The sacred flame of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on early today arrived in
Indonesian capital of Jakarta, the 14th leg of its global torch relay.
A chartered plane carrying the flame, which was ignited on March 24 in
ancient Olympia of Greece, landed on the Halim military airport at local time
12:05 a.m. from Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.
Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic
Games (BOCOG), carried the lantern of the flame and walked off the plane.
Upon arrival at the airport, the flame received a warm welcome by a cheering
crowd, among whom are Vice President of the Indonesian National Sports Committee
Hendarji Soepandji and other senior sports officials as well as more than 100
workers from Chinese companies in Indonesia.
Chinese ambassador to Indonesia Lan Lijun also came to the airport to welcome
the flame of the Beijing Olympics, which is scheduled to be held this August.
The Jakarta leg of the torch relay, which will be held at the Gelora Bung
Karno Sports Complex, central Jakarta, will start this afternoon. Eighty
torchbearers will take part in the event.