The

2018 Asian Para Games The 2018 Asian Para Games (, ''Asian Para Games 2018''), officially known as the 3rd Asian Para Games and also known as Indonesia 2018, was a pan-Asian multi-sport event that held from 6 to 13 October 2018 in Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta ...

opening ceremony was held on Saturday, 6 October 2018 at the

Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (; literally "Bung Karno Sports Arena Main Stadium"), formerly Senayan Main Stadium and Gelora Senayan Main Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located at the center of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Centra ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The closing ceremony was held exactly a week later; Saturday, 13 October 2018 at the nearby, far smaller

Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium () or simply Madya Stadium is a stadium in Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex with 9,170 seats and a maximum capacity of 20,000. It is used mostly for track and field Sport of athletics, athletics training and even ...

. Both ceremonies were started on 19:00 local time (

UTC+7 UTC+07:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +07:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . It is 7 hours ahead of UTC, meaning that when the time in UTC areas is midnight (00:00), the time in UTC+07:00 areas would ...

) and ended around 22:00.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian Para Games took place on Saturday, 6 October 2018, at the

in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event commenced at 19:00 and ended at 21:45 local time. Jay Subiyakto was the Associate creative director of the ceremony. The ceremony featured a stage designed as an ocean wave and functions as a video screen.

Proceedings

2018 Asian Para Games opening ceremony 02

Before the ceremony commenced, visual effects video of Indonesian traditional batik art, featuring Indonesian wayang characters, objects, buildings such as the

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

, flora and fauna found within Indonesia such as

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large reptile of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo (island), Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Dasami, and Gili ...

was shown. The ceremony began with countdown projection on the floor of the stage when a whipping dancer performed on the stage with a row of drummers. Rosalina Oktavia, an Indonesian prosthetic model carried a candle onto the stage centre. After that, dancers wearing traditional costumes of different Indonesian ethnic groups came onstage in groups, perform traditional dances while carrying miniatures of various houses of worship found across the nation to represent the Indonesia's religious and cultural diversity. Two guests of honour,

President of Indonesia The president of the Republic of Indonesia () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president is the leader of the executive branch of the Indonesian government and the commander-in-chief of the ...

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

and president of the

Asian Paralympic Committee The Asian Paralympic Committee (acronym: APC) is an organization based in United Arab Emirates. It has 45 National Paralympic Committees of the Asian continent as members. It organizes the Asian Para Games and is affiliated to the International P ...

Majid Rashed who arrived earlier at the stadium were introduced to the crowd. Then, children elementary schools from Jakarta and Bengkala, the deaf village from Bali, who wore school uniforms entered the stage riding

cycle rickshaw The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport. It is a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers on a vehicle for hire, for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bi ...

s and sat on the stage, with the projection of a school and the flag of Indonesia shown on the stage screen. Puan Maharani, chairwoman of the games' steering committee brought the Indonesian flag into the stadium, and the flag was raised by three

Paskibraka The Paskibraka () is a youth troop-formed organization and/or flag-raising squad in Indonesia which has the main task to escort, raise and lower the heirloom national flag of Indonesia (now duplicate) in Independence day ceremonies commemorati ...

youth troop. During the flag raising, traditional dancers and the school children's translated the "

Indonesia Raya "" ('Indonesia the Great') is the national anthem of Indonesia. It has been the national anthem since the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence on 17 August 1945. The song was introduced by its composer, Wage Rudolf Supratman, on 28 October ...

" lyrics into sign language. Surya Sahetapy and Reza Rahadian Matulessy delivered the message of Pancasila in Indonesian sign and spoken language, respectively. Two Filipino para dancers, Jun Julius Obero and Rhea Marquez performed a ballet number together, which represents the harmonious unity of a society that accepts each other, regardless of their differences. The song played during the ballet was a variation of the second lyrical music part used in the ''Ratoh Jaroe'' dance performed on the

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 Stadium, Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event commenced at 19:00 Time in Indonesia, Indonesia Western Time ...

