WikiSéjit: Crocodile Bread to celebrate of Wikipédi Betawi birthday

Time flies. One of our projects,  Wikipédi Betawi, turns one. On Sunday, May 18, 2025 on the second floor of Alfamart Sudirman, Wikimedia Jakarta community met to celebrate WikiSéjit.  WikiSéjit stands for 2 words, Wiki refers to any Wiki related event and Séjit from Betawinese means birthday. For your information, Wikimedia Jakarta community is one of the local chapters from Jabodetabek area that is affiliated with Wikimedia Indonesia. Wikipédi Betawi is the Wikipedia in Betawinese.

Compared with other local chapters, Wikimedia Jakarta community is considered unique. Our community is a melting pot of lecturer, doctor, lawyer, student, teacher, even housewife. Moreover, our tribes are also pretty diverse such as Betawi, Minangkabau, Sasak, Jawa, Sunda, Palembang, Riau malay, etc. Despite their various backgrounds and tribes, they still strive to preserve Betawi culture through any Wiki projects. Aligned with that diversity, Betawi was also formed by other tribes such as Java and Sunda, even overseas such as China, Arab, and India. It is proven by their influence on food, marriage ceremony, and their language.

Crocodile bread

To commemorate it, we decided to celebrate this moment with crocodile bread or known as Roti Buaya. Crocodile bread is one of Intangible Cultural Heritage from Betawi that was officially stated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of Indonesia in 2014 with registration number 270/P/2014. Usually, crocodile bread is a common dowry in Betawi bridal ceremony.

As the story goes, crocodile bread emerged during colonial era in Batavia that is known as Jakarta now. Crocodiles were easily found in Batavia because it had 13 rivers where they lived. Inspired by European dowry with flowers and chocolate, Betawinese choosed bread because it was considered exclusive goods at the moment that only a particular person was able to afford. That’s why we decided on crocodile bread to remind us about the traditional value.

The traditional values were meaningful philosophy such as loyalty, bravery, and patience. Loyalty because crocodiles only marry once in a whole of their life, bravery because they live in land and water, and patience to wait for their prey. The patience philosophy we chose as the foundation value in preserving Betawi culture.

Special guest, Revo

Our further dream

Since launched on May 16, 2024, Wikipédi Betawi has made an impressive contribution with 2,967 articles. Not only Wikipedia, we also work on some other underway Wiki projects such as Wikitukil (Wikiquote), Wikikitab (Wikibook), and Wikikamus (Wiktionary) which still in Wikimedia Incubator. We hope one of them will be released on 2026. If possible, we also help Wikimedia Indonesia to contribute in Wikiwisata (Wikivoyage) in Indonesian specifically in Jabodetabek area.

This wasn’t just about reaching a milestone, It was about a community proving that local languages can thrive in digital spaces when supported by passionate, diverse volunteers. In an era where many local languages struggle for survival, Wikipédi Betawi stands as a beacon of hope. It embodies that with dedication and community spirit, reaching audiences that traditional preservation methods might never touch. The “WikiSéjit” celebration may have lasted just a few hours, but its impact ripples outward—inspiring other language communities, preserving cultural knowledge, and proving that the future of local languages can be as bright as their past is rich.