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)