Good News, Gibran Will Make Chinese New Year Festive Again In Solo City After 2 Years Of Vacuum

JAKARTA - Mayor of Surakarta Gibran Rakabuming Raka said the local area was again enlivening the Chinese New Year. One of them is by installing lanterns, after two years of vacuum due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Mr. Martono has prepared (Chairman of the Solo Lunar 2022 Joint Committee, ed.), there is no Grebeg Sudiro and others. We just want the Lunar New Year celebration to be there," he said in Solo, Central Java, Thursday, January 13.

He explained that later there would not be various activities related to the celebration that would bring in many people.

"There are only ceremonies, there are liongs, there are no crowded 'events' (activities), the important thing is that there is a marker for this Chinese New Year, there are no crowds of people," he said.

He hoped that the public could enjoy the excitement of the Lunar New Year even though it was simple because the situation was still a pandemic.

"Don't let Chinese New Year, which has been around for two years, no longer exist. That's all you have to enjoy," he said.

The chairman of the Solo City 2022 Lunar New Year Joint Committee, Sumartono Hadinoto, said that this Chinese New Year celebration will only be held in a simple manner.

"We, from the Lunar New Year committee, frankly don't have the courage to look at the current situation. Usually, it's been two years without the Lunar New Year, how come this doesn't exist anymore," he said.

He said that the difference between this Chinese New Year celebration and previous years was that the committee would only install 1,000 lanterns.

"Usually we install up to 5,000 lanterns, usually bring in from China. If this year is modest, maybe we don't have 1,000 lanterns installed, Shio also only has one at the city hall," he said.

Later there will also be a lion dance performance as a symbol of rejecting reinforcements.

"The Lion Dance will play around the street, finally going to the city hall to report, the hope is that Solo will be free from the pandemic," he said.