Jakarta selects its new 'Abang' and 'None'

JAKARTA (JP): The audience screamed their loudest when last year's Abang (Mr.) and None (Miss) Jakarta announced the winners of this year's competition on Friday night at the Jakarta Fairgrounds in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Mochamad Rizki, a 23-year-old who just graduated from Butler University in the United States, is the new Abang. The new None is Trini Agustini, a student of the Tarakanita secretarial academy, who celebrates her 20th birthday today.

Trini was also chosen as the favorite None by the audience while the favorite Abang was Yudhie Moeljono, from North Jakarta, who speaks Spanish.

Runner-ups were T. Rizal Djohan and Siti Amalia Kusumawardhani, and Arif Hudaya and Winur Wulan Winarti. The runner-ups are to represent the Abang and None when the winners are not available.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and his wife crowned the winners in the ceremony which was also attended by tycoon Sudwikatmono and Roy Tirtadji.

They were chosen from thousands of Jakartans who registered to be the capital city's representatives and beat 30 other finalists.

The competition has become increasingly popular, with applicants having increased from 835 last year to at least 200 from each of the five mayoralties this year.

This year the most applicants came from East Jakarta, with a 315 young men and women registering.

The successful careers obtained by several previous contestants in the modeling and entertainment world may be one of the reasons.

Ratih Sanggarwati, one of Indonesia's top models was None in 1983, and photo model Andri Sentanu was the 1989 winner.

The 1993 winner, Maudy Kusnaria, stars in popular television series Si Doel Anak Betawi, as well as appearing in several music video films.

The contest started in 1968 when the then governor Ali Sadikin decided it would be beneficial to have a None to help him in protocol tasks such as greeting guests. In 1971 the city administration decided to find her partner, the Abang.

Now they act as the city's envoys and are expected to understand the native culture and promote Jakarta to tourists.

Therefore, fluency in foreign languages, especially English, is one of the most important criteria to be Jakarta's None and Abang.

Some of this year's finalists claimed to be able to speak other foreign languages -- French, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic.

Unfortunately they were not asked to show their abilities in the grand final. The audience was also disappointed that the grand final did not include question and answer sessions. (yns)