A short pause in Palembang

 Last weekend, I took a very brave break from the ever-increasing studyload: I went to Palembang, South Sumatra, for AMSA Indonesia’s 25th national meeting. A bit of background first. FKUI has a vast array of student organization with a gamut that runs from the scientific to the stark raving mad. I chose to go easy on myself and picked only one to join. That happens to be the Asian Medical Students’ Association. AMSA-UI is the local chapter of AMSA-Indonesia, which is a member of AMSA International. I survived the year-long selection, and long story short, I genuinely enjoy being a part of the AMSA family.

I took off to Palembang on Friday, right after the last plenary session in the second year of med school. I arrived at about 4.30 PM and was picked up by the committee from AMSA-Unsri (Sriwijaya University). The opening ceremony was held at Griya Agung, kinda an equivalent of the state palace. Delegates were asked to don traditional costumes, a request I resourcefully fulfilled. I’m not the kind of guy who dress up, so instead of going all fancy, I opted for a white shirt, black pants, and a sarong for accessory. It was Jakarta enough for me.

Saturday was mostly filled by the meeting itself, over which I presided. On that task, I was accompanied by two other delegates, one from host Unsri and another from UGM (Yogyakarta). Half of the meeting was spent for yearly report from each university with AMSA. AMSA Indonesia had 20 members, 18 of which attended the meeting; the meeting also welcomed 3 new members. Therefore, there are now 23 univs in AMSA Indonesia. The meeting ended with the national leadership’s report and the election of advisory board.

The fun part of the day was dinner. We were treated to a feast at Riverside Restaurant on the waterfront of Palembang’s famed Musi River with a view of the Ampera Bridge. The whole span of the bridge, and also its two soaring towers, were lit up to crown the night sky. The program for the night is quite entertaining. In spite of Along with some singing, there was a presentation for Makassar’s bid to host the national work meeting in September and open campaign for the next AMSA Indonesia’s top post, Regional Chairperson (RC). The campaign was heated but friendly, like the atmosphere in a real family debate.

On Sunday, we had a meeting in the morning and an excursion after that. The meeting continued the previous night’s Q&A session for the candidates and then voted the new RC. Right after the meeting, delegates were taken by bus to a pier in the Musi River near the dinner venue. We were then spread to a number of wooden motor boats to go to Kemaro Island in the middle of the river. The island is somewhat far from the pier, and as we approached the island, the Musi gets wider and wider. I have already known that the Musi is big, but I had no idea that it was so big that huge ships can be anchored in the middle.

 The Kemaro Island is a small island with a pagoda and Chinese temple. We had a picnic in its park and savoured Palembang’s renowned cuisines: pempek, martabak HAR, tekwan, model, and mie celor. It was a real picnic where we sat together on a mat, enjoying our meals. The trees provided a welcome shade from the blazing sun, and wild chickens are closely spying on us – or our meals, they didn’t say which. It was undeniably the best meal during the whole weekend. Another highlight of the island is the Tree of Love. Despite its name, couples are advised against taking pictures there as it may, let’s just say, predispose them to breaking up. Don’t ask me why.

 

I flew back to Jakarta that evening, and exams are ‘eagerly’ waiting for me. Well, at least the trip refreshed my mind and motivates me to work hard so I can go to Makassar this September. But seriously, I have to work on my exams. I have an acid-fast bacilli staining for M. tuberculosis lab test and clinical skills quiz tomorrow (Thursday). Next week, I must brace for a storm of three exams: anatomy lab test, the integrated lab test, and the second summative test.