From Connecticut to Jakarta: A Father’s Legacy Comes Full Circle at UIN Jakarta's 140th Commencement Ceremony
JAKARTA, UIN Online News — In the spring of 2018, the resonant voice of Aunur Rofiq Lil Firdaus—known to millions as Opick—echoed through a crowded concert hall in Indonesia. He was not just singing for applause; he was headlining the "Satu Hati" (One Heart) Charity Concert. His ambitious mission was to buy land and build the first-ever Indonesian-led Islamic boarding school (pondok esantren) Nur Inka Nusantara Mandiri in Connecticut, USA, nestled right between the global intellectual corridors of New York and Boston.
Fast forward eight years later to May 2026.
Inside the packed Harun Nasution Auditorium at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, the atmosphere is electric. It is the university's 140th Commencement Ceremony. Among the 1,557 graduates clad in togas is a young woman named Ghaniya Salma. She has just earned her degree from the Faculty of Communication Sciences (FDIKOM), majoring in Islamic Communication and Broadcasting.
Sitting quietly in the audience, watching her with eyes full of pride, is Opick.
He came that morning without an invitation from the university board. There was no contract, no performance fee, and no backstage rider. He was there simply as a father, a quiet spectator celebrating a milestone that every parent dreams of.
But history, it seems, loves a beautiful coincidence.
What Opick likely did not realize as he sat in that auditorium was the invisible web of connection tying his past to his daughter's present.
Only two weeks prior, the very faculty Ghaniya graduated from had turned its theater into a hub for international dialogue. FDIKOM, in collaboration with the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS) at Gadjah Mada University and the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, hosted a screening of the Indonesian Pluralities Series. The global documentary project, aimed at teaching the world about Indonesia’s complex harmony, was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation based in New York.
The exact institutions from Boston and New York that are now studying Indonesia's model of tolerance are located in the very same region where Opick sang to build a sanctuary of learning eight years ago.
By choosing to study global communication and digital media at UIN Jakarta—an institution currently ranked 29th in the world by the QS World University Rankings for Theology, Divinity, and Religious Studies—Ghaniya did not just follow her father’s path of spreading peaceful values; she codified it with academic rigor.
As the formal procession drew to a close and the gravity of the academic speeches began to fade, something magical happened. Stirred by the overwhelming emotion of the day and the shared spirit of thousands of proud parents, the music icon did what he does best.
He walked up to the stage.
Taking the microphone spontaneously, Opick volunteered his legendary vocals, turning a rigid academic ceremony into an intimate spiritual celebration. When the opening chords of his iconic hits "Tombo Ati", and "Alhamdulillah" swept through the auditorium, the crowd erupted. Graduates stood up, parents wept, and professors smiled.
He sang not as a paid superstar, but as a man whose family legacy had just come full circle.
As Ghaniya stands on the precipice of a digital world that her commencement speakers warned could be fragile and overly critical, she carries a unique armor. She has the technical communication tools honed at a world-class university, the unyielding resilience of her generation, and a moral compass passed down by a father who once sang a school into existence across the Atlantic Ocean.
In an era demanding competitive digital generations, the unscripted moment at UIN Jakarta proved that the most powerful network is still the one woven by faith, family, and a vision that spans from Jakarta to the world.
(Khoirillah/Zaenal M./Arifin Ilham/Photos: Alfin Ilham & Tiara Abdhie)