My Journey to the openSUSE Asia Summit (oSAS) 2026 in Yogyakarta
This is the prologue of my journey.
Let me share my stories about mine in oSAS26. I'm thinking of joining oSAS next year, after oSAS25 in Faridabad, India. At the time, I was a first-time contributor to openSUSE, and sometimes I chatted with people in the openSUSE Bar. I'd already met a few people in openSUSE by then, like Douglas DeMaio (ddemaio) and Luboš Kocman (lkocman), and a few others from the Bar, Release Team and weekly meetings (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I was so happy when they told me the next oSAS is in Indonesia. I thought at the time that I should join the next one. So, as we're entering 2026, openSUSE Indonesia has confirmed that the next oSAS is going to be in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I'm waiting for info about that and the CfP (Call for Papers) to submit as a speaker, since I can't just attend.
When I first started, I didn't have much recognition in the local community, so people at the time had no idea who I was. I know it's my fault for not showing them what I really look like and always presenting myself as a virtual influencer. But never mind; time flies. When I got accepted for my CfP, I immediately applied for TSP (Travel Support Program), and when that was also accepted, I contacted Douglas to see if he could get the TSP funds to me earlier, since I had planned everything for the trip. At the time, I asked for at least 100 EUR (about Rp. 2,000,000), but now the funds I have to manage are only 67 EUR (about Rp. 1,360,830). I'm working on my funding plan for that at the moment, and we talked about it until I finally decided to use EUR 52.48 (about Rp. 1,085,500). When my TSP money has been transferred to my bank account, I'll sort out the bus and accommodation booking right away. I'm keeping the rest of it in a separate account with a different bank. Then, as usual, I'll report the invoice to Douglas and get my travel ready. I know that TSP should be reimbursed at the end of the event, but since I told him I can't go with my own funding, he finally got back to me and is helping me out. So basically, I owe them funding for going to Yogyakarta, and now I'm paying for it by preparing the trip from Bandung via the DAMRI bus. The journey starts here.
Preparing the trip from Bandung to Yogyakarta.
September 30th, when I started the day with my parents at DAMRI Kebon Kawung, it was near KAI Bandung Station at the North Gate. 10.30 to 16.30, I waited for the bus, and I departed at 17.00.
DAMRI Bandung Kebon Kawung, photo by me at Fediverse
At the time, I was also very unwell with breathing difficulties, and I had so much mucus that I was coughing constantly. Also, a few of the buses I got were in bad condition (especially the air conditioning, which made me feel even worse). The bus route I took was from Semarang to Magelang to Yogyakarta. Some people were getting on and off at Semarang and Magelang, but I was the only one actually going to Yogyakarta.
October 1st at 03.00 in the early morning, I arrived at the DAMRI station in Yogyakarta and made my first Grab order directly to UIN Sunan Kalijaga (UIN SUKA), as I had promised my friend at GNU/Weeb. His name is Ammar Faizi, and he originally comes from Yogyakarta, but he is moving to Jakarta. We had arranged to meet at the Grand Mercure Hotel, which looks expensive but is actually very impressive. Before they opened the gate, I walked from UIN SUKA to the Circle K near the city border between Sleman and Yogyakarta. I also joined the bar when I told Gertjan Lettink (Knurpht) that I had arrived in Yogyakarta. He told me that Luboš was still on air. So, I am waiting until 08.00 morning while I am also listening to RRI Pro 3 (RRI's news channel). After that, I posted the opening stories on Instagram about my arrival in Yogyakarta.
First and Second day in Yogyakarta, before going to oSAS26
After being greeted by the morning in Yogyakarta, I went to UIN SUKA again to familiarise myself with the surroundings as a guest. After walking around the UIN SUKA complex, I decided to wait at the Grand Mercure Hotel, which Ammar and I had booked. I went to the gate to verify our booking, but since Ammar hadn't arrived yet, I waited in the lobby. At 10:30, I met Sendy at the hotel, and he asked me to follow him to find some food. It was the first time I had seen Sendy, and he gave me the food he had ordered for both of us. We parted ways when I went back to the hotel.
At 2 pm, I finally met Ammar at the hotel, and we went to our booked room. I spent the day with him, and then at 19:00 we went to Klaten to meet our friend Ufal Salman at his biryani restaurant. We discussed so much with him, and it's my first time seeing the friends that I want to see. We returned to Yogyakarta at 22:00, after which I went to sleep, bringing my first day to a close.
