Despite Jakarta having decided to forego its usual New Year'€™s Eve festival on account of the ongoing development of the MRT system, capital city dwellers are set to ring in the New Year in various ways.

Most Jakartans ensure that there are still tons of other destinations where trumpets will be blown and the drinks will be flowing during the countdown.

One of the residents, Novel Marito, said that he would make his way from his home in Cibubur, West Java, to Ancol, North Jakarta, to celebrate New Year'€™s Eve.

'€œMy friends and I plan to ride motorcycles to Ancol. The distance does not matter for us [...] What matters is that we have fun,'€ Novel said, adding that he might also find a girlfriend during the festivity.

Tanah Abang resident Cantika Widya Permana said that she would celebrate New Year'€™s Eve at Car Free Night, which will be held along Jl. Sudirman through Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

She said that the cancelation of the New Year'€™s Eve festival would not stop her from celebrating the night away with her friends.

In the previous three years, the Jakarta administration organized the Jakarta Night Festival, in which hundreds of thousands of visitors crammed dozens of stages set up along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin to watch musical performances by various artists and entertainers.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama had said that he decided to scrap the festival to avoid disrupting construction work on the underground MRT system. He himself plans to celebrate the New Year at North Jakarta'€™s Ancol Beach.

Diane Putri, 28, said she and her friends booked two rooms at a hotel in South Jakarta to celebrate New Year'€™s Eve, saying they would have dinner before hitting the hotel'€™s club and joining the countdown party.

'€œIt will be the first time for me spending New Year'€™s Eve at a hotel. After having an exhausting year, I think I deserve to celebrate,'€ Diane, who spent last year'€™s countdown at the Jakarta Night Festival, said.

With hotels hosting a variety of events on New Year'€™s Eve, they have increasingly become popular venues to celebrate the end of the year.

Romy Herlambang, Hotel Mulia director of communications, said the hotel had prepared a special music event with a performance from American R&B group Color Me Badd. '€œThe band will perform and do the New Year countdown together with guests,'€ she said.

Sultan Hotel will have a DJ and dancers on hand and present a fashion show. '€œWe will also have dinner specials at our Lagoon Café and Lagoon Lounge,'€ the hotel'€™s general manager, I Nyoman Sarya, said.

Jakarta Police operations bureau head Sr. Comr. Martuani Sormin said the police were prepared to secure the celebrations in places such as Kota Tua, the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the National Monument (Monas), Ancol and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta. He added that the police and the Army would deploy 24,100 personnel to secure New Year'€™s Eve. (agn)
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