Organized by the Language Development and Guidance Agency, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, the festival includes various creative storytelling competitions in Indonesian, such as storytelling, stand-up comedy, acting, musicalizing poetry, singing, speech, reciting poetry, and presenting reports.
Musbahu, fondly known as Musbahu, mentioned that learning Indonesian wasn’t too difficult for him due to similarities with the Hausa language in Nigeria. “In my opinion, whether learning Indonesian is difficult or not depends on each person and their seriousness. But personally, I didn’t find learning Indonesian too difficult because I noticed several similarities with the Hausa language in Nigeria,” he explained on Monday (1/11/21).
Regarding how he got involved in the speech competition, Musbahu revealed that he received information through a WhatsApp group. He admitted feeling fearful initially but received encouragement from Mrs. Reny Crisdiana, M.Pd., a lecturer, who prompted him to participate. He prepared a topic about the benefits of bamboo shoots against Covid-19 for his speech.
“Ibu Reni contacted me personally and encouraged me to participate. She believed I could deliver a good speech. So, I prepared the topic I wanted to discuss in my speech, and the idea about the efficacy of bamboo shoots against Covid-19 emerged,” said the Master’s student in Chemistry.
Before participating, Musbahu prepared by refining his speech, choosing a shooting location for the video, and editing the video. He expressed immense joy upon learning he had secured 2nd place, despite it being his first Indonesian language speech competition.
“This was my first time participating in an Indonesian language speech competition. During the announcement, I followed it on YouTube. Honestly, I thought I might be in fifth or fourth place. But fortunately, I became the 2nd best participant,” added Musbahu.
Finally, Musbahu conveyed his gratitude to UNAIR for providing facilities and knowledge. “Thank you very much, UNAIR. As an Airlangga Development Scholarship (ADS) student, I deeply appreciate the facilities and knowledge provided. I hope we can be there in person soon,” he concluded.
