President Jokowi Opens 43rd Bali Arts Festival Virtually

INDUSTRY.co.id - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, on Saturday (12/6), virtually opened the 43rd Bali Arts Festival, Indonesia’s longest-running art festival. According to the President, the event slated to run from 12 June to 10 July 2021 and involving tens of thousands of Balinese artists with strict health protocols is testament that the Balinese people can stay creative despite the ongoing pandemic.

“The 43rd Bali Arts Festival is proof that under heavy pressure from the pandemic, creativity and productivity of the Balinese people keep growing and performing in new ways to continually enliven the world’s art stage,” the President said in remarks.

This year’s Bali Arts Festival adopted the theme “Purna Jiwa: Prananing Wana Kerthi“, which literally means the complete soul is the breath of the tree of life. On that occasion, the Head of State applauded the choice of the theme.

“I’d like to extend my appreciation for the choice of the theme that invites the breeding of flora and fauna, as well as all biodiversity, spreading the spirit of conservation, and living in harmony with nature to heal civilization from the pandemic,” he said.

The President went on to say that literary legacies on the warning of the coming pandemic and ways to prevent and adapt to the pandemic need to be reopened and developed to take both lessons and correlation to the ongoing pandemic.

In addition, the Head of State underscored that the main key to Bali’s economic recovery lies in the people’s ability to deal with the pandemic, such as maintaining discipline on health protocols, conducting swift and massive vaccination drive, as well as implementing effective micro-scale public activity restrictions (PPKM Mikro) to curb the transmission.

“Let us show the world that Bali is a safe tourist destination to visit,” he stated.

In his closing remarks, the President also praised the efforts made by regional government, artists, and all Balinese people who continue to work, express artworks, and develop aesthetics and noble traditions of Balinese culture while still implementing strict and measurable health protocols.