President Expected To Witness Total Solar Eclipse On Belitung Island

Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung (Antara Bali)- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is scheduled to visit Tanjung Kelayang, Belitung Island, Bangka Belitung Province, to witness the total solar eclipse (TSE) on March 9, 2016.

Bangka Belitung Governor Rustam Effendi recently noted that the head of state's visit would be coordinated by the tourism ministry.

"We are optimistic that the president would be present here during the extremely rare TSE phenomenon," he noted.

The TSE, to last for two minutes and 10 seconds, will pass through Bangka Island at 6 a.m. local time and Belitung Island at 6:21 a.m. local time.

"We have been making preparations to provide the necessary facilities and security to welcome the TSE, so that the natural phenomenon could be visible clearly and successfully," he affirmed.

He hoped that the TSE would increase the number of foreign and domestic tourist arrivals to Bangka Belitung.

The Indonesian government will organize the peak event of the TSE tours in Bangka Belitung Province on March 9, according to an official of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs.

"In the first coordination meeting in July 2015, it was decided that the peak event will be held in Belitung, but other regions, where the solar eclipse would also be visible, will also organize activities," Safri Burhanuddin, deputy in charge of human resources, science, technology, and maritime culture of the coordinating ministry, remarked during a coordination meeting on the solar eclipse tours held in Jakarta on Jan. 19, 2016.

Bangka Belitung has been chosen to host the peak event since the area to experience the eclipse is about 150 kilometers, and most of Belitung's waters will lie in the path of the eclipse.

Safri expressed hope that several tourists from neighboring countries would visit Bangka Belitung by yachts to witness this spectacular natural phenomenon. (WDY)