BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – People’s understanding on issues in International Relation is still relatively common. Only a handful of people who are interested in discussing diplomacy, state development, foreign policy and other scopes of International Relations.
Through HI TV work program: May I Ask You?, Students’ Association of International Relations (Himpunan Mahasiswa Hubungan Internasional, HIMHI) Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Universitas Pasundan tried to explore public opinion regarding the basics of International Relations studies, especially the importance of establishing relations with other countries, including Indonesia.
This program adopts the vox populi format which is often used in journalistic work. Vox pop which in Latin means ‘voice of the people’ allows people to express their point of view on particular topic or certain issues.
Head of Information and Communication Division (Infocom) HIMHI Unpas, M. Azka Aulia said that ‘May I Ask You?’ is a sub-theme of IR101, a kind of guideline for student and community to get to know more about the basic of International Relation.
“’May I Ask You?’ can be considered as a social experiment since it involves the community. Its concepts were wrapped as interesting as possible by also attaching trivia or fun fact: so that it will be much understandable and less-formal,” he said, on Friday, 25 February 2022.
Jalan Asia-Afrika was chosen as the shooting location because it is the place where people gather around from all groups. This is chosen also because of the purpose to introduce the tourism icon and historical building in Bandung.
“We invite people to give their opinions about Indonesian’s title as a developed country and the importance of having relations between other countries and Indonesia’s status. We target public, students, vendors, as well as cleaning-service workers,” said Azka.
According to Azka, people are already quite literate and can send their opinions proportionally. Reported from Unpas HIMHI YouTube channel, people tend to send their opinions based on real condition they see and experience, which is also correlated to the latest conditions.
“Not only asking for public’s opinion, at the end of the video, we also provide a theoretical explanation and mention about examples of cooperation in which has been established by Indonesian government with other countries,” he added.
Besides ‘May I Ask You’, Unpas HIMHI also creates educational content on social media, such as theories on International Relation, film recommendations, and so on.
“Hopefully, the work program initiated by HIMHI Unpas can educate the public and add new insights,” he hoped. (Reta)*