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The Indonesian government celebrates the end of the Chinese New Year by rolling out a record-breaking Lontong. The dish is an Indonesian-style rice cake typically eaten during Lunar New Year celebrations. The details from our Jakarta correspondent...
It took 20 government staff three days, 550 pounds of rice and 220 pounds of banana leaves to make this record-breaking Lontong.
Coming in at 495 feet in length and 4 inches in diameter, the Lontong is the dish of honor at the Cap Go Meh Festival, marking the last day of the Chinese New Year.
[J. Ngadri, Indonesian World Record Museum]:
“There is something special today. This is a present from the Jakarta city government for people of Chinese ethnicity. This is a reflection of togetherness among Indonesian citizens."
Chinese New Year is widely celebrated in Indonesia, where ethnic Chinese make up three percent of the country’s population.
Indonesian Chinese have only been allowed to celebrate the Lunar New Year since 2000, when the government overturned a 1967 decree banning the ethnic Chinese from celebrating their new year in public.
The Governor of Jakarta, Fauzi Bowo, took part in the event and made the honorary first cut of the world's longest Lontong.
[Fauzi Bowo, Governor of Jakarta]:
"Chinese New Year and Cap Go Meh is a part of Chinese ethnic traditions who live in Jakarta, and it is our duty to appreciate it. Other ethnics are also required to appreciate it and make this tradition to be our city’s wealth. I think it’s our city’s wealth and pride, hopefully this harmony can continue to become the characteristic of Jakarta city now and in the future."
After the ceremony, the Lontong is sliced up and the public gets a taste of history in the making.
NTD News, Jakarta, Indonesia