An invitation from our friend Abdul Qowi Bastian at Jakarta Globe to attend Pemilihan Abang None Jakarta Pusat 2012 where he was one of 30 finalists led to yet another evening of magic in Jakarta! Not aware of what the event actually was, I went along with a new friend Lynne from Korea who recently arrived in Jakarta. We arrived at The Hall in Senayan City to a lobby full of people carrying banners with faces and numbers and we were so confused as to what was actually going on as is usually the case in my days wandering the streets of this chaotic city.. As soon as the doors opened to the auditorium people scrambled to get a good position and there was cheering and laughter and it ended up being such a great night filled with dancing, bands, questions to the contestants and finally the winners were announced…
Abang None is a competition aimed at raising cultural awareness to the youth of Jakarta aged between 19 and 25 years old and the winners become culture ambassadors for Jakarta for a year. Apparently this annual event is very popular and has been conducted here for more than three decades. Five cities and one administrative regency in Special Capital Territory of Jakarta choose fifteen pairs of Abang (males) and None (females) before determining three pairs of delegates for the provincial competition.
Congratulations to all the contestants for making it to the finals and especially to Devby Ulfandi and Luciana Hasan who were the winners for 2012.
Pemilihan Abang None Jakarta Pusat 2012
Contestant 27 - Nissia Ananda
The female contestants take to the stage for traditional dancing
Male contestants join for a traditional dance performance
..and the crowd goes wild with cheers and laughter
Each contestant must speak about a topic in Jakarta given to them by the hosts which they will be judged on
More dancing by contestants
My new friend Lynne and Edri singing along to the music!
Cheering for Abdul! Contestant No. 14...
Alexa performing - so much energy and so entertaining
Congratulations to the Winners for 2012 - Devby Ulfandi and Luciana Hasan
Really a great performance and thanks to god it happened as we hoped. Congrats to all of us! Thanks for writing this article.
How lucky I feel to have witnessed this fun event! Thank you so much and congratulations to you all!! 😉