Jokowi Inaugurates Garuda Wisnu Kencana Statue In Today's Memory, September 22, 2018

President Jokowi, Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri and other officials were present at the inauguration of the GWK Statue in Badung Regency, Bali, September 22, 2018. (Twitter @Jokowi)

JAKARTA - Today's memory, six years ago, September 22, 2018, President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Statue (GWK) by famous speaker I Nyoman Nuarta. Jokowi called the statue the work of the nation's children. The 121-meter high statue is predicted to be the new tourist icon of Bali Island.

Previously, Nuarta had expressed the idea of building a statue that became the icon of Bali in 1989. The New Order (Orba) government took this effort seriously. Problems arise. The monetary crisis is disturbing everything.

I Nyoman Nuarta's desire to build the GWK Statue is unbearable. He revealed the idea directly to the Director General of Tourism in the New Order era, Joop Eve in 1989. The idea of building a GWK statue was then brought to President Suharto and received a good welcome in 1994.

The execution of the statue only started in 1997. At that time the government began to gradually disburse funds for the statue. Malang cannot be rejected. Economic recession which led to the monetary crisis changed everything in 1998.

Nuarta's plan to make an iconic statue in Bali had to be postponed. The monetary crisis in fact not only hit the Indonesian economy, but also Suharto and New Order. As a result, Nuarta did not have the opportunity to make a statue.

However, it wouldn't be Nuarta if she immediately gave up. Nuarta had time to try to build a statue with her own funds. This means that he tried to sell various works of art to cover the funds of GWK statue workers.

He also felt that he lived in trouble until he had the highest hope of being present during the reign of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in 2012. Problems arose. The government did not provide clarity. At its peak, the plan to build the GWK Statue was brought by Nuarta to the property developer Alam Sutera, The Nin King in 2013.

The hundreds of billions of funds were disbursed. However, the position of the GBK area is fully managed by Alam Sutera. Meanwhile, Nuarta's status is only roofing.

The GWK Statue Project, which began in 2013, finally complements the shape of the upper wing. Then, to enliven the event, it was completed. On July 31, 2018, workers installed the last module to be grateful for the completion of the statue construction, an art performance entitled Swadharma Ning Pertiwi was held in the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park area, Saturday night two weeks ago.

I Nyoman Nuarta admitted that he was very happy and touched. The statue he dreamed of 28 years ago finally materialized. The statue of Nuarta's design is higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York, United States, which is 97 meters high. According to Nuarta, the width of Garuda Wisnu Kencana is estimated to be eight times Liberty, "said Bram Setiawan in his article in Tempo magazine entitled Jatuh Bangun Garuda Wisnu Kencana (2018).

The construction of the GWK Statue can be completed. However, the statue was actually inaugurated by President Jokowi on September 22, 2018. Jokowi symbolically inaugurated the GWK statue by pressing the siren and signing the inscription.

Jokowi also praised the presence of the GWK Statue as the work of the nation's children. How not to build it involves 1,000 workers divided into two, namely 400 workers in Bandung and 600 workers in Bali.

"I call it the masterpiece of the nation's children because the GWK Statue is one of the largest copper statues in the world and the third highest statue in the world. This proves to be our great nation not only inheriting great works from a very beautiful past civilization like Borobudur Temple, Prambanan, but in today's era our nation can be creative to produce masterpieces that make us proud and admired of the world," Jokowi said as quoted by the COMPASS.com page, September 22, 2018.