REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo or Jokowi, officially inaugurated People`s Cultural Festival at the National Monument (Monas) area on Sunday. The festival was organized to commemorate the National Youth Pledge Day, Kris Budiharjo, the chairman of the festival organizing committee, said.

The cultural festival aimed at encouraging young people to love the country`s various culture and arts, he said. The festival was also held to support the governor`s program that would make Jakarta as a national cultural center based on Jakarta`s native culture of Betawi. 

Over 10,000 people consisted of students and representatives of various ethnics in Indonesia took part in the festival. The festival would be recorded in the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) as a cultural festival having the largest number of participants, Budiharjo said.

The carnival started at 07.00 am of local time. The participants, wearing traditional clothes and performing traditional dances, marched from the City Town Hall to M.H. Thamrin Street and ended in the National Monument park area.

Jokowi said the capital city would organize an annual cultural festival called "Jak Carnival" starting next year. "Next year, there will be another cultural festival to be called `Jak Carnival`," Joko Widodo said. 

The planned "Jak Carnival" would be organized coinciding with the commemoration of the anniversary of Jakarta, he added. Jakarta celebrates its anniversary on June 22 every year. This year, the city`s 485th anniversary was celebrated from May 27 to June 24, with 55 cultural and expo activities

"We will begin the preparations in January. Hopefully, it will be better than this festival," Joko Widodo said referring to the Jak Carnival. 

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