New Year parties become charity events
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Many of the planned New Year's celebrations will become charity events in the wake of Sunday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and deadly tidal waves in Aceh and other nations on Indian Ocean that killed at least 80,000 in Aceh alone as of Thursday night.
A day after announcing the cancellation of a fireworks display that would have cost Rp 500 million (US$53,763.44) in National Monument (Monas) Park, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso decided on Thursday that the Rp 1 billion fireworks show at Ancol Dreamland Park would also be canceled and replaced with a mass prayer session. The Rp 500 million for the Monas fireworks, he said, would be channeled to aid organizers to help survivors of the worst natural disaster in Indonesia since 1883.
Sutiyoso's call for New Year's party organizers to scale down their celebrations and to instead raise money for the Acehnese was warmly received.
The Hotel Mulia in Senayan, Central Jakarta, will still go on with its concert featuring U.S. singer Peabo Bryson and Filipino Kuh Ledesma.
"Basically, we will modify the program into a kind of charity party," said the hotel's public relations manager Dian. She added that the hotel would send a Rp 500 million donation to Aceh on top of what would be raised in the concert.
PT Unilever Indonesia also canceled its Conello New Year's Chemistry Carnival at Kafe Taman Semanggi.
In Denpasar, hotels, resorts and cafes will also convert their Dec. 31 celebrations into charity events.
"The events should be more modest because we are in deep grief. But the show must go on because money from the programs will be used for Aceh," said the Bali Association of Travel Agencies (Asita) chairman Bagus Sudibya as quoted by Antara.
"We also call on tourists to donate their money in boxes provided in hotels, restaurants or other tourist resorts."
Many people have been urging would-be partygoers to cancel their New Year's festivities to express sympathy for the survivors.
Leaders of the country's two largest Muslim organizations, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadyah, called on the public to donate the money they planned to spend on celebrations to the victims instead.
The NU also urged state officials to cancel their year-end trips abroad and donate the money to Aceh.
The Surabaya administration has canceled 38 permits for hotels and cafes to celebrate the New Year. The city tourism agency head Muhtadi said that the cancellation was with the consent of the hotels and cafes.
The general manager of the Hotel Inna Simpang, Waluyo said the management agreed to call off the party, although they would lose out on an expected Rp 25 million.
Governors of West Kalimantan and West Nusa Tenggara have also decided not to attend celebrations.
West Kalimantan Governor Usman Ja'far ordered the cancellation of a fireworks party in the provincial capital, Pontianak, and changed it into a fund-raising and prayer event.
West Nusa Tenggara Governor H Lalu Serinata will attend mass prayers at mosques in the capital city Mataram. The governor also called on the public to start collecting donations to help the natural disaster victims.