Archive for July, 2007
In the eastern part of Surakarta regency, Central Java, is an eye-catching compound of large buildings on Jl. Ir. Sutami, the road connecting Surakarta with Surabaya, East Java; or to be exact, it stands next to Sebelas Maret University (UNS) and the Indonesian Fine Arts Institute-Surakarta (ISI Surakarta).
An iron fence surrounds this compound of over 5 hectares while the attractive buildings, in a traditional Javanese architectural style, loom high and imposing.
If it did not have a large sign out front identifying it as the Central Java Cultural Park, no one would imagine that this compound of imposing buildings is actually a cultural park, but perhaps a hotel or a university.
A cultural park is typically associated with a single large building, or with structures in a general state of neglect. But the Central Java Cultural Park has a well-kept, landscaped yard where grass grows and large trees tower in neat rows.
Just beyond the fence is a winding, descending path like those of mountain passes. A pendopo (open-air pavilion) bids welcome to visitors as though saying that here is no ordinary collection of buildings; and the pendopo itself is no ordinary building, either.
At about 1,648 square meters, it can accommodate over 2,500 people and also has an auxiliary building of 225 sqm. Further, the pendopo also has a stage measuring 25 m by 28 m. Aside from its use for large performances, this stage is often used by performers to rehearse dances, Javanese karawitan song music, Javanese ketoprak dramas and other productions.
Next to the pendopo, separated by a smooth paved road, is an amphitheater. This U-shaped building of about 600 sqm comprises a stage and an open stand for the audience.
The amphitheater is complete with equipment and facilities for stage performances such as lighting and a sound system. The structure, which can hold about 350 spectators, is used for drama, musical and dance performances and discussions, as well as poetry and short-story readings.
At the other side of the cultural park is the Exhibition Room, divided into two parts: a smaller room of about 300 sqm and a large room of about 600 sqm. The Exhibition Room may be used to display artworks, both traditional and contemporary, by either Indonesian or foreign artists.
Then there is the Bangsal Pengrawit, or gamelan hall, comprising six buildings that store the Javanese, Balinese and Pakumartan (Kodok Ngorek, Monggang, Cara Balen and Sekaten) gamelan sets.
The cultural park also has a sound-proof music studio of about 105 sqm, which is used for rehearsals by musicians and students, including university students. Nearby is a recording studio used for recording vocals as well as both modern and traditional music.
When touring artists must stay in Surakarta for a program at the cultural park, accommodation is readily available at the Wisma Seniman (artists house). The dormitory has 100 beds and 22 rooms, half of which are air-conditioned while the other half equipped with an electric fan.
Wisma Seniman is also open to the public, and as demand rises, a new wing is expected to be added.
In the vicinity stands the Gedung Pertemuan (conference building), with a capacity for 80 seats. This room is suitable for working meetings, seminars and governmental meetings.
The Central Java Cultural Park is yet to have a separate building dedicated to its library, which is temporarily located on the first floor of the Secretariat Building.
This library, while modest, maintains a comprehensive collection of books, cassette tapes, video cassettes, VCDs and DVDs, mini-DVDs and photographic documentation on the activities of the cultural park. To date, the library boasts 1,755 books, 2,585 cassette tapes, 1,461 video cassettes, 335 VCDs and DVDs, 19 mini-DVDs and 449 photographic albums.
The library collections generally focus on culture and heritage, such as shadow puppetry (wayang kulit), wayang Javanese dance-dramas (wayang orang), ketoprak, theater and dance, karawitan, keroncong orchestra, literature and fine arts.
All of the park’s facilities — which also includes a small pendopo, the Teater Taman (garden theater) and cafeteria — are maintained by the staff who work in the Secretariat Building.
On the first floor of this administrative building are a meeting room, an audio-visual room and a library, with offices for cultural officials and the head of art development. On the second floor are a lobby and the offices of the Cultural Park administrators.
Aside from these comprehensive facilities, the Cultural Park contributes to cultural conservation and education through its various programs.
According to Wijang Wharek A.M., head of the park’s literature section, over 100 programs have been planned for 2007. These programs cover both traditional culture and modern art forms, such as monthly wayang kulit and keroncong performances.
Meanwhile, the Cultural Park management does not charge artists for the use of its facilities, instead “exchanging” space and facilities for the artists activities.
The Cultural Park, Wijang said, serves as a guardian of art and culture — it assists in their conservation and development.
There are three crucial elements in the arts world: the artists, the art experts and the arts space or media. The Cultural Park is an arts space and so it must be able to accommodate the other two elements, as an artist’s work will never reach the public without mediators.
As an institution, the Cultural Park thus endeavors to accommodate both artists and art experts, which is why it is located strategically in an area where artists are produced (ISI Surakarta) and art experts are groomed (UNS).
As to why Surakarta was chosen as the site of the Central Java Cultural Park, Wijang said this was a special case since a cultural park is typically located in a provincial capital.
Surakarta was selected as the home for the cultural park in view of the city’s socio-cultural background and the relationships it has already developed with extant art institutions. The Central Java Cultural Park, therefore, may be said to differ from similar facilities in other provinces because it is the result of careful consideration.
The cultural park commenced activities in 1981, and for the first six years, its programs and those of the Indonesian Karawitan Academy (ASKI) of Surakarta and the Central Javanese Arts Development (PKJT) were carried out in the Sasonomulyo, Baluwari Surakarta room at Surakarta Palace.
