G

olf lovers in Jakarta hosted a fund raising event as part of efforts to show solidarity for Japan after the country was rocked by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a massive tsunami last month.

The Sunday gathering was organized by the Jakarta Golf Club (JGC), said to be the oldest golf association in Indonesia and the second oldest in the Asian region, at Rawamangun golf course in East Jakarta.

“All donations [raised from the gathering] would be provided to families of victims in Japan through the Japan Ambassador to Indonesia,” JGC’s chairman Hariono Kartohadiprodjo said in a statement.

“We want to pay back what the Japanese, be they individuals or institutions, had done when they quickly gave aid to Indonesia during the tsunami in Aceh,” Harjono said.

The charity event expected to collect around Rp 300 million (US$34,000) for quake victims.

The golf enthusiasts, including from the Jakarta Ambassador Golf Club — a group of foreign ambassadors in Indonesia headed by the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam — and members of the JGC Rawamangun also took part in the “Golf Gathering Solidarity for Japan.”

The JGC, founded in 1872, is the oldest golf club in Jakarta and has around 3,000 members.

Tee time for the event was set at 7 a.m. following a breakfast. The ceremony for raising donations was held during the lunch break.

Golf lovers in Indonesia also expressed sympathy for victims of radioactivity caused by damage to nuclear facilities in Japan following the strong earthquake. The Fukusima Dai-ichi nuclear complex has been spewing radioactivity since March 11, the Associated Press reported from Japan.

More than 165,000 people are living in shelters in Japan, while 260,000 households still do not have running water and 170,000 do not have electricity. Thousands of families are also still awaiting news of their loved ones. More than 15,500 people are still missing after the disaster, which officials fear may have killed some 25,000 people.