400 foreigners will join youth march
400 foreigners will join youth march
JAKARTA (JP): Some 400 people from 22 countries will take part
in the fourth national youth march, known as the Kirab Remaja
Nasional, which will be launched nationwide on Monday, the chief
organizer said yesterday.
The foreign participants include 24 young people from
Portugal, with which Indonesia has no diplomatic ties because of
the dispute over East Timor.
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, who chairs the Tiara Indonesia
Foundations which is organizing the march, said that as far as
she was concerned there were no problems between Portuguese and
Indonesian young people.
The march, which will wind up on Aug. 21, will see a major
expansion in the participation of foreigners, compared with the
last one, in 1993, in which youths from Australia and Asia took
part.
Hardiyanti, who is the eldest daughter of President Soeharto,
told a press conference at the ministry of information yesterday
that, as of yesterday, more than 300 of the foreign participants
had arrived in Indonesia.
Countries sending delegations this year are Australia,
Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Jordan, South
Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan,
Palestine, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, the
United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
The organizers have recruited 121,500 Indonesian young people
for the occasion. They, together with the foreign youths, will
form the core team that will be divided into sub-groups to tour
the countryside.
Apart from the core team, the organizers are hoping that
millions of other youths will join in when the teams pass through
their towns and villages. In 1993, some 45 million people
participated in the event.
The National Youth March is no ordinary march.
The participants will stop in villages to do community work
and counseling. They will live in villagers' houses.
Siti Hardiyanti said that the event would benefit, not only
Indonesia, but also the Indonesian and foreign participants.
She said that a survey of the participants in the 1993 march
had yielded the following results: 87 percent of the participants
thought the event had strengthened national unity; 82 percent
said it had helped the development of the young generation; 82
percent felt it had helped speed up social development; and 67
percent felt that it had helped to reduce juvenile delinquency.
Siti Hardiyanti said that, given the immense benefits, she
hoped the event could be held every two years.
The march will reach its climax on Aug. 20, when the sub-
groups of the core team will assemble in Jakarta for a rally. On
the last day, they will be received by President Soeharto.
The teams will embark on the march from all the capitals of
Indonesia's 27 provinces. Their send-off will be attended by the
provincial governors. (imn)