In 1987, all activities of the Central Java Cultural Park were moved to its present location.
It was the late S.D. Humardani (d. 1983), better known as Gendon Humardani, who pioneered the establishment of the cultural park.
Gendon, Wijang said, nurtured an ambition that a facility serving as the hub of arts and culture activities in Central Java would support arts development. He also imagined that this center would overcome issues related to cultural impoverishment, a condition that could result in shallow comprehension and knowledge, and cause the stagnation of artistic creativity and innovation.
The ISI Surakarta and UNS campuses were thus designed to be an inseparable part of the realization of this ambition.
If each province had an arts and culture center like the Central Java Cultural Park, artists indigenous to those areas would no longer need to worry about space or opportunity. In such a case, local arts, whether traditional or contemporary, would develop dynamically and independently.
As the Central Java Cultural Park demonstrates, paradise must be built on this earth properly, and that space and opportunities for artists are not left as mere ambition on paper.
Murambatu, Contributor, Surakarta, C. Java
thejakartapost.com
July 11th, 2007
The destruction of nature’s beautiful underwater kingdoms by coastal development, shore runoff and fishing techniques has seen the tourism industry increase conservation efforts
Green sea turtles, cascades of glittering reef fish, blooming coral pillars — countless travelers have come nose to nose with a thriving undersea universe while on vacation.
But increasingly, divers and snorkelers are swimming over bleached hunks of coral devastated by shore runoff or overfishing. From the South Pacific to the Caribbean, coral reefs — which are among the most delicate of marine ecosystems — are bearing the brunt of climate change and other human-driven activities — including coastal development, deforestation and unrestricted tourism.
Now, many in the tourist industry are trying to halt the damage and it is no wonder. The dollars involved in reef-based tourism are significant: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef alone draws about 1.9 million visitors a year, supporting a US$4.2 billion industry. According to the Nature Conservancy, the annual economic value of coral reefs to world tourism is US$9.6 billion.
Growing awareness of environmental issues means that the tourism industry has lately been a partner to conservation efforts in major reef areas. Though the Great Barrier is the most famous reef, it is not the most threatened; its extensive marine management program is widely regarded as a model for conservation.
It includes eco-certification programs for tourism operators within the boundaries of the marine park, environmental tourist fees, large no-take zones, species monitoring and tourism industry contributions to the Great Barrier Reef’s main research center.
ENDANGERED
But the world’s second-largest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean, is seriously endangered by coastal development, runoff and pollution. The reef system stretches nearly 1,100km from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico to the Bay Islands of Honduras.
Reefs in the Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia — which reaches from Malaysia to the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands, encompassing some of the planet’s most diverse marine habitats — have also been severely damaged by overfishing and destructive practices, including the use of cyanide and dynamite to capture fish.
In 2004, the nonprofit group Conservation International began a program called the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative, which aims to address the threat that mass tourism poses to the Mesoamerican Reef by engaging hoteliers, developers, cruise lines and local governments in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. There is special emphasis on the Riviera Maya of Mexico, where, less than 14km offshore, the island of Cozumel is the world’s second most-visited cruise destination after Miami, according to the International Council of Cruise Lines.
Last year, as part of the Mesoamerican Reef initiative’s efforts, the cruise line council began an effort to avoid wastewater discharge by cruise ships in environmentally sensitive areas.
“This program will ensure that cruise line wastewater is discharged at least 6.5km from any of the sensitive marine ecosystems within the Mesoamerican Reef system, thereby minimizing the chance such discharges will have negative impact on the long-term health of the reef,” said Jamie Sweeting, who oversees the work of Conservation International with the industry.
The cruise industry is a particular area of concern, since ships regularly disgorge crowds of passengers into fragile coastal areas that strain to absorb the impact. Conservation International estimates that cruise passengers typically make about 2,000 scuba dives in and around Cozumel’s surrounding reefs in a single day.
“We’re working with the municipal government, the local dive and water sports association and the cruise lines themselves, because they all have a vested interest to look after this coral reef,” Sweeting said.
Areas being addressed include the creation of a dedicated snorkeling zone in Cozumel to limit visitor impact to one section of the reef, and ensuring that park management fees are collected and put toward protection and management of marine areas. The Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative has also begun a program to evaluate and implement good business practices for conserving water and energy, reducing solid waste and managing chemicals at coastal hotels along the Riviera Maya and in southern Belize.
Crucial partnerships between conservation groups and the tourism industry have also taken root in the Coral Triangle. In developing nations like Indonesia, where human and financial resources are slim, the cooperation of private tourism businesses has been instrumental in accomplishing reef conservation goals.
LOCAL OPERATORS
For example, Bunaken National Park, in north Sulawesi, is today managed in large part by a local association of dive operators who saw the declining quality of coral (and their livelihood) in the mid-1990s.
The Nature Conservancy’s Coral Triangle Center works at several sites in Indonesia, including the Raja Ampat Islands in Papua and Komodo National Park, a major protected marine area in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Komodo is now run by a nonprofit joint venture between the Nature Conservancy and a local tourism company. The joint venture, PT Putri Naga Komodo, was established in 2005.
