Speeches

Jakarta Dragon Boat Festival 2017 in Jakarta Indonesia

Following is the speech by the Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, Mrs DO PANG Wai Yee, at the Jakarta Dragon Boat Festival 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia today (May 20):

Mayor of North Jakarta, Wijawa (Chairman of the Jakarta Paddle Club), Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to be here today and witness the success of the first Jakarta Dragon Boat Festival. This is a timely celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival, otherwise known as Tuen Ng Festival which will fall on 30 May this year.

Dragon boat racing dated back more than two thousand years, and this traditional festival had become part of Hong Kong’s lifestyle.

Hong Kong, which is a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China held the first international dragon boat festival three decades ago, and since then it has developed into a truly global event, with festivals happening all around the world. Dragon boat racing is in fact, a perfect showcase for Hong Kong’s vibrant culture.

I have happy to see that with the hard work of the Jakarta Paddle Club and Klub Dayung Bahtera, dragon boat paddling is picking up in Jakarta and the first Dragon Boat Festival is organised this year. The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta is happy to be the Gold Sponsor of this event and I hope that we can continue to work closely together in future to continue promoting this sport in Jakarta.

Congratulations to the teams that won. I am sure regardless of the results, all paddlers had great fun participating in the race. May I also wish you a Happy Dragon Boat Festival. I also wish everyone a blessed Ramadan. Thank you.

Ends/Saturday, May 20, 2017