. During the Parade of Nations,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n teams marched together under one unified flag of Korea as they did at the Asian Games. As per tradition, Indonesia as the host nation entered last. During the 1-hour long segment, 20 Asian Pop Songs were used for guest participating teams, while choir covers of the refrains of " Kebyar-Kebyar" and " Garuda di Dadaku" were used for host Indonesia team. Each time a national delegatation enters the stadium, the spirals rotating on the centre stage display the colours of the flag of their home country. The pop songs played included: A minute of silence to honour the

2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami On 28 September 2018, a shallow, large earthquake struck in the neck of the Minahasa Peninsula, Indonesia, with its epicentre located in the mountainous Donggala Regency, Central Sulawesi. The magnitude 7.5–7.6 quake was located away from th ...

victims was observed after speeches from the Organizing Committee chairman Raja Sapta Oktohari and President Majid Rashed of the Asian Paralympic Committee. President Widodo officially opened the games using sign language, on which he mistakenly spoke "Asian Games" instead of "Asian Para Games". A dance performance featured the fire, rain, ocean and fisherman was held which later revealed the word sign "DISABILITY" on the stage. It represents the challenges a disabled person faced in the society. A wheelchair girl named Bulan Karunia showed up at the stadium with a box containing the message of her and her friends to President Joko Widodo. The president, then, walked down onto the stage to meet her and opened the box which later revealed to contain the letter block that reads "Ability" in capital letters. Along with her and an archer named Abdul Hamid, he arched the giant capital letters "DIS" until it fell down, and left the word "ABILITY" to represents that disabled persons can also pursuing their dreams and do what normal people do also with their limited abilities. Martin Losu and Lil abilities dance troop then performed hip hop and break dance in front of the sign. Eight Indonesian athletes, including powerlifter Anto Boi carried the Asian Paralympic Committee flag into the stadium, and the flag was raised by ten Paskibraka youth troop as the Paralympic movement anthem was played. These were the last games to play this anthem, as the Asian Paralympic Committee adopted its own beginning the next edition in Hangzhou. Indonesian table tennis player Banyu Tri Mulyo read the athletes' oath, table tennis judge Bayu Widi read the judges' oath, and swimming coach Dinda Ayu Sekartaji read the coaches' oath. Finally, the torch was relayed for the final time by Senny Marbun (president of the

National Paralympic Committee A National Paralympic Committee (NPC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Paralympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), NPCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the ...

of Indonesia), Imam Nahrawi (Youth and Sports Minister of Indonesia), Pribadi (general secretary of the NPC Indonesia), and Soeharto (gold medalist athletics in the

1977 FESPIC Games The 2nd FESPIC Games was a multi-sport event for Far East and South Pacific athletes with a disability held in Parramatta, Australia. The Games were opened on November 20, 1977, by Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia and ...

). Jendi Panggabean, five-gold medalist para-swimming in the 2017 ASEAN Para Games, as the last torchbearer lit the in-stadium cauldron start from the bottom of the left edge of wave-shape projector, with a gigantic wayang puppet's character named Gatot Kaca, on shadow projector guided the flame until it spread and lit in a

Garuda Garuda (; ; Vedic Sanskrit: , ) is a Hindu deity who is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. This divine creature is mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths. Garuda is also the half-brother of the D ...

-shaped cauldron – inspired by Blencong, source lighting in the wayang – with the wayang's hands "holding" it, which followed by the lit-off of the actual cauldron located southeast of the stadium and fireworks bursts. The ceremony concluded with various singers sang the theme song of the games, "Song of Victory".

Parade of Nations

All 42 contingents (41 nations and the unified Korea team) participated in the parade, the order begins with Afghanistan and ended with host Indonesia. Each contingent was led by a representative official that wore local traditional costumes with Indonesian floral designs while carrying each country's name placard. The costume was designed by Chitra Subiyakto. Like the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

, the nations marched in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

alphabetical order. Below is a list of parading countries and their announced flag bearer, in the same order as the parade. This is sortable by country name, flag bearer's name and flag bearer's sport. Names are given in the form officially designated by the APC.

Notable singers

* Shanna Shannon Siswanto * Allafta Hirzi Sodiq * All recording artists of "Song of Victory"

Notable guests (Opening)

Indonesians (Opening)

Iriana Iriana (born 1 October 1963), also called Iriana Joko Widodo, is the former First Lady of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. She is the wife of the former president, Joko Widodo and mother of the incumbent vice president, Gibran Rakabuming Raka. Ear ...

First Lady of Indonesia First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Jusuf Kalla Muhammad Jusuf Kalla (; born 15 May 1942), commonly referred to by his initials JK, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the 10th and 12th vice president of Indonesia, the only vice president in Indonesian history to serve tw ...

, Vice President of Indonesia * Mufidah Mi'ad Saad, Second Lady of Indonesia *

Megawati Sukarnoputri Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004 and the eighth vice president under President Abdurrahman Wahid from 1999 to 200 ...