Founded in 1980, the park is a World Heritage Site and protects the habitat of the Komodo dragon, as well as important whale migration routes between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The reefs are rich in coral species and home to up to 1,000 species of fish.
“After a decade supporting conservation in Komodo National Park, the Nature Conservancy recognized the need for self-sufficiency,” said Marcus Matthews-Sawyer, director of tourism communications for the joint venture.
Tourism has helped raise awareness of the destination and of the reefs’ biological importance. Blast fishing — using explosives to stun or kill fish — is now prohibited within the park. The ban is credited with a 60 percent increase in hard coral coverage between 1996 and 2002, according to the Coral Triangle Center. The collection of conservation fees from tourists, about US$15 a stay, is vital to sustaining park management. The partnership plans to have Komodo self-financed by park fees by 2012.
Though Komodo is one of Indonesia’s greatest tourism assets — it is one of the most frequently visited nature reserves in the country — conservation work there is also necessary to protect young fish that are a source for surrounding fishing grounds.
Enforcement of the park zoning system, which restricts access to certain parts of the reefs, continues to be a challenge because of limited resources. But a major goal of the tourism partnership is supporting sustainable community use of the reef area, which includes providing alternative livelihoods to destructive fishing.
BLEACHING EFFECT
All three reef systems — the Great Barrier Reef, the Mesoamerican Reef and the Coral Triangle — are jeopardized by the threat of global warming, which kills coral and leads to a bleaching effect. And while tourism cannot solve the problem of rising sea temperatures, the industry’s cooperation to eliminate specific pressures — by establishing a well-enforced no-take zone, or reducing wastewater pollution, for example — helps reefs recover from bleaching and disease. The contribution of conservation fees to support the protected areas, which many businesses have long resisted, is also important.
To keep coral reefs from disappearing as quickly as they have in recent years, people need to be involved and educated on every level from local government to hotel developers to cruise lines, Sweeting said.
“It took Cancun 35 years to develop to this massive size, and it took less than a decade for the Riviera Maya,” he said. “But nature will not let you get away with it.”
By Bonnie Tsui
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE - Taiwan
July 10th, 2007
Early this week, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was on a four-day Southeast Asian tour. The destinations were Indonesia and Singapore with the enhancement of defense, economic and trade cooperation on his agenda.
In Indonesia, he co-chaired the third Indonesia-India Joint Commission (JCM) meeting along with his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda. It was a routine meeting between the two countries’ officials to review the entire gamut of relations and make plans to enhance them. Usually, the outcome of such a meeting is rarely visible on the field. But this time, it is different.
On defense cooperation, the recent ratification of defense cooperation agreement by the Indonesian parliament has paved the way for future strategic cooperation between the two countries. The first ever meeting of a Joint Committee for India - Indonesia Defense Cooperation in Jakarta on June 12-14, 2007 was one of the results from this agreement. Joint training of defense personnel and the stepping up of maritime security of the vital and strategic Straits of Malacca are also on the table. Moreover, the two countries agreed to jointly produce military equipments in the future.
In trade, the two countries agreed to maximize their efforts to erase any barriers that might hamper their bilateral trade. With India’s steady economic growth of 8 to 8.5 percent per year and an improving Indonesian economy, the two countries agreed to double their bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010 from the current level of 4.7 billion. This is not a difficult to achieve given growing interest of business community in each other’s country.
The Indian government also offered to rebuild the historic Hindu Prambanan Temple damaged by Yogyakarta earthquake last year. The two countries also agreed to enhance tourism industry cooperation. They agreed to ease visa regulation for Indian and Indonesian nationals. The Indonesian government has even taken a step ahead by including Indian passport holders in the list of visa on arrival policy last year.
Besides defense and trade, the meeting also discussed the possibility of cementing cooperation on Special Economic Zone, development of alternative energy, mutual legal assistance on crimes and extradition treaty, biotechnology and women empowerment programs.
Discussions on IT, health, pharmaceuticals, nuclear technology, and the future of India - Indonesia space cooperation, especially after the establishment of Second Telemetry Tracking and Command Center in Biak and the launch of LAPAN TUBSAT Micro satellite using India’s rocket launcher last January 2007 were also held during Pranab’s visit to Jakarta.
A Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a Vocational Training Center in Aceh, specializing on construction, was also signed in this visit.
For India, Indonesia is a key strategic partner of India in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). By its sheer size as the biggest country in the region Indonesia is a magnet for investment. Investors from the U.S., Europe, China, East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are competing to invest in Indonesia. And for that reason, India as an emerging global power does not want to be left behind. With the new spirit of Look-East Policy, India is engaging its eastern neighbors, the Southeast Asian region, more seriously.
Similarly, the “New Strategic India - Indonesia Partnership” agreement signed by President Yudhoyono and PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi two years ago is finally yielding some fruits. Tata, Bajaj, TVs, Mittal Steel, Essar Hutchinson are now coming to Indonesia while Indonesian pilots are flying Indian planes in India’s airspace. Moreover, with India’s booming information technology industry, pharmaceuticals, outsourcing and manufacturing sectors, strong services as well as a spending-hungry middle class, India should emerge as an attractive place for Indonesian businesses to make money.
To conclude, Indonesia is the heavyweight in the Southeast Asian region and is now coming out of its internal crisis. India is an emerging global power in Asia with the potential of balancing the Chinese domination in the region. Thus it is very sensible and useful for both countries to strengthen strategic, political and economic ties. Defense is not the only important cooperation that needs to be enhanced. A better, complete, multi-faceted bilateral relationship between India and Indonesia should be the main target of the two governments.
