JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo joined tens of thousands of people doing the poco-poco on the streets of Jakarta on Sunday (Aug 5) to celebrate the upcoming 2018 Asian Games and hopefully break a record.

The dancers want to get themselves a Guinness World Record for the longest such line dance and were joined, not quite as freely, by about 120,000 prisoners doing the same moves in more than 500 prisons around the country.

"Indonesia will be recognised by the world with our poco-poco," said participant Mila Hardjo. "This is the common goal of all Indonesians."

The performance was arranged by the Asian Games Organizing Committee ahead of the competition, which will be hosted in Jakarta and Palembang from Aug 18 to Sept 2.

"We, the younger generation of Indonesia, should strongly support and participate (in the games) because we may have to wait for a few years before Indonesia gets to host them again," volunteer dancer Laras Handaningrum told Reuters.