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)