The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia has facilitated cooperation between UNY and 5 universities in Kazakhstan. The five universities are Suleyman Demirel University, Academy of Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, National Research Technical University, Al Faraby Kazakh National University and Turan Astana University. "Thank you to UNY for developing cooperation with Central Asia," said Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Tajikistan Dr. Mochammad Fadjroel Rachman during the signing of cooperation documents between the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan and UNY at the Rectorate, Thursday (26/1).

Currently, there are 20 Indonesian students studying in Kazakhstan with scholarships from the Government of Kazakhstan. Fadjroel Rachman targets this year there will be 100 Indonesian students studying in Kazakhstan. The Indonesian Ambassador wishes that UNY's cooperation with Kazakhstan can be extended to Tajikistan so that lecturers can share knowledge with their colleagues there.

Kazakhstan has 129 universities of which 33 are state universities, 92 private universities and 4 foreign universities. Opportunities for cooperation with universities in Kazakhstan are still wide open for UNY. Cooperation activities that can be carried out include student exchanges, scholarships, and visiting professors.

The visit of the UNY delegation led by Prof. Siswantoyo, who at that time served as Vice Rector for Planning and Cooperation to Kazakhstan, has encouraged the development of pencak silat culture which until now there have been 4000 pencak silat warriors in Kazakhstan and 500 in Tajikistan. "Kazakhstan and Tajikistan basically like martial arts," said Fadjroel Rachman. According to him, the people of these two countries liked the movie The Raid starring Iko Uwais, which made pencak silat grow rapidly over the past 2 years. The ambassador also encouraged people to participate in the world level pencak silat competition in Melaka and won 1 silver and 1 bronze, and the Asian championship in Mumbai won 1 silver. It is planned that the contingents of these two countries will also participate in the Asian and international championships in Jakarta. Fadjroel Rachman wants to fix their pencak silat which has been learned from YouTube by bringing in coaches from Indonesia, especially UNY. According to Fadjroel Rachman, there have been talks with Prof. Siswantoyo so that within the next year lecturers and students can be sent for residency in Kazakhstan for 1 or 3 months to fix this pencak silat, because in pencak silat there are elements of fighting, culture but also health elements. Currently, the first pencak silat corner in the world has been established in Kazakhstan, which will be encouraged to become a museum, in accordance with President Joko Widodo's wish that pencak silat should lead to the Olympics.

Fadjroel Rachman also informed that this year is the 30th anniversary of Indonesia - Kazakhstan relations and next year the 30th anniversary of Indonesia - Tajikistan relations which will be held a number of activities throughout the year and invited UNY to be involved in it. It is planned that there will be Indonesian language learning activities for foreign speakers in Kazakhstan, cultural arts training, and so on so that it is hoped that all faculties at UNY can cooperate with the Indonesian Embassy for internationalization in Central Asia.

UNY Rector Prof. Sumaryanto said that some time ago the Indonesian Ambassador in Kazakhstan was pleased to give a stadium generale for UNY lecturers, staff and students. "Usually we listen to his presentation through the media, at this time he is pleased to be present to provide an exploration of the state governance that will be realized in the form of justice for all of us," said the Rector. This cooperation will continue to be followed-up and will continue to be carried out. UNY is ready to accept students from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan for study and ready to send lecturers, staff and students for further study or student exchange. One of the students from Kazakhstan, Bolatbek Mukhtaruly, said that he chose UNY because he wanted to learn about art and culture in Yogyakarta. "I have learned about art in Kazakhstan," he said. The student of the Faculty of Languages, Arts and Culture has Indonesian student friends in his country who recommended him to learn about art in Yogyakarta, and Bolatbek chose UNY as his place of study. On this occasion, the Indonesian Ambassador to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan signed cooperation documents with the Faculty of Language, Arts and Culture and the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. (Dedy, Tj.lak)