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Mass wedding, music performances: Jakarta goes all out to ring in 2020
On New Year’s eve, the city administration will hold its annual mass wedding for hundreds of couples.
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The National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations. (JP/Dionnasius Aditya)
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s the capital city of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Jakarta wants to go big to end this decade as the city administration has laid out plans for a range of festivities to entertain residents to ring in the New Year.
On New Year’s eve, the city administration will hold its annual mass wedding for hundreds of couples.
City Secretary Saefullah said the free weddings would open the capital’s New Year celebrations. Some 630 couples will tie the knot on Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. at City Hall. Each will get prizes and Rp 1 million (US$ 71.58) in cash, up from the Rp 500,000 given out in the previous event.
This year would mark the third year of the mass wedding, which was first launched a few months after Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan took office. Anies had said that he wanted the event to be a new tradition for the city and its residents to welcome the New Year.
To add to the festivities, performers such as dangdut legend Rhoma Irama, pop band Wali and with dangdut singers will entertain residents through the countdown starting at 7 p.m. at five different locations in Central Jakarta, namely the west gate of the National Monument (Monas), the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, Jl. Wahid Hasyim, the Dukuh Atas Cultural Spot and near the MH Thamrin statue.
Besides the five main stages, there will also be street performers greeting visitors with music along the sidewalks of the city’s main thoroughfares, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin.
Before the main events on Dec. 31, the city administration started Monas Week last week to attract more visitors to the city’s iconic landmark. Visitors can witness a special video mapping event at Monas every night until the end of December, with the peak event to be held on New Year’s Eve. Organizers have prepared more shows with longer videos depicting various themes, such as nationalism, transportation and Jakarta’s tourism.