OhmyNews International - South Korea
July 10th, 2007
Indonesia has announced it will stage a “Visit Indonesia Year” in 2008 — but tourist packages may not include visits to its once pristine tropical forests, savanna grasslands, and lowland forests, as unprecedented deforestation threatens to wipe out these magnificent habitats.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry hopes to attract 6 million foreign tourists and generate around US$5 billion in foreign exchange earnings. As part of the promotion, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officiated at the opening ceremony of the annual Bali Arts Festival in Denpasar on Saturday, and the national airline Garuda sponsored a “Bali Food Festival” in Beijing. The Indonesian Arts Institute is planning an International Arts Festival in November, to draw experts in arts and culture from Europe, Australia, the United States and other Asian countries.
Environmental groups hope some of this revenue will go toward protecting Indonesia’s unique natural assets. Rully Sumada, forest expert at environmental group Walhi, says that 60 percent of the country’s protected and conservation areas have been badly damaged by
illegal logging and palm oil plantations. She believes that at the current rate of deforestation, at 2.8 million hectares a year, forests in Sumatra, Borneo, and Sulawesi will be gone by 2012 while forests in Papua and elsewhere will be wiped out by 2022 due to the continued felling of trees.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia said the Guinness World Records had accepted its proposal to include Indonesia in its 2008 record book as the country with the fastest rate of deforestation in the world. Indonesia’s forests cover roughly 91 million hectares and harbor diverse life forms that include 11 percent of the world’s plant species, 10 percent of mammal species, and 16 percent of bird species — rich resources for eco-tourism.
However, revenues yielded by plantation crops like cocoa, rubber, and oil, and trading in wood and paper pulp are reportedly more lucrative than tourism, which explains the systematic exploitation and destruction of this fragile eco-system by a series of Indonesian leaders, who used revenues from the forest industry for political and personal gains. While the Suharto regime profited handsomely by trading wood, paper pulp and plantation crops like cocoa, rubber, and oil, they virtually ignored the sustainable management and development of these areas.
A series of tragedies — the Asian financial crisis in the late nineties, Bali bombing in 2002 and tsunami in 2004 — and other external factors sent the tourism industry into a tailspin for years. However, two decades of aggressive growth in Indonesia’s pulp, plywood, and paper industries strained legal supplies of wood fiber, resulting in illegal logging and poor forest management. More than 20 million hectares of forestland, cleared in 1985 for such purposes as industrial timber plantations and estate crop plantations like oil remain idle and unutilized.
Though the government provides statistics on tourist spending and hotel room occupancies, no accurate estimates are available for forest areas cleared by small-scale farmers, though shifting cultivators are believed to cause up to 20 percent of forest loss, according to the “State of the Forest” report compiled by Forest Watch Indonesia and the World Resources Institute. Also, the government’s transmigration program that relocated people from densely populated Java to other outer Islands is responsible for about 2 million hectares of forest clearance between 1960 and 1999.
The deliberate burning of forests to make way for plantations, combined with unusual weather patterns due to climate changes, led to uncontrolled wildfires resulting in the loss of 10 million hectares of forestland between 1994 and 1998. There have been no significant efforts at reforesting the burnt scrubby areas.
Continued periodic setting of forest fires has also affected tourism, flights, and closure of airports, and affected other services like hotel rooms, tours, and the food and beverage industry.
The illegal felling and export of Merbau trees — the most valuable hardwood in Southeast Asia, has benefited government officials, illegal loggers and powerful timber barons. If the inflow of tourist dollars has helped the economy, the systematic pillaging of Indonesia’s forests and illegal wood exports from Aceh to Papua, to feed the global demand for wood has left the environment in complete disarray.
Environmentalists warn that vast tracts of forestland cleared to meet the growing global demand for bio-fuels have aided the destruction to biodiversity through the effects of deforestation. The technique of clearing land for plantations has emitted large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere while destroying the natural habitats of endangered species like the orangutan and the Sumatran tiger.
While the Indonesian government has maintained its commitment on preserving virgin forests, experts say that efforts often lack funds and resources to fight the constant threats from illegal and ruthless loggers. The Environmental Investigation agency and its Indonesian partner Telepak has called Indonesia’s rampant deforestation an “environmental crime of unimaginable scale that continues to unfold across Indonesia.” They have also blamed the inadequacy of a judiciary that does little to curb such activities.
Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik, announcing plans for the Visit Indonesia year, said, “We will be out of sight to the rest of the world if we don’t take effective and immediate action to raise awareness among overseas tourists that Indonesia is a safe and attractive place to visit.”
With the focus on tourism and economic growth, awareness of Indonesia’s declining natural habitats has fallen on blind eyes, which could have a catastrophic effect on the global environment and world economy.
SHAILESH PALEKAR - United Press International, Asia - Hong Kong,China
July 10th, 2007
What would you do to get yourself a duck for free? Would you dive into the murky waters of the Cisadane River, not exactly an environmental role model? For many people, mostly young men, the answer was a resounding “Yes”.
A crowd of hundreds, including former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid as well as foreign journalists from China, Korea and Taiwan, gathered on the banks of the Cisadane River in Tangerang regency on June 19, despite the grey sky and light drizzle.
