Friends of Embassies Family Gala Celebration at the Indonesian Embassy Islamabad Wins Hearts -by-Tazeen Akhtar

Tazeen Akhtar

Culture unites people and make them understand the diversity of this world in a better and absorb-able sense. Every nation has its own traditions, life styles, food, dresses etc. This is the beautiful feature of globe that has become a village where people of different cultures and traditions come across more often than they did in the past. Indonesia is one of the countries that have unique and attractive cultural diversity than any other nation. Embassy of Indonesia under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. Adma. M Tugio, the Ambassador contributing a lot since long for introduction of their culture in Pakistan. A family gala on this Sunday was an example of the efforts made by the Ambassador to build bridges between the two nations.

The Family Gala hosted by Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia attracted large number of friends of the Embassy and won the hearts of the participants. It was held 0n 4th Dec 2022  in collaboration with Pakistan in the World magazine,  Community Development Center (CDC) and Hunerkada, organized a “Family Gala” at the Indonesian Embassy. The event was attended by the families of diplomatic corps, government officials, journalists, and business communities.

Family Gala featured a variety of programs that included musical performances, fun games and stall of handicrafts from women entrepreneurs of Pakistan.

Mr. and Mrs. Adam M. Tugio, Ambassador were welcoming the guests along with the staff of the embassy. He appreciated the efforts and teamwork of the organizers for making the event so festive.

The event also displayed the envoy’s truck arts painted official vehicle that is decorated with famous cultural landmarks of Indonesia and Pakistan.

While sharing his views with the media, Ambassador said, “It was exclusively dedicated to the families and friends of embassies and also to observe Animal Rights Day.”

” We have invited our media friends especially because most of the time they remain busy in their work and their families find it hard to go out for leisure time together. Here a large number of journalists with their families, kids are present to have fun and festival.”

Ambassador noted, ” The cultural events help promoting people to people relations. Indonesia is giving scholarships to Pakistani students to for their higher studies. We have historical cooperative ties and many commonalities between the two countries.”

The Chief guest of the event, Chairperson of The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC), Ministry of Human Rights, Ms. Afshan Tehseen Bajwa praised the warm gesture by the Indonesian Embassy for organizing the cultural gathering to strengthen the fraternal bonds among two Muslim brotherly countries. She stated in her remarks, “Through such event we hope to instill in people the importance of caring for animal in the same way we care for our children”.

Ambassador and Chief Guest visited the stalls and encouraged the entrepreneurs. Among them prominent were many women who raised their own small businesses on their own and marketed their products through online social media. Renown TV anchor and artist , Mishi Khan also held a stall of books and domestic items. She is working on animal rights since long and taking care of 40 dogs at her residence.

Ladies of the Indonesian Embassy mesmerized the audience with “Angklung” performance on Dil-Dil Pakistan. It is the most popular song that consists of patriotism and love for the motherland. This singer Junaid Jamshaid was among top pop singers of Pakistan. He, at the climax of his art, developed allegiance with the religion. Few years ago, He with his wife died in a plane crash near Hawalian town of KPK.

Angklung is an Indonesian musical instrument consisting of two to four bamboo tubes suspended in a bamboo frame, bound with rattan cords. Since each Angklung only generates one note or chord several players must work together in order to play melodies. Angklung captures the spirit of cooperation and togetherness of diverse Indonesian society.

Brilliant musical performances by the Hunerkada team demonstrated their expertise on Tabla and flute. A female singer also sang “Hello hello Sayang Ku”, which means “Hello dear one” in Indonesian from the well-known Pakistani film “Bandish.”

CDC’s efforts to promote animal welfare in the event was highly appreciated by the visitors.

Many exclusive handicraft stalls, famous delicacies of Indonesian and Pakistani cuisines were also presented which includes Meat ball soup, chicken sate with fried rice, biryani, haleem, nihari, creative designs of decorated baking items, fashion and clothing, variety of handmade, henna stall and pet accessories. The event “Family Gala” brought families together and entertained people of all ages.

The kids are around and prize distribution is not happened ? How it can happen? Ambassador and Spouse especially took care of balloting to distribute prizes and souvenirs to the visiting children. The kids expressed keen interest in winning the prizes for which they were given coupons with lucky numbers.