New Year's Eve Celebration Should not be Excessive: Politician

Jakarta (Antara) - A politician of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Saleh Partaonan Daulay has called on the whole Indonesian people not to celebrate the New Year's Eve excessively due to many disasters that happened in Indonesia recently. "The New Year's Eve can be celebrated in a variety of ways, including raising funds for the benefit of humanity. Therefore, Jakarta Night Festival can be inserted with a charity night," he stated here on Tuesday night. The disasters that occurred recently such as flash floods, volcano eruptions, landslides and the latest one is the AirAsia plane crash with 162 people on board. Therefore, the joy of the new year's eve should be followed with empathy to the brothers of countrymen, he stressed. "If there is an excess of income, it is better to be used to help our brothers and sisters in need. Helping others is part of the teachings of all religions," said the Commission VIII member of the House of the Representatives (DPR). Meanwhile, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has yet to determine the number of victims of AirAsia QZ8501, which is believed to have crashed in the waters near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan. "We will continue to try to identify the objects already found. However, we cannot ascertain the number of victims yet," Chief of the Basarnas Vice Marshall Bambang Soelistyo said here on Tuesday. (*)