Jakarta, Ekuatorial – Amid euphoria, tens of thousands people gathered to celebrate presidential inauguration left behind wastes, especially plastic, at Jakarta’s National Monument, on Monday (20/10).
Since morning, people have been flooding main areas, starting from National Monument, Thamrin, Sudirman, to Hotel Indonesia round to celebrate Indonesia’s seventh president and vice president, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jusuf “JK” Kalla, inauguration.
The People’s Party, initiated by hundreds of volunteers, held a cultural parade, which included Jokowi-JK and their wives, Iriana Widodo and Mufidah Jusuf Kalla, riding horse-drawn carriages, to free musical performances at the National Monument or Monas.
“It is such a shame that every big event will produce lots of garbage [scattered around]. Not only that the place becomes unclean but also uncomfortable [for us],” said Yani, who was coming with her two kids from Bogor, West Java to see the new president. Nevertheless, she said that she had kept the waste to be thrown into nearest trash bin. “See, I put the trash into the bag. If I found trash bin, I’d throw it there,” she said showing the trash inside her purse to ekuatorial.
Indah from Tebet, South Jakarta, shared the same sentiment saying that she had a hard time to find trash bins at the venue. “I think it [the party] went well but we can still see trash everywhere. The most important thing is people’s awareness [for their own waste] but I have to admit it’s hard to find trash bins around Monas,” she said.
She added that there were not much cleaning services around in Monas. “I don’t see any officials but I do see plenty of volunteers picking up trashes. But, they were not much compare to the visitors,” she said. “Maybe they should have provided more trash bins and warning signs about littering.”
In a different location, members of Jokowi-JK Cimanggis 14 Volunteer Group were busy picking up trashes at the venue. “We deliberately brought huge trash bags because we know that there will be lots of trash. We just want to participate in this event though it means picking up trash,” said Sutino, head of the group.
The group came in 200 people with a mission that they volunteered to picking up trashes not only for the environment but also as a symbol to clean up Indonesia from corruptors which they believed that Jokowi will do during his presidency.
“We hope that Jokowi can bring Indonesia to a better future and improve people’s welfare,” he said adding hopes that the new president can tackle issues such as poverty, development, and disaster.
Meanwhile, at his ‘public speech’ [Pidato Kerakyatan], Jokowi stressed out the importance for all Indonesians to work together with the government to achieve a strong, prosperous, and dignified Indonesia. “We need to move together, we have to work hard, work hard, work hard. It is impossible for a country this big to be strong if we are being lazy. Don’t expect us to be a great country,” said Widodo on his brief speech.
The People’s Party was filled by star-studded performances such as Syahrini, Anang and Ashanti, Vidi Aldiano, Bimbo, and charismatic band Slank who were all confessed not paid for their stage acts. Volunteers have also prepared around 75,000 plates of free food for visitors coming from all sorts of provinces, including Aceh and Papua. Januar Hakam.
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