, former president (and previously vice president) of Indonesia *

Sinta Nuriyah Sinta Nuriyah Wahid (also Sinta Wahid; 8 March 1948) is the widow of former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. She was First Lady of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. Biography Sinta was born in the Jombang Regency in 1948, the eldest daughter ...

, former First Lady of Indonesia, and her daughters Yenny and Inayah Wahid *

Try Sutrisno Try Sutrisno (; born 15 November 1935) is an Indonesian retired army general who served as the sixth vice president of Indonesia from 1993 to 1998. Born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Try graduated from the Army Technical Aca ...

and

Boediono Boediono (Perfected Spelling System, EYD: Budiono, pronounced ; born 25 February 1943) is an Indonesian politician and economist who served as the 11th Vice President of Indonesia, vice president of Indonesia from 2009 to 2014. He became vice pr ...

, former vice presidents of Indonesia * Tuti Sutiawati, former Second Lady of Indonesia *

Puan Maharani Puan Maharani Nakshatra Kusyala Devi (born 6 September 1973) is an Indonesian politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who is serving as the current List of Speakers of the People's Representative Council, speaker of t ...

Retno Marsudi Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi (born 27 November 1962) is an Indonesian diplomat who formerly served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Joko Widodo between 2014 and 2024. She is the first female minister appointed to the pos ...

, Foreign Minister of Indonesia * Abdurrahman Mohammad Fachir, Deputy Foreign Minister of Indonesia * Rudiantara, Communication and Information Technology Minister of Indonesia * Syafruddin, Minister of State Apparatus Utilization and Bureaucratic Reform of Indonesia *

Pratikno Pratikno (born 13 February 1962) is an Indonesian politician and academic. He currently serving as Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs. He also served as the Minister / Secretary of State of Indonesia in the Onward ...

, State Secretary Minister of Indonesia *

Zulkifli Hasan Zulkifli Hasan (born 17 May 1962), or colloquially Zulhas or Bang Zul, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is currently serving as Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs since 20 October 2024. Previously, he served as Ministry of ...

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

of the Congress of Indonesia *

Bambang Soesatyo Bambang Soesatyo (born 10 September 1962), more colloquially referred to as Bamsoet, is an Indonesian politician and businessman, who served as the 15th List of speakers of the People's Consultative Assembly, speaker of the People's Consultative A ...

of the

House of Representatives of Indonesia A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

Oesman Sapta Odang Oesman Sapta Odang (born 18 August 1950) is an Indonesian politician of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), who served as the speaker of the Regional Representative Council and deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly between 2014 ...

of the Senate of Indonesia * Laode Muhammad Syarif, vice chairman of the

Corruption Eradication Commission The Corruption Eradication Commission (), abbreviated as KPK, is an Indonesian government agency established to prevent and fight corruption in the country. History Background Anti-corruption efforts began in Indonesia in the 1950s. Followin ...

of Indonesia * Triawan Munaf, head of the Creative Economy Agency of Indonesia *

Suharso Monoarfa Suharso Monoarfa (born 31 October 1954) is an Indonesian entrepreneur and politician who served as Ministry of National Development Planning of Indonesia, Minister for National Development Planning from 2019 to 2024. He was also a member of the ...

, member of the Presidential Advisory Council of Indonesia * Heru Budi Hartono, head of the Presidential Secretariat of Indonesia * Mohamad Oemar, head of the Vice-Presidential Secretariat of Indonesia *

Anies Baswedan Anies Rasyid Baswedan (, born 7 May 1969) is an Indonesian academic, activist, and politician who served as the Governor of Jakarta from 2017 to 2022. A student activist and political analyst before entering public service, he served as the Recto ...

Governor of Jakarta } The Jakarta Special Region is administratively equal to a Provinces of Indonesia, province with special status as the largest city of Indonesia. Instead of a mayor, the executive head of Jakarta is a governor. The Governor of Jakarta is an elect ...

and INAPGOC steering committee member * Raja Sapta Oktohari, chairman of the INAPGOC executive committee * Senny Marbun, president of the

National Paralympic Committee of Indonesia National Paralympic Committee of Indonesia is Indonesia's National Paralympic Committee—the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent Indonesia at the Paralympic Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indone ...

(NPC Indonesia) * Pribadi, general secretary of the NPC Indonesia * Jan Ethes Srinarendra, grandson of President Widodo and First Lady Iriana

Foreign dignitaries (Opening)

* Majid Rashed, president of the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) *

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi (, ; 26 November 1939 – 14 April 2025), also known as Pak Lah, was a Malaysian politician and civil servant who served as the fifth prime minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. A member of UMNO, he was the party's ...

