Joko joins 65,000 in mass dance
JAKARTA: Indonesian president Joko Widodo led 65,000 of his compatriots in a mass dance here yesterday to promote the Asian Games and try to set a world record along the way.
Jakarta and Palembang will jointly host Asia’s biggest sporting event from Aug 18, but Joko has complained about the lack of promotion and enthusiasm in the country.
To drum up support ahead of the games, authorities turned to the poco-poco, a traditional line dance from North Sulawesi province.
Dressed in white and red, the colour of the Indonesian flag, Joko and his wife, Iriana, led tens of thousands of Indonesians in a long, snaking line of dancers.
Organisers hope to break the world record for the largest number of people performing the traditional dance in one place and said 65,000 people took part here.
“Poco-poco is the original culture of Indonesia and it is a native dance,” police chief Tito Karnavian, who took part in the event, said.
Police and military staff, members of parliament, students, members of fitness centres as well as inmates in jails showed their best Poco-poco moves at the same time.
“It’s a good opportunity to show that Indonesia is conserving its traditions,” high school student Raja Farid Akbar said.
“I am happy that I can help promote a tradition that could have been forgotten.”