President Joko Widodo made sure to honor the Balinese holiday of Nyepi, but he didn’t come to Bali to celebrate.
Today in Yogyakarta, Jokowi apparently wore traditional Balinese dress, complete with udeng and along with the First Lady, addressed the Hindu Balinese new year of 1937 at one of Indonesia’s most famous Hindu temples, Prambanan, according to Berita Satu.
Jokowi’s speech reportedlysaid we should take our Nyepi “timeout” to reflect and contemplate the nature of man.
Thousands of Indonesian Hindus flocked to the spiritual ceremony earlier this afternoon to hear Jokowi also say that the ceremony is to rid yourself of things that are not good and Nyepi should be interpreted with peace. Humans should be able to maintain harmony with the environment, he added, but refraining from saying anything about the balance of nature with Indonesia’s controversial executions this year.
Photo: Twitter