They had been waiting since 11 a.m. for the Pecun Festival, a Chinese celebration with boat races, lion and dragon dances, and “free” ducks. Starting this year, it has been made part of the Cisadane Festival, an effort by the local government to boost local tourism and economy.
The Pecun Festival, also known as Tuen Ng Festival in Hong Kong (Pecun is a term in the Fujian/Hokkien dialect) or Dragon Boat Festival, commemorates the death of Chinese national hero Qu Yuan of the Chu State.
According to legend, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River (present-day Hunan province) over 2,000 years ago in protest of corrupt rulers. As the townspeople attempted to rescue him, they beat drums to scare fish away and threw dumplings into the sea to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body.
The date of the festival falls on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, which corresponded with June 19 this year. But as with other customs from mainland China, the festival has been adapted to local traditions, resulting in quite a different celebration than in its land of origin.
Here, four Pecun longboats, including two with dragon heads — which are taken out once a year specifically for the festival — were bathed at midnight on the eve of the festival to bless the following day’s events. The next day, the boats were lined up on the banks of the river, ready for the race.
Being a typically Indonesian affair, the festival started quite late. After speeches of over an hour from various government officials about the importance of diversity and a few false starts, the fun began.
Several ordinary boats circled the river to scatter bagfuls of rose petals on the river, then a Chinese man representing Qu Yuan, dove to the river from a metal platform the height of the Cisadane bridge — joined by several youths just for laughs. He was then “rescued” by the patrol boats standing by.
By this time, several small children on the bridge had started nagging their parents, “Where are the ducks? Where are the ducks?”
The ducks, a part of the festival exclusive to Indonesia, are given away to ward off bad luck. To be exact, 1,000 ducks would be released into the river and festival-goers would be allowed to take home those they caught.
A notice posted on the bridge stated that the ducks would be released from noon to 1 p.m., and only those who could swim were allowed to participate. Thankfully, the crowd abided by this rule.
In a move that might give animal activists a massive coronary, several cages filled with ducks were brought over and the contents thrown into the river. Ducks flew and scurried about in a panic while people from boats and riverbanks jumped in to catch them.
The ensuing frenzy — of ducks outswimming humans and boys using their hands, paddles and nets to try and catch the fowl — was truly a spectacle. Every new batch of ducks was greeted with squeals of delight from hunters and crowd alike. All this in the course of an hour.
At the end, man proved triumphant over beast, as scores of soaked young men touched base with upturned ducks in their hands, their spoils of the day.
After the duck hunt, boat racers prepared on the starting line, and as they waited for the boat race to start, festival-goers were entertained with several dragon and lion dances by Chinese temple troupes.
Without much fanfare, the boat race finally started almost an hour after the hunt ended. The boats raced in twos, with teams racing the elaborately decorated dragon boats with a steersman at the back and a drummer at the front, aiming for the finish line and cash prize 500 meters away.
What makes this boat race more lively than the usual regatta is that the teams row to the rhythm of pounding drums. Although with only four boats, the Tangerang festival is not as big as that in Hong Kong, it’s still a must-see.
Of all the major holidays celebrated in China, the Pecun Festival has the longest history. With the vast Chinese community in this country, surely it is a gold mine for future tourism, as attested by the enthusiastic crowd on the Cisadane’s banks.
Krabbe K.Piting, Contributor, Tangerang , The Jakarta Post
July 6th, 2007
This year’s Jakarta Anniversary Festival (JAF), which opened Friday, celebrates the 480th anniversary of the capital.
The theme of the 2007 festival is: “My Jakarta, Your Jakarta, Our Jakarta”, cultural and museum agency head Aurora Frida Tambunan said Monday.
“The event is educational, recreational and entertaining for both Jakartans and visitors from other regions,” she said.
The opening of JAF 2007 on Friday was highlighted by a musical performance featuring the Skolastika Ansambel led by Marusya Nainggolan.
Poems were read by three women from different backgrounds — namely Aurora, Titiek Fauzi Bowo (wife of the deputy governor) and Fiona Hoggart (the cultural attache of the Australian Embassy).
The opening also included a Betawi comedy show, dance performances from Java and Kalimantan, a performance by the Sax Appeal Quartet from Italy and a solo play by Teater Mandiri’s founder Putu Wijaya titled Seratus Menit (A hundred minutes).
The festival began June 8 at the Jakarta Arts Building and will continue until June 29.
Further information is available at www.gedungkesenianjakarta.com or at the culture and museum agency, tel. 5263236.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
July 6th, 2007
With rapt attention, 30-year-old Sudir cleaned the leaves of the plants in the neatly arrayed pots in his flower garden. The garden is home to hundreds of species of ornamental plants, and Sudir takes good care of them all, watering and spraying them regularly with pesticide.
A little later, a prospective buyer came to his garden to take a look at the flowering plants.
Sudir, a resident of Baturraden and the owner of an ornamental plant stall named Mekar Sari, is one such vendor visitors will find along the way to the Baturraden tourist destination in Banyumas regency, Central Java. These stalls are located about 2 kilometers from the tourist site and are part of Baturraden’s natural tourism attractions.
Sudir told The Jakarta Post that he had been running the business at the same spot for about four years, renting the adjacent plot of land to have space for his flower pots.
