Benyamin fund set up

JAKARTA (JP): Starting next week, the private-owned television station ANteve will open bank account No: 011.005.0224 at Nusa Bank for those who want to make donations for the establishment of a Betawi (Jakarta's native people) cultural center.

The donation-collecting drive, called Dompet Cite-cite Bang Ben (Fund for Benyamin's Dream) is aimed toward remembering and appreciating the late comedian and actor Benyamin Sueb, also known as Bang Ben, who contributed so much to the preservation of the Betawi culture.

Since the early 1970's Benyamin, who was considered a symbol of Betawi society, had expressed his dream to set up a Betawi cultural center. Unfortunately, until he died on Sept. 5 this year, his dream was yet to come true.

The idea for the fund came as a spontaneous move during a shooting of one of ANteve's talk shows called Bincang Bincang (Chit-Chat), which featured a Betawi leader, Ridwan Saidi, critic Salim Said and the program presenter Soraya Perucha early this week.

The idea, according a statement issued by ANteve, is supported by South Jakarta's Mayor H. Pardjoko.(als)