, former

Prime Minister of Malaysia The prime minister of Malaysia (; ) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the Government of Malaysia, federal government. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints the prime minister who is a membe ...

Jeanne Abdullah Jeanne Abdullah ( Danker; born 29 July 1953) is a Malaysian hotelier who served as the spouse of the prime minister of Malaysia from 2007 to 2009, as the wife of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. She married Abdullah in 2007 while he was in office and is ...

, former "First Lady" of Malaysia

Closing ceremony

The 2018 Asian Para Games closing ceremony was held on Saturday, 13 October 2018 at the

in Jakarta. Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla, and president of the Asian Paralympic Committee Majid Rashed were among the dignitaries in attendance.

Daniel Mananta Daniel Mananta (born in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 14 August 1981) is an Indonesian actor, presenter, Video jockey, VJ, and podcaster of Chinese Indonesian descent. He is an Indonesian entertainer whose name emerged after winning the 2003 MTV Indones ...

and Ary Kirana were the ceremony's host while Riri Mestica was the ceremony's DJ. Vice President Kalla and Raja Sapta Oktohari, chairman of the INAPGOC executive committee both delivered bilingual speeches before and after the flag handover ceremony.

Zhang Haidi Zhang Haidi ( zh, s=张海迪; born September 1955) is a Chinese writer, translator, and chairwoman of China Administration of Sports for Persons with Disabilities (CASPD); the national paralympic committee of China. A paraplegic since early chil ...

, chairwoman of

China Administration of Sports for Persons with Disabilities The China Administration of Sports for Persons with Disabilities (CASPD, zh, 中国残疾人体育运动管理中心) is a public institution of the Central Government of China, and is affiliated with the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDP ...

received the box containing the Ability letters used during the opening ceremony from president of the

Senny Marbun while Vice Mayor of Hangzhou Wang Hong received the APC flag from Governor of Jakarta

. A promotional video about the Hangzhou Asian Para Games featuring shots of the city, Jack Ma and disabled athletes was shown. After Majid Rashed officially closed the games, the flame was extinguished by the wayang puppet on shadow projector.

Performing artists

In addition to local artists and a Hangzhou Asian Para Games promotional video segment, the South Korean girlband

AOA Aoa, AOA, or AoA may refer to: Government * Agreement on Agriculture, a World Trade Organization treaty * Administration on Aging, a health agency of the United States * Angolan kwanza, the currency of Angola * Auxiliary Organizations Associatio ...

performed in the ceremony.

Indonesian artists

* Naura and Zizi *

Sheryl Sheinafia Sheryl Sheinafia Tjokro or professionally known as Sheryl Sheinafia is an Indonesian singer and former TV show co-host most known for her hit song ‘Kutunggu Kau Putus’ and appearance on NET TV’s . Following the commercial success of her ...

and Claudia * Rio Febrian *

NTRL NTRL (pronounced "Neutral", formerly Netral) is an Indonesian rock band formed in 1992 in Jakarta. The band has released 13 albums. Its current members are Bagus (vocals and bass), Eno (drums) and Coki (guitar). Career In November 1992, Bagus form ...

Judika Judika Nalom Abadi Sihotang (born 31 August 1978), known mononym, mononymously as Judika, is an Indonesian singer and actor. He has released seven albums (some of which were multi-platinum selling) and received multiple awards including Anugera ...

Cokelat Cokelat () are an Indonesian rock band, formed in Bandung, West Java, in 1996. They have released seven albums. Career The band was formed at thSekolah Tinggi Seni Rupa & Desain Indonesiain Bandung in 1996. The band's name, Cokelat, order mean ...

Foreign artists

Notable guests (Closing)

Indonesians (Closing)

* Jusuf Kalla, Vice President of Indonesia * Mufidah Mi'ad Saad, Second Lady of Indonesia *

, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs of Indonesia and Indonesia Asian Para Games Organizing Committee (INAPGOC) steering committee chairwoman * Imam Nahrawi, Youth and Sports Minister of Indonesia and INAPGOC organizing committee chairman * Syafruddin, Minister of State Apparatus Utilization and Bureaucratic Reform of Indonesia * Anies Baswedan, Governor of Jakarta and INAPGOC steering committee member * Raja Sapta Oktohari, chairman of the INAPGOC executive committee * Senny Marbun, president of the

(NPC Indonesia)

Foreign dignitaries (Closing)