Many would say that Jakarta has still not healed from the divisive 2017 gubernatorial election, which saw a vicious but ultimately successful campaign by Islamic hardliners to criminalize former governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama on trumped-up blasphemy charges. The heated religious and political polemics divided friends and family and even led to Jakarta being declared the least tolerant city in the country last year by the Setara Institute.
So what can possibly be done to unite the citizens of the Indonesian capital and bring them together under the banner of love and peace? Vice Governor Sandiaga Uno thinks he has the solution.
A dance meetup.
Sandiaga told reporters yesterday that he had recently had a meeting with the Jakarta Arts Council about plans to organize Jakarta dance meet-up events. He said such a program would help Jakartans get to know each other better.
“This will be done step by step and hopefully it will becomes a means of uniting the citizens of Jakarta in the future,” Sandiaga said as quoted by Detik.
Sandiaga said the arts council had agreed to the program in part because “dance can actually prolong our lives”.
The vice governor did not explain the technical details about the dance meet-up program, such as what kind of dancing it would include (based on previous experience, we’d imagine he’ll say traditional Indonesian dance), but he did say that the government was also going to implement a Jakarta City Philharmonic program this year, as well as programs for theater, designers and writers.
While we happily support any moves by the government to support Jakarta’s art scene, it’s not surprising that many people find Sandiaga’s idea of a dance meet-up uniting Jakartans to be ridiculous, especially considering that he and Governor Anies Baswedan were the primary beneficiaries of the incredibly divisive tactics used to defeat Ahok in last year’s election.
