IO – Asian Games 2018 has ended and now it is time for Asian Para Games 2018 to continue the sports celebration. The Asian Para Games 2018 Opening Ceremony was held at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. The Ceremony was replete with Indonesian culture, which impressed an excited audience. This was one of the reasons for the great appreciation given to the ceremony. The opening Ceremony shows that people with disabilities are not deficient but rather have many advantages not possessed by the general public.
The opening ceremony of Asian Para Games 2018 started with a myriad of dancers carrying religious and cultural attributes which showed that Indonesia was a nation that understood the importance of religious and cultural values.
Many of the public were moved and at the same time amazed at the opening ceremony, especially during the reading of the Pancasila, which was done through sign language. The audience loved the hoisting of the Indonesia flag and the singing of Indonesia’s national anthem Indonesia Raya which involved speech-impaired elementary school students and all the dancers using sign language to sing the anthem.
The lively opening of the Asian Para Games is hoped not only to entertain but also to motivate the Indonesian people and people in Asia to keep a high spirit in life, even when we have shortcomings, as the athletes about to compete do not know the meaning of fatigue, and turn their disabilities into strengths with one goal: to make the nation proud. (Raihan)