Bazaar and bizarre during Arung Samudera

Bazaar and bizarre during Arung Samudera

JAKARTA (JP): A 24-hour bazaar, and some bizarre games, will
be held during the upcoming Arung Samudera, a major event
combining international sailing races, a warship procession, as
well as entertainment for the 10,000 to 15,000 participants and
their families who will converge on Jakarta next month.

The organizers said they are building a Marine Village to
accommodate the visitors, complete with shopping facilities that
will open for 24 hours a day between Aug. 12 and 22.

There will also be many fun games befitting the occasion,
bearing in mind that many of the participants are sailors.

Among the more bizarre games for the Arung Samudera
participants include a beer drinking competition, arms wrestling
and a shouting contest, along with the more mundane competitions
such as karaoke, cooking and gunnysack races.

There will also be other competitions open to the public, the
organizers said.

There will be a pageantry to elect the Marine Village's "top
model", an event open to male and female participants aged
between 15 and 27 years. The qualifying rounds will be held on
from Aug. 13, to Aug. 15, and the final will be held on the
evening of Aug. 16.

Arung Samudera is being held in connection with the 50th
anniversary of Indonesia's independence.

The tall ship and yacht races will be launched on Aug. 7, from
Bali, to Tanjung Priok harbor in Jakarta. The ships involved in
these will join the warships for the procession scheduled for
Aug. 19, an event at which President Soeharto will be the chief
inspector.

A smaller marine village has already been opened in Benoa,
Bali, to accommodate the participants of the races.

By yesterday, the organizers of Arung Samudera, which includes
the Indonesian Navy, have received the names of 41 warships that
will take part in the parade. They are from Australia, Britain,
Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia,
South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

The event will also see the largest ever gathering of navy
chiefs of staff from all over the world -- 26 of them.

The tall ships race, covering a distance of 480 miles, will
set sail from Masalembo in the Java Sea, and involve 23 ships.
They are from Australia, Britain, Chile, Germany, Indonesia,
Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Russia and Singapore.

The yacht race will cover a distance of 630 miles, with the
starting line in Benoa, Bali, and involve 123 ships from various
countries. (emb/msa)