) in the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education building at Senayan, Jakarta.

Dani advanced to the national level competition in Jakarta after placing first in the regional level competition hosted in Yogyakarta Special District by defeating his rival from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). “The theme of my speech is about Ibasho (居場所), which translates to “Whereabouts”. It tells my life story from the dark times before I enrolled in university and after I found UMY and became much happier,” Dani stated when interviewed by the Office of Human Resources and Protocol on Tuesday (23/7).

“I had prepared myself for the competition from a very long time. I practiced routinely twice a week alongside the native speaker from PBJ UMY, Yuriko sensei. Even though I did not expect I would win first place in the competition, I have given it my all and prayed for the best result. I felt like every competitor in the competition were very enthusiastic and had very interesting speeches,” He added.

Meanwhile, the Head of PBJ UMY Department, Sonda Sanjaya, S.S., M.Pd. spoke regarding Dani’s victory. “This is a great achievement for our department, especially in academics. This victory was achieved because we managed to create several activities with the student organization (NIKIGAKKA) so we can help hone our students’ abilities. However, we have heard that next year, the Japanese speech competition will be replaced by a Japanese presentation competition, so we will help prepare our students accordingly and participate in that competition,” he clarified. (ads)