With the Chinese New Year, or Imlek, falling on Monday, regions across the archipelago are organizing various events to celebrate the annual holiday with local residents regardless of their ethnic background.

In North Sumatra, the Chinese community and local residents in Simalungun regency are jointly organizing an Imlek fair in Parapat, a famous resort area located beside Lake Toba, the world'€™s largest volcanic lake, on Tuesday and Wednesday to celebrate the holiday.

Denny Azin Sinaga, one of the organizers of the event, said on Saturday that the two-day event, called the '€œLake Toba Imlek Fair'€, was scheduled to start the day after Imlek so that people from outside the Chinese community could have the opportunity to enjoy the holiday'€™s festivities.

'€œDuring the event, we will make Parapat become a festive Chinatown,'€ he said, adding that visitors could enjoy various shows during the fair, including marching bands, vocal groups performing mandarin songs and the barongsai lion dance.

Laksamana Adiyaksa, a local Chinese-Indonesian, welcomed the local community'€™s support for Imlek, the festivities of which usually last until the 15th day after the holiday, or Cap Go Meh.

'€œMany more events are also waiting during Cap Go Meh,'€ he said.

Meanwhile in Semarang, a group of local foodies is organizing a culinary festival in the Central Java provincial capital to introduce traditional foods with pork as their main ingredient to the public.

'€œApart from celebrating the Chinese New Year, the festival is also held to introduce the public to various kinds of local Semarang dishes because many are still unknown among the general public,'€ said Semarang Culinary Community co-founder Firdaus Adinegoro as quoted by tempo.co.

Pork has long been known as a popular food ingredient for the Chinese community. It is considered haram (forbidden), however, for Muslims, who make up the majority of the Indonesian population.

After decades of official discrimination, Chinese-Indonesians were finally allowed to celebrate Imlek openly after former president Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, lifted a ban on Chinese cultural and linguistic expression in Indonesia in 2001. The next year, the government declared Imlek a national holiday. This year, Imlek falls on Feb. 8.

Meanwhile in Batam, Riau Islands, thousands of travelers on Saturday flocked to Hang Nadim International Airport, with many of them hoping to spend the long weekend in their respective hometowns.

In Denpasar, the management of Ngurah Rai International Airport reported some 200 chartered flights transporting 5,000 Chinese tourists had requested permission to land in Bali this month alone.

Speaking earlier to The Jakarta Post, Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Bali chapter chairman Ketut Ardana said the number of Chinese tourist arrivals to the popular resort island usually increased significantly during the Imlek celebration.

'€œBased on data from previous years, the Imlek celebration see an increase of around 20 percent in Chinese tourist arrivals,'€ he said, adding that Chinese tourists spent an average of four nights on the island during the Imlek holiday.
_______________________________

To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.

For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia