Looking for a new place to hang out on the weekend, or a new tourist attraction to take your out-of-town guests that isn’t Monas or Kota Tua? Well, now you have a new option – City Hall.
As he said he would a few weeks ago, Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has opened up his office complex to the public, starting last weekend. City Hall is open to visitors from 9am to 5pm Saturdays and Sundays.
Besides being given limited access to the building so they can get a glimpse of the government at work, the public can also enjoy City Hall’s large garden area, where the government will be bringing in entertainers every weekend.
One of the first groups to perform for the public at City Hall was a dangdut music group called Rama Wijaya, made up of 12 young musicians, who got the gig because they knew one of the civil servants working in the building.
Vino Alghozali, the frontman for the group, told Tempo they usually performed in Kota Tua during the weekend. For the City Hall performance, they were paid Rp 1.5 million for a four hour performance, which is about how much they would make performing in Kota Tua for eight hours, plus a food allowance.
But don’t expect to be able to shake it to dangdut music every weekend if you head to City Hall as Vino said his group had only been hired for the one weekend.
But regardless, it sounds like heading to City Hall on the weekend could be a good deal – government offices, gardens and live music, all for free. What more do you need?