“I rent the land at Rp 2 million a year,” he said, adding that he had over 150 species of ornamental plants on the plot. Some of these he planted himself while the others, he had bought and transported from other cities.
“Some were bought in Surabaya, Bandung and several other places,” Sudir said.
“The ornamental plant business is rather sluggish now, though. It’s been this way since early this year. I don’t know why, but perhaps it is due to the difficult economic condition,” he added.
During such straitened times, he went on, people prioritized their primary needs and placed other needs and interests, including horticultural hobbies, at the bottom of their priority list.
“Ornamental plants are secondary needs. How can you force yourself to buy ornamental plants when you find it difficult to meet your primary needs?” he said. In the last few months, Sudir said his earnings from the business had been uncertain.
Previously, when economic conditions were relatively normal, he sold at least one plant a day. These days, he often goes a week without any sales.
“The other flower vendors here are also experiencing the same thing,” he said.
The plants Sudir sells range in price from Rp 1,000 to a few million.
“The most expensive plants cost about Rp 3 million each. These include the Anthurium and Cemarang Udang, but others cost only Rp 1,000, like the krokot (purslane) and Beauty,” he said.
Aside from tourists, many of his customers are Purwokerto locals.
“Local buyers are usually people who keep ornamental plants as a hobby. They are our regulars. As for the tourists, they buy plants that have caught their eye at the tourist site,” said Sudir.
One of the most popular plants among his buyers is the Evorbia (Euphorbia, spurges): “The price has dropped considerably but many people still like this plant. Four months ago I could sell a 20-cm spurge at Rp 100,000, but today it’s good if we can sell it for Rp 10,000.”
At present, the Gelombang Cinta (Anthurium, “Wave of Love”) and geraniums are increasingly popular. These two species of flowering plants can cost between Rp 50,000 and Rp 1 million.
“The price of a flowering plant depends on the condition, like that of cage birds. At one time it can be cheap, but the price can suddenly shoot up or vice-versa. It seems as though some individuals are controlling the prices,” said Sudir.
For example, he said, when the spurge first appeared, it cost about Rp 500,000, but five months later the price fell sharply. At present, few people are interested to buy the tallest spurge (about 1 meter) for Rp 25,000.
Muhsonudin, 40, another flowering plant vendor, agreed with Sudir about the fluctuation in prices.
“These prices are arranged by the big traders. They can create a particular image about a flower, its price introduced to the public through the mass media. So the price does not depend on the quality of the flower. Like with the Anthurium, what’s good about this plant? It was rather rare at first, so the price was high. Now that many people grow this plant, of course the price drops,” he said.
This was why, he went on, ornamental plant sellers must actively keep in touch with market trends, both nationally and internationally.
“Don’t think that this concerns only ordinary farmers. Today, there is a business network of major flower traders that control prices. Even the names of the flowers are specially created to sound exotic so that high prices can be quoted. Take the Gelombang Cinta. This is a new name and the plant is a hybrid,” said Muhsonudin.
Aside from keeping up with the latest trends, flowering plant vendors must also manage their businesses cleverly to anticipate price fluctuations.
“If the price of a particular plant begins to drop, don’t keep a large stock because the price will continue to slide and soon there will be a new species to replace it,” said Muhsonudin. “Small-scale sellers who know little about this will surely go bankrupt quickly.”
Another trick to ensure survival in this business, he said, is to take good care of the plants, giving them sufficient water and spraying pesticide so that they always look fresh.
“This is a very basic standard of plant maintenance and every flower vendor must practice it. The most important thing, though, is to be able to capture the latest market trend,” Muhsodin said.
“When a new flower appears (on the market), buy it straight away, even if it is expensive. Then breed the plants up to the peak of the trend, then stop and clear out stock. Then wait until a new species is introduced in the media.”
Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto
July 5th, 2007
Lamafa, a local term for a whaler in Lamalera village, along with its whaling tradition, was already around hundreds of years ago, before Catholic missionaries entered East Nusa Tenggara in 1500s.
To reach the village, visitors fly 30 minutes from Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara, to Lewaleba regency on Lembata Island, and continue the trip by ship or car for another four hours.
The village is believed to be the only place in the country which has traditional whalers.
Carolus Keraf, one of the whalers, said he learned the skill and how to take down a whale with a bamboo spear, from his father, who was also a whaler.
“My father also got the skill from my grandfather,” the 35-year-old Carolus said. Carolus, who has two daughters, still hopes to have a son to inherit his whaling skills.
Lamalera whalers use a bamboo spear, which has a sharp steel tip, to kill the marine mammals. The whaler jumps from his wooden boat and pierces the weak areas of the whale, which are its genitals and fins.
After the first stab, the whaler leaves the spear in the body of the whale and swims back to his boat while his assistants hold a rope tied to the spear.
The whaler then spears the mammal several more times, while his assistants hold the rope until the whale dies. Once the whale is dead, they then pulled it to the shore.
“The last time I got a whale, it took me only half a day to kill the whale. Sometimes we spend two to three days killing a while if the whale drags our boat far into the sea,” Carolus said.
There is always one whaler in a boat with five to nine assistants. During the whaling season which usually runs from May to August every year, three to five boats sail together to hunt whales and dolphins.