Ammar's post at GNU/Weeb Social (Mastodon) regarding our visit to Klaten, sources here
October 2nd, Friday. We're still at the hotel having breakfast. At 09:00, I'm going to the mosque complex at UIN SUKA while Ammar is looking for the nearest mosque to the hotel to attend the weekly Friday prayer (you might have realised that I'm a Muslim with a Western-sounding name). After that, we're going to spend some time there. Then, I'm going to Garuda Spark to meet the guys from JogjaDev for a small meetup. I am going back to the hotel once the meetup has ended, and preparing with Ammar to see Indian businessman at Malioboro area, and we spend time with him (and his girlfriend that eventually are Chindo (Chinese Indonesian) woman from Sukabumi). We spent time there until 23.00. After we arrived at the hotel, Ammar was preparing for sleep while I was finishing my presentation.
The day has come. Third day in Yogyakarta, farewell with Ammar and the first day of the event.
October 3rd, D-Day for me. As I was finishing my presentation, Luboš suddenly joined the bar. I saw that he was already at the hotel in Yogyakarta that he had booked. He told me something that surprised me. What was it? He said that he was representing SUSE and wanted me to attend the next openSUSE Conference (oSC27). He wants me to attend as a speaker and discuss the conference, which is taking place in Prague, Czechia, in June 2027. I agreed with him, but I was worried about my exam schedule. After that, he left to finish his own presentation, and I finished mine. After that, I slept for two hours, and then morning came. Today is the last day I will see Ammar in person. I prepared to leave for the UIN SUKA complex. Before doing so, I said goodbye to him, telling him, as usual, that we would meet again, especially when I wanna go to Jakarta. After that, I had my last breakfast at the hotel before leaving for the UIN SUKA convention hall.
As usual, I'm walking to the venue. While they were preparing, Estu suddenly warned me not to save my things. At first, he saw me as a stranger, before realising that I was the speaker at the event. After that, I saved my bag of clothes in the committee room and waited to meet people. A few hours later, I met some of the other speakers, including Luboš, Douglas, Simon, Sunny (Yan Sun), Segitz, and others. We took a picture together. Small trivia about this; for Luboš and Douglas I have meet with them many times in online and first time in person; but for like Sunny, Simon, Segitz, and others are really my first time.
After that, we'll separate and enter the main room to open the event with our national anthems and ceremonies. We will then listen to a few opening speakers, such as Dhenadi from openSUSE Indonesia and Simon from the openSUSE Board team. There will also be keynotes from Mr Taufik, representing UIN SUKA, and Patrick from SUSE and the Gecko Foundation. Patrick is not attending in person, but will be appearing on video. After the keynotes and a massive photo for Day 1, I am preparing for my session to speak; the same applies to others like Segitz, Shobha, and others. Well, from 11:00 to 11:45, I am doing my first time speaking in a stand-up style, and talking about an introduction to GNU/Linux for the next gen and how to reduce dependency on proprietary software. I have a video of my session that helps you understand that; go ahead and watch it.
Time flies, and my session is over. After that, I am going to the main room to attend Herpiko's session. He is behind the BlankOn revival project, and he will be talking about how to interact with people and build the right community. Herpiko's presentation looks interesting and is sure to be amazing. After his session, Luboš and I are leaving the main room to go to the BlankOn booths. You know what? He gave a “free lesson” on how to use the openSUSE Build Service to the people at the BlankOn booths. They learned what I did when I was just a user and random package maintainer.
He was happy to tell the BlankOn guys how OBS works, and we're back in the main room for Luboš's session about openSUSE Kudos. He's introducing the Kudos recognition platform for openSUSE contributors to everyone in the room, and it instantly becomes popular among openSUSE Indonesia communities, and he looks happy after that. And then, I am skipping other sessions until we come to Sendy's session in the Main Room. Interestingly, Sendy brings up topics about gaming in openSUSE. While Sendy speaking, Luboš does something experiment to make the image that would be reassembly SteamOS with openSUSE software, based on Sendy's idea in the topics. It was a long story to tell you about this, so if you want to know about it, feel free to get in touch with Luboš Kocman (lkocman) and Sendy Aditya Suryana (SENDYYeah) to discuss it. I would like to maintain what Luboš was experimenting with, but since it's still not baked very well, I would like to start focusing on it after openSUSE Conference 2027 (oSC27) to maintain our experiment.
After Sendy's session is done, we're entering the light talks, the quiz games (which Luboš got first and he donated the prize to Siska's son; and I got third (also got shoes as the prize)), and it ends our Day 1 of the events. I forgot to tell you that I met with Robertus Chris (bruhtus), Aayaan Mateen (HimSec), Shobha Tyagi, and a few others at the time. After our day ended, we followed Luboš and Douglas to their hotel, which Aayaan also booked. You know, I also panicked that I hadn't booked my reservation. Also, I was sweating a lot at the time. So, Luboš and others are going to a public restaurant behind Circle K, and they are enjoying the meal. At the time, I was contacting my mom and introducing both Luboš and Douglas (actually, my mom wanted to say thank you so much, but since she doesn't speak English, she just smiled).
