Thousands flock to Passer Baroe Festival<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Thousands of visitors took part in the Passer Baroe Festival,
\nwhich was held on Saturday over the Ciliwung River.<\/p>\n
The festival, part of celebrations for the capital's 478th
\nanniversary on June 22, was named after the adjacent Pasar Baru
\nshopping complex, the first ever 'elite' shopping center in the
\ncapital.<\/p>\n
Officiating the event, Governor Sutiyoso highlighted the
\nurgent need for public participation to ensure the situation in
\nthe shopping complex was conducive for business activities,
\nincluding eliminating insecurity owing to the presence of street
\nthugs.<\/p>\n
\"The public, especially visitors, traders and residents around
\nthe Pasar Baru complex must get actively involved in efforts to
\nquell thuggery here,\" Sutiyoso said, pledging that his
\nadministration would be in the frontline in the battle against
\nthuggery.<\/p>\n
The administration has been trying to promote the complex as a
\ntourist shopping destination in the city since 1999.<\/p>\n
Similarly, vice chairman of the Association of Pasar Baru
\nTraders, Rup Gurbani, urged the administration to pay greater
\nattention to building public facilities around the complex, like
\nparking spaces and a lot for street vendors, besides addressing
\nsecurity concerns.<\/p>\n
\"We need the administration's help to make the complex more
\naccessible for visitors,\" Gurbani said.<\/p>\n
Currently, he said, there are at least 128 traders running
\ntheir business in the complex.<\/p>\n
Some shops, which were decorated in eye-catching and colorful
\nBetawi (native Jakarta) ornamentation, offered discounts up to 90
\npercent during the one-day festival to lure visitors to shop.<\/p>\n
Some attractions enlivening the festival included boat races
\non the Ciliwung River, parades of decorated carts, music
\nperformances and some traditional games over the river.<\/p>\n
The festival ran smoothly and peacefully despite two anonymous
\nbomb threats sent to the organizer via phone.<\/p>\n
The threats, however, were hoaxes with no explosives being
\nfound by the bomb squad after hours of combing the area.<\/p>\n
Around 400 public order officers from the Central Jakarta
\nMunicipality took part to ensure security during festival and to
\nhelp direct traffic.<\/p>\n
Traffic on Jl. Sutomo was rerouted and a giant stage was
\nerected.<\/p>\n
\"The festival is like a big night market with thousands of
\nvisitors coming,\" said Folman, 30, a resident of Cempaka Putih,
\nCentral Jakarta, who came specially to see the fireworks, which
\nwere the climax of Saturday's celebration.<\/p>\n
The fireworks were set alight by Sutiyoso at 7:30 p.m. and the
\nfestival ended at 10 p.m.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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