The whaler who spots a whale first claims “ownership” over the mammal and thus has the right to hunt the whale. Other whalers then stay away from the whale and only come closer to help if the boat is capsized.
The dead whale is divided into three — the head is for the landlords of the village, who are considered as the “owners” of the sea, the fin is for the whaler, while the body is for the boat owner.
A boat is usually owned together by a small tribe in the village which has a population of about 2,000 people or 800 families in 14 small tribes.
Besides consuming the meat, the villagers also barter the meat for corn, vegetables and cigarettes brought by other villagers living in the island’s mountain region.
There is also a rule in the village that says that a whaler is banned from killing a blue whale since that kind of whale once helped villagers.
“There was a legend that the blue whale once saved our ancestors from drowning in the sea,” said Abel Beding, a village tribal leader.
The 61-year-old man said people did not want to eat or trade in the meat when the whaler got a blue whale.
“So we don’t kill blue whales. However, once we got a blue whale, we then mixed the meat with the meat of other whales. So, they did not know they ate blue whale meat,” he said.
Before kicking off the annual whaling season, the villagers usually conduct a special ritual to bless their whalers on Lamalera beach.
Since Catholicism has the main religion in the area, the traditional ritual is now mixed with the religious messages.
To mark the beginning of the season, villagers conduct two mass ceremonies led by a priest from a local church.
Hundreds of residents join the masses conducted in front of the small St Peter Chapel built on the beach. St Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, is their preferred saint because he was a fisherman himself.
The first ritual is a requiem, which is held in the evening, to remember and invite the souls of fellow whalers who died while hunting. The second mass is conducted in the morning with a sermon, gospel reading, host and donation to the church. At the end of the ceremony, the priest sprinkles water to bless the spears, boats and the sea.
– A. Junaidi Jakarta Post
July 4th, 2007
Owabong, an acronymic name for “Bojongsari water tourism object” in Bahasa Indonesia, is indeed a unique tourist site. True to its name, Owabong offers entertainment all connected with water, and is a suitable place for water lovers.
The recreation center located in Bojongsari village of Purbalingga regency, Central Java, offers a variety of aquatic games and entertainment, including a swimming pool, a water slide and a miniature river.
The tourism destination, which cost as much as Rp 13 billion in its construction, is special because it is the only one of its kind to be found in the province.
Further, Owabong is popular among tourists because it makes use of the pristine natural water that gushes from local springs.
Visitors can swim to their hearts’ content at various depths. They can also go boating or simply sit idly while splashing water with their kids.
Opened in 2003 by then regent Triyono Budi Sasongko, Owabong is always full of tourists, especially domestic ones. About 90 percent of these tourists are from outside Purbalingga.
At Rp 12,000 per person over 5 years of age, the entrance tickets are beyond the reach of many local residents, and Owabong generally caters to well-heeled families. But the facility has its own attraction because despite its modern structure and design, it is located in a cool and airy rural area with boundless amounts of water.
On holidays and weekends, as well as over extended holidays such as school holidays and Idul Fitri, visitors form a queue to enter Owabong. During such periods, Owabong welcomes as many as 15,000 visitors daily.
“I often visit (Owabong) because it is a suitable tourist destination for the family. The facilities here are not located far from one another so it isn’t be tiring for visitors… Besides, children like it here because it has all kinds of water games,” said Suparmi, 45, from Purwokerto, who added that she had visited Owabong with her family about five times.
As for the ticket price, Suparmi said it was natural that this was expensive, because Owabong offered complete and excellent facilities.
Purbalingga resident Toto, 37, commented: “Well, the people around Owabong are poor. Although Owabong is an imposing water tourism site located in a village, most of the villagers can only watch from outside, as the ticket is too expensive for them.”
Before it was turned into the tourist site it is today, Owabong used to be a public swimming pool that drew its water supply from a nearby spring. Local residents, particularly children, used to enjoy swimming in the clear and fresh water for a mere Rp 1,000.
“Today, they can no longer do so. Locals are now like children who cry when their toys are taken away. The tourist site is now monopolized by the well-off, and the poor locals are powerless to take it back,” Toto said.
Tourism head Sugeng Priyanto of the Purbalingga culture and tourism office told The Jakarta Post that local residents had long known of the existence of the springs in Bojongsari.
“The springs were discovered during the Dutch colonial times. It used to be a bathing place for those Dutch who had happened to take local women as their wives,” Sugeng said.
The bathing area, which occupied about 8 hectares of land, was later purchased by a foundation in Purbalingga and turned into a public swimming pool. The pool was unique, Sugeng said, because the water came from seven local springs and did not require any chemical treatment.
In 2003, the swimming pool was bought by the regental administration and turned into a tourism destination.
“The establishment of Owabong was prompted by a desire to increase local earnings in the present era of regional autonomy,” Sugeng said.
He agreed that the entrance ticket was expensive, but added that the management of Owabong had been delegated to a third party. The tourism service, he said, could no longer interfere in its operation.
“We act only as a supervisor. At most, we can give the management some input and alert them when local residents give us unfavorable input,” he said.
“We also do not know how much money Owabong generates. We get nothing from this income. The management deposits the money directly to the regional treasury,” he added.
The Purbalingga administration, Sugeng said, had set a target of Rp 1 billion this year for Owabong.
“I’m sure this target can be reached,” he said. “In 2006, the target of Rp 1.25 billion was reached and I believe the real income was far above this figure.”