So, when it was 20:30, I went with Robertus to book my reservation, and it was my first time visiting the basic hostel, which is basically where I got scammed, but I don't care about it; at least I have time to rest.
My fourth day in Yogyakarta, and it's Day 2 for oSAS26
October 4th, we're preparing to go to the venue again for Day 2 with Robertus and as usual, we're meeting again with those guys. I don't have to tell you so much; Day 2 is also the last day for us at the event. The opening is the same, but this time we're going to the keynote, where Sunny will give the first keynote of the day, and she told everyone about her struggles to make openSUSE.Asia community happens. I have been inspired so much by her stories that it makes me even want to contribute more to openSUSE, both on the Release Team, the Translation Team, and others. After Sunny's session, Douglas took the stage, and it was his second keynote, where he reported on activities and funds at the Gecko Foundation to support the community.
After he's done speaking, we're taking pictures both during the Sunny session to show the woman and after Douglas's keynote session. And then, I am still in the main room to attend Simon's session about contributing to openSUSE Build Service to maintain the packages in the Factory. After Simon's session, I am going to room that I am attending three session at same room, between Didiet's session about Podman, Nayla's session about don't worry to use Linux, the lighter version of my topics, and Rithull/Prakash session about how openSUSE works. Sunny was also there for Nayla's session, and Douglas came when Rithull/Prakash's session was about to start.
After those sessions, we're going back to the main room to see Yuki's session. He was a great guy, and he seems really professional when presenting rather than mine. At the time, I was trying to get him to speak in Japanese, since I had a chance to meet Japanese people. But I have no idea why Yuki answered someone's question after mine in Japanese, when he should have answered it in English. So, I had to translate what Yuki said. After that session, we're entering light talks and quiz games again (on Day 2, only locals are the winners at Day 2). After that, the committee announced that Dhenadi became the new leader for openSUSE Indonesia. As representatives for the openSUSE Release Team like mine, Luboš and others are happy to see Dhenadi become the leader of the Indonesian community. Time flies, and it has ended. Also, Estu and mine saying sorry each other because my negative thinking about Estu.
And then, we're coming to night dinner as the last time seeing those who cannot join One Day Trip. At 22:00, we went back to our hostel with Robertus, and we rested. Another small trivia here: at the time I couldn't sleep, we were chatting on the Telegram group. Until then, I finally fell asleep.
oSAS26 is concluded, and it's the fifth day in Yogyakarta (One Day Trip).
October 5th, we're preparing again to join a one-day trip to a few places. We met Luboš and Aayaan; also, Douglas and Sunny (this time with her husband) are joining us. We are going to Sambisari Temple, Bantul, to see sea turtles, and then going to Kampung Batik, where we learn to make the Batik. I am also helping Douglas choose the Batik that he wants to buy. After that, we're going to a restaurant to eat goat satay, and it ends our day. It was my last day seeing Sunny and her husband, Douglas, Luboš, and others in person (for both Douglas and Luboš, I don't mind since we will meet again as usual, but for Sunny it was rare for us to see her in person again).
Lemme share a few photos that came from Luboš's album and my album below.
My sixth day, I am leaving Yogyakarta and going back to Bandung (also, it's the epilogue of my journey stories).
After a one-day trip, I am going back to our hostel for the last day, and we're resting as usual. Also, on October 6th, it's time for me to say goodbye to Yogyakarta and to my friend who was helping me, Robertus. After we separate and say goodbye, I am going to Giliwangan to find my bus. And then, I am waiting at the pool for a whole day until my ticket to go back home is ready. You know, I see few things that is interested in Sinar Jaya Yogyakarta pool. See the photo below.
After my waiting time is over, finally I am bording to the bus and going back to Bandung. October 7th, when I was awake, I figured that I am in Kendal for resting and I am choosing Soto Ayam plus Nasi as my breakfast at early morning, and after that we're continuing and after 04.30, I had arrived at Gedebage, Bandung. And finally, after a few days, I am going back to Bandung. First, after my arrival, I am going to Al-Jabbar mosque to take a bath and rest.
After that, I am going to meet my parents, and finally I am going back to Bandung, and my journey ends here.
Big Thanks and Farewell
Big thanks to every instance and person that I have mentioned in this article for bringing me a good experience for travel. Anyway, I will attend the openSUSE Conference 2027 in Prague, Czechia, as a speaker, and I want you to support me (by helping me with my passport, information about something in Europe, helping me to tell my family about my next journey, or anything that would be useful for me is appreciated) for the next journey. I'll see you there soon.
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