SEED Program Brings International Participants Together to Experience and Promote Local Malaysian Culture and Heritage

THURSDAY I 16 MARCH 2023 - Social Enterprise for Economic Development (SEED) is a student-centered learning program with a focus on social responsibility. This program requires students to establish cooperative relationships within teams composed of various countries and cultures. It provides participants with the opportunity to experience learning based on the real-life context of local community villages.

The SEED program was physically implemented from March 8th to 15th, 2023, in Kampung Aur Duri, Salor Pasir Mas, Kelantan, managed by the Faculty of Language Studies and Human Development at the University of Malaysia Kelantan. A total of 33 participants from various countries joined the program, including Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Turkey, Oman, Nigeria, and China.

Participants were exposed to the unique arts and culture of the local population, such as traditional games like shadow puppetry, silat (a martial art), and dikir barat (a musical form). In addition, they experienced traditional food processing firsthand, such as kuih bahulu (a type of cake) and sarang tebuan (a honeycomb-shaped dessert). This provided a new experience for the participants, who witnessed the beauty of cultural heritage art and local food, rich in cultural values. Students were also assigned to investigate the cultural heritage more deeply and then present their findings to evaluators consisting of industry representatives, NGOs, and academics.

This program has provided valuable benefits and experiences to participants, allowing them to experience the uniqueness of different cultures while also promoting the distinctive local culture to the outside world.