Meanwhile, Owabong manager Hartono told the Post that only a few Purbalingga residents visited the facility, perhaps because they had become bored of the place.
“I’m sure the ticket price is not the reason why so few of them come here. Perhaps locals are used to water so they don’t see anything special about this site,” Hartono said.
On Saturdays and Sundays, he said, Owabong saw an average of 3,500 tourists. “On other days, only about 500 to 700 people come here,” he added.
There is usually a boom of between 10,000 and 13,000 tourists a day during extended holidays, and in just 10 months, Hartono said, Owabong was able to attain the revenue target set by the local administration.
“The remaining income is for the management and we will use it for renovation and for installing new facilities. We plan to add two new games or entertainment facilities every year,” he said.
The management plans to introduce a new game this year, in which players must deal with the challenges of a tsunami.
Some of the recreational facilities that can be found at Owabong include a 13-meter-high water slide and an Olympic-size swimming pool, as well as water therapy and a wave pool, complete with kayaks and life vests. In addition, a go-cart circuit is provided for more earth-bound, automotive fans.
One facility to watch out for is a giant pail that dumps water on passersby every three minutes — especially if they walk under it.
Owabong also offers fishing — with bare hands — as well as water see-saws, water-slide races, banana boats, water-cycles, a game pool and a sheltered rest area where visitors can sit or lie down to relax.
Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purbalingga, C. Java
July 3rd, 2007
Traffic jams have become a regular weekend sight in Bandung’s main street as thousands of tourists flock to the West Java capital city for retail therapy and culinary cuisines.
Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada says tourism is one of many service industries that contributes to the city’s economic growth.
A thriving tourism trade has encouraged city administration to make Bandung a service-focused city in its 2004-2008 development program.
Bandung has grown into a small metropolitan city with dozens of trade, business and office buildings.
And many state companies including PT Telkom, PT Pos Indonesia and train company PT Kereta Api Indonesia have their secured headquarters in town.
With 2.6 million residents, Bandung has grown steadily, with one square kilometer of land now occupied by more than 11,000 people.
But this of course means it is hard for the city to rely on natural resources for revenue.
Dada said the term “service city” would represent Bandung’s image as a kota dasa muka, or a city with 10 faces.
Just two hours drive from Jakarta, the city has a reputation for being the center of West Java provincial administration as well as the province’s regional trade center. It’s also well-known for education, tourism and as an industrial center, mainly for textiles.
After the 1998 economic crisis however the city took a dive.
“Only in 2000 did Bandung’s economic growth increase to 5.4 percent,” Dada said.
Since then, economic growth has significantly increased to 7.1 percent in 2001 and 7.5 percent 2002.
As an integral part of the service sector and based on the Central Statistics Agency’s 2002 survey results, the tertiary sector has given almost 60 percent in contributions toward gross regional product.
Other service industries that have significantly contributed to gross regional product include large trade and retail services, hotels, land and air transports, communication and financial services and public administration, as well as entertainment and recreational facilities.
“We can’t close our eyes to the fact that high economic growth is mostly thanks to investment from the trade and service sector,” said Dada.
Rapid growth in the service sector has encouraged city legislative council members to support Dada’s decision to make Bandung a service city for its 194th anniversary celebrations in 2004.
Dada said Bandung should be cleaned of trash and corruption, collusion and nepotism.
Already the city is no longer home to gambling, prostitution or drugs — or any other activities that are criminal or against the city’s culture.
Dada said service sectors should contribute to the people’s welfare — but in turn, the people should obey the law and their religion to ensure security, public order are maintained.
Bandung people have also been encouraged by Dada to be friendly and polite to all the city’s visitors.
“We have to make Bandung a service city with dignity,” he said.
“A city that offers services supported by cleanliness, prosperity, compliance and discipline.”
He said some 60 percent of residents depended on trade and or service industries for their livelihood.
In the trade sector, Bandung has more than 2,100 companies and more than 15,000 small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The city is also home to around 200 factory outlets, 101 department stores or malls and 47 traditional markets.
Bandung also boasts 25 art galleries, seven exhibition halls, 13 historic buildings, 342 art groups and a number of golf courses.
The city’s 227 hotels offer a total of 7,870 rooms and are regularly fully-booked during holidays.
Last year, more than 2 million local and foreign tourists visited the city and 2.2 million visitors are expected this year.
Turnpike operator company PT Jasa Marga said 49 million vehicles entered the city in 2006.
Train company PT Kereta Api Indonesia recorded nine million visitors that year.
But the city still has a few issues to solve — poor garbage management and traffic congestion could dissuade visitors to come to the city.
“We’re working to develop a garbage-powered electricity plant in Gedebage area as solution to trash problem. And we are taking advantage of joint cooperation facilitated by the provincial administration.”
And local police have recorded 72 locations of severe traffic jams with vehicle speeds reaching up to just 10 kilometers per hour.
Traffic hot spots included busy streets Buah Batu, Cihampelas, Kiaracondong, Otto Iskandar Dinata, Pasteur and Setiabudi.
Dada said the city administration had worked with police to initiate more one-way traffic and to add traffic signs along the roads.
With plans underway to polish the city’s image and infrastructure, Bandung is set to reach its target of 11 percent economic growth by 2008.
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
July 2nd, 2007
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