By: Rizki Kurnia)*
Indonesian people in various regions seemed very enthusiastic in welcoming the G20 delegates who came to hold the meeting. This is also a very appropriate momentum to further promote the richness of Indonesian culture, including the promotion of local tourism so that it will improve the welfare of the community.
Indonesia officially became the Presidency for the first time in an international forum, namely the G20 Summit. The presidency period will continue for up to one year, starting on December 1, 2021 and then until November 30, 2022. Previously, the handover of the Presidency was directly given by PM Mario Draghi, who was the leader of Italy as the leader of the G20 Summit last year, to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, directly on October 31, 2021.
For information, the G20 itself is an international forum that will focus on implementing policy coordination, especially in the economic and development fields. The main purpose of holding the forum is to ensure that the world is able to get out of all the crises it is currently facing, so that in the future a strong and sustainable global economic growth can be created.
Especially at the current G20 event, the world’s challenges are indeed getting tougher, because there is a threat of a multidimensional crisis as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, the global situation was exacerbated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine so that the world economy began to falter because some basic necessities were hampered and stocks were running low. All G20 member countries are united to continue to push for improvement and also recovery of the situation.
With Indonesia as the host as well as the Presidency in the G20 event, the entire community participated in welcoming it with great enthusiasm. Even some time ago when the G20 delegates held a meeting in the Borobudur Temple area, the community welcomed it by holding a Cultural Carnival titled ‘Malih Pulih’.
No half-hearted, there were even around two thousand participants in the carnival consisting of 20 villages in Borobudur District. Each village representative who participated in the Kirab event displayed their creations with replicas of 20 iconic animals, all of which were inspired by the reliefs in the temple.
To support one of the major movements of the G20 regarding environmental care, the community deliberately uses natural materials around them as well as processed plastic waste, paper and so on in making their Kirab materials. Furthermore, to further promote Indonesian culture, they also performed many dances.
Regarding this, the Director of Manpower Development and Cultural Institutions, Director General of Culture, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), Judi Wahjudin said that with the existence of the Cultural Carnival, it becomes concrete evidence that ecosystems and cultural potentials in society are indeed Indonesia, especially the people of Borobudur itself is extraordinary.
In addition, they also try to show and promote the cultural richness of the country with a very strong spirit of mutual cooperation, thus indicating that the community really wants to show all the G20 delegates who come to visit that they are indeed very important to be included in development and improvement efforts by keep their own culture.
Similar incidents also occurred, not only in the Borobudur area, but in Belitung. That is, when around 100 elementary school students seemed very enthusiastic to welcome the delegations of the G20 Development Working Group (DWG). They showed their enthusiasm by standing along the side of the road at HAS Hanandjoeddin Airport by waving the flags of each country that was present at the meeting.
The Principal of SD Negeri 45 Tanjung Pandan, Rahmiati said that the welcome by the students showed how proud they were for the G20 Summit held in that area. One of the students also said that he was very happy because he could be present to welcome the G20 delegation, and as a form of showing how friendly the people of Belitung were.
On the other hand, Bangka Belitung University (UBB) Political Science Lecturer, Robing explained that the G20 meeting held in Belitung was the best momentum for them to be able to introduce the beauty of tourism in Belitung. Not only that, he added that in the future the community itself will benefit because their local businesses will become more developed and be noticed by the world.
Robing said that Indonesia, which is the only representative of Southeast Asia in this prestigious forum, must be very proud. Not even just following it, but Indonesia itself has a very strategic position, namely as the Presidency. So he hopes that this nation will be able to become a bridge of interest between countries in Southeast Asia and the members of the G20.
So it’s not surprising that the people welcomed it with great enthusiasm with them taking to the streets and enlivening the several carnivals that were held, including also participating in introducing the richness of the nation’s cultural heritage in the eyes of the world.
)* The author is a contributor to Narasi Nusantara
