Bandung busy on eve of Asia-Africa celebration
Bandung busy on eve of Asia-Africa celebration
BANDUNG (JP): The usually quiet city of Bandung was busy and ablaze with sounds of sirens as United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and some 60 ministers arrived here yesterday to attend the commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference and the NAM Ministerial meeting.
On the main city streets policeman and other security officials stationed themselves on almost every corner as ministers and delegates arrived throughout day in this city located 180-kilometers southwest of Jakarta.
Young school children dressed in scout uniforms lined a number of streets to wave at the passing entourage.
Boutros-Ghali and his wife, Leia Maria, touched down at Bandung's Husein Sastranegara airport at 1:15 p.m. and was met by West Java Governor R. Nuriana.
Dressed in a dark gray suit, the secretary-general was then sped off to the Preanger Hotel, where he will stay for his brief sojourn here.
A scheduled visit to the Asia-Africa Museum later on in the afternoon was canceled, with officials saying the secretary- general was "tired." A trip to the state-owned aircraft company IPTN today has also reportedly been canceled.
Police blocked traffic and pedestrians from using Asia-Africa Street for much of the day as the final preparations for today's 40th anniversary commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference were being made.
The street is the site of the Merdeka Building where the conference took place in 1955. Just a few hundred meters away are the Preanger and Savoy Homann hotels.
On Saturday, over a thousand students from the Bandung area gave a preview of what to expect as they performed a dress rehearsal of today's festivities.
A seven-and-half minute spectacle will accompany President Soeharto, Boutros-Ghali and the other delegates as they take a 300-meter napak tilas, or memory walk, from the Savoy Homann Hotel to the Merdeka Building.
"We're trying to evoke the spirit of solidarity, cooperation and mutual support," NAM's chief executive assistant Nana Sutresna said of the memory walk's purpose.
A dance recounting the history of the conference will also be performed along with an angklung (bamboo musical instrument) rendition of Johann Strauss' Blue Danube performed by 600 high school students as the President and Boutros-Ghali enter Merdeka building.
Inside the Merdeka building yesterday, final equipment checks were being conducted as police dogs stood alert in the wings.
Officials have left nothing to chance and nearly 5,000 security forces are on alert for the event.
Amid the extreme security presence and whaling sirens, most people around the city seemed to care less about the events going on around them as malls like the Bandung Indah Plaza remained filled with weekend shoppers.
Syafruddin, a local taxi driver, said it was business as usual. The only inconvenience, he said, was the closure of Asia- Africa Street.
"Only occasionally will police not let us stop to pick up passengers to keep traffic moving," he told The Jakarta Post.
Twenty-one-year-old Arni, who lives not far from the Horizon Hotel, said the sirens had become quite bothersome to her.
"It seems every five minutes they pass by with those blaring horns. At first I didn't mind but this has been going on for a few days, it's awful," she said.
Unfortunately, Arni will likely have to endure the sirens for a few more days as the Horison is the site of NAM's three-day Ministerial Meeting, which begins tomorrow. (mds)