2018 Asian Games opening ceremony


The opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian Games took place on Saturday, 18 August 2018, at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event commenced at 19:00 Indonesia Western Time and ended at 21:25 local time. Wishnutama was the creative director of the ceremony. The ceremony featured a stage designed as a 26-meter-high mountain with a waterfall. It weighed 600 tons, was 120 meters long and 30 meters wide, and included a display of Indonesian plants and flowers, as well as a mock volcano. The volcano symbolized Indonesia's location in the "Ring of Fire" surrounding the Pacific Ocean. Host event broadcasting company International Games Broadcast Services filmed the televised coverage of the ceremony live internationally.

Proceedings

Prelude

Before the ceremony commenced, a footage of the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, leaving Bogor Palace for Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in a motorcade, was shown. When the motorcade was blocked by a parade of Indonesian supporters, the President exited his car, put on a black helmet and rode a Yamaha FZ1 motorcycle to escape traffic jam. After performing some stunt maneuvers and helping a group of students and a teacher to cross the road, he was joined by a motorcycle escort and approached the stadium. As the first part of the footage ended, a motorcyclist dressed as the President entered the stadium and headed to the basement. The second part of footage then showed President Widodo riding the motorcycle before reaching an elevator, at which point the real President entered the VVIP seating area.
It was suggested that the motorcyclist who entered the stadium was a stunt double: unlike the President, the motorcyclist did not wear a ring on the left hand. After the games' closing ceremony, Thai stuntman Withithep Komolhiran revealed himself on Instagram to be the President's stunt double in the filmed segments. He initially revealed his identity on Instagram after the opening ceremony, but the original post was later deleted. It is unclear whether the motorist performed live in the stadium was the same stuntman or not.

Countdown

A ten-to-zero city countdown video was then shown, featuring spots in Jakarta; the last two was the Jakarta's National Monument and the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

Main event

After that, 1,600 high school dancers from 18 senior high schools across Jakarta performed the Ratoh Jaroe dance, a traditional dance similar to Saman dance from Aceh, the westernmost province of Indonesia.
During the Parade of Nations, North Korean and South Korean teams marched together under one unified flag of Korea. As per tradition, Indonesia as the host nation entered last.
The only dangdut song of the album, "", was chosen as the theme song for the 2018 Asian Games. It was written by Pay and sung by popular dangdut singer Via Vallen. She performed the song after all the athletes participated in the parade took their seat.
The ceremony observed a moment of silence to remember the victims of the recent Lombok earthquake right after the Indonesian flag was raised by the Paskibraka youth group troop. The troop comprised 70 students with 17 people as guides, eight people as flag bearers and 45 people as guards, which represents Indonesia’s Independence Day, 17 August 1945.
"In the name of all Indonesians, we are proud, we are honored, getting special guests from 45 countries. In the 18th Asian Games, we are the nations of Asia want to show that we are brothers and sisters, we are one, we want to achieve. And, with saying Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim, the 18th Asian Games in 2018 I declare open!"
- Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, declaring the Games open in Indonesian.
, Indonesia's first ever Olympic gold medalist, lit the flame on the crater.
After speeches from the Organizing Committee chairman Erick Thohir and president Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah of the Olympic Council of Asia, President Widodo officially opened the games.
Eight former athletes, who all had participated in the Summer Olympic Games, carried the OCA flag which was raised by the aforementioned troop. The former athletes were three badminton Olympic gold medalists, all in men's doubles; Christian Hadinata, Candra Wijaya, and Markis Kido, two of the three athletes who won silver in 1988 women's team archery event – Indonesia's first ever Olympic medal; Lilies Handayani and Kusuma Wardhani, bronze medalist in 2000 Olympics women's 48 kg weightlifting Sri Indriyani, and two Asian Games medalists who did not win any medals in the Olympics; Lely Sampurno and Suharyadi. After the raising, Indonesian basketball player Arki Dikania Wisnu and badminton umpire Wahyana read the athlete's and referee's oath.
Soon afterwards was the creative segments, divided into five parts: Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Energy of Asia. The water, earth, wind and fire depict the natural beauty of Indonesia and also the country's courage and competitive spirit, while Energy of Asia, the final segment named after the games motto, was about how future generations will help build Indonesia into a leader of tomorrow while remembering their guiding principles of respect and equality.
During the Fire segment, there were Balinese-clad dancers carrying drums and some carried two-end torches. They formed a formation to make way for the final torch relay. The games torch was relayed by Indonesia's former Asian Games gold medalists; Lanny Gumulya, Arief Taufan Syamsuddin, Yustedjo Tarik, Supriyati Sutono, and Oka Sulaksana. Indonesia's first Olympic gold medalist Susi Susanti – who won the coveted title in the 1992 badminton women's singles – became the final bearer and lit the volcano's crater. It was followed by aerial and ground fireworks bursts which ended on the actual cauldron located on the southeast of the stadium; the flame itself lit up before the ground fireworks reach the end of the cauldron. The lit-up was followed by aerial fireworks bursts and a "Set Your Soul on Fire" song which sung by some singers, including Indonesian gospel singer Sidney Mohede.
The transition from the four elements segment to the "Energy of Asia" segment was filled by Indonesian-born French singer Anggun singing "Pemuda", a 1979 song written by Candra Darusman of Chaseiro band, who is the younger brother of politician Marzuki Darusman. He was also present during the ceremony. After some modern dances, the ceremony was concluded with the performance of the games' first-released official song "" sung by 4 of the song's artists; Ariel, Rian Ekky Pradipta, Sheryl Sheinafia, and Cakra Khan, complete with massive fireworks bursting from the stadium's roof.

List of Performers

Here is a list of artists and musicians who performed during the ceremony. All of them are Indonesians.
All 44 contingents participated in the parade, the order begins with Afghanistan and ended with host Indonesia. Each contingent was led by a representative official that wore a bird-shaped Garuda costume while carrying each country’s name placard. The costume was designed by Dynand Fariz, founder of the annual Jember Fashion Carnaval.

Notable guests

Indonesians

Joko Widodo's entrance drew comparisons to the London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony's 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony#Happy and Glorious |Happy and Glorious segment, which featured Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth II making an impressive entrance with a helicopter, and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony's Warming up! Tokyo 2020 segment, in which the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe made an appearance by "coming through" Warp Pipe from the Mario Bros. video game.