Cibubur camping ground to become history

Cibubur camping ground to become history

By Maria Endah Hulupi

JAKARTA (JP): The majestic trees shade a vast green area under
which stand some small chalets and huts, where scouts and other
youth groups often hold gatherings and conduct various
educational activities.

This unspoilt location is the Cibubur camping ground in East
Jakarta. It's not like other parts of the capital where dense
crowds and heavy traffic congestion are commonplace. Here you can
find peace.

However, this quiet location and the activities conducted here
may soon be affected if the city administration goes ahead with
its plan to construct a major shopping mall on a former parking
lot near the camping ground and the Wiladatika flower garden.

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Scouting Association
(Pramuka) Syaukat Banjaransari hopes that the administration will
reconsider its plan as it is not in line with the Jakarta master
plan which reserves the area for outdoor and educational
activities.

"The complex is zoned as an urban green area. It is a vast
site for conducting of educational and other constructive
activities for scouts and the public in general. We hope that it
will remain that way for the sake of our youth," he said.

The Cibubur complex, established in mid-1981, stands on some
234 hectares, which has been developed into the camping ground,
recreational park and, of course, the national education and
training center for the members of Pramuka.

The camping site was established to provide scouts and other
youths from all over the country with a place where they could
foster their appreciation and fondness for a green environment
and nature, as well as participating in treks and other outdoor
pursuits.

In this area, scouts are given training in trekking, rescue
techniques, first aid drill, etc., and are allowed to hold sports
events and other informal gatherings, aimed at fostering
brotherhood among them.

Meanwhile, its recreational sites comprise a flower garden
that presents a profusion of colors to the beholder, with its
various flowering and other decorative plants, a swimming pool, a
gymnasium, an arts building, a hall and a library, dormitories
and a public kitchen.

The Cibubur camping ground had always been associated with the
late Mrs. Tien Soeharto, wife of former president Soeharto. More
than 20 years ago, the city government lent some plots of land in
the then semirural area of Cibubur to the former first lady,
herself a devoted patron of the scouting movement, and the
National Scouting Board, to be used for Pramuka's activities.

Since then, the area has been developed into an integrated
public park with comprehensive youth facilities. Some 150,000
people, most of them young, visit the complex annually. This
figure doesn't include other members of the public who rent the
affordable facilities the complex has to offer for their own
purposes.

In l997, a year before Soeharto's fall, he dedicated the
camping ground to his late wife and named it after her.

Since the Soeharto luster faded, the city government has been
trying hard to recover the land and plans to sell part of it to
private investors in order to repay its debt to the Central Bank.

Syaukat admitted that the scouting movement had no say in the
administration's plans for the 3.2 hectares of land that had been
used as a parking lot since the 1986 Jamboree.

"In this case, we want the administration to reconsider its
plan to build a hypermall complex because the project is not in
line with the original concept for the site," he said.

The meager funds collected are used to conserve the existing
facilities.

Schools, corporations, production houses and other firms take
advantage of this green environment for training, increasing the
awareness of and affection for nature, filming soap operas and
video clips, and sports competitions.

"We are worried that the construction of new buildings near
the complex which are not in harmony with its general mission,
may jeopardize the continuation of the current positive
activities," Syaukat said.

However, some of the visitors to the Cibubur complex said that
the presence of a hypermall outside the complex would be
convenient for them to buy things that they needed but which
could not be found in the shanty stores within the complex.

"We will only have to go to one location to find all the
things we need," said Iman of an outbound firm, adding that the
mall would not affect the activities inside the complex as it was
not part of the complex.

The Indonesian Scout Movement can only hope and pray that it
will be invited to attend a discussion prior to the
implementation of the project so that it can fight its corner.

"We have a concept to further develop the Cibubur complex in
the future, a plan that will hopefully encourage more youth to
join the scouting movement," he said.

Separately, an official at the complex said that sticking with
the original purpose of the complex was necessary, but he
personally believed that as long as the hypermall development
project was not actually in the camping ground, the youth
activities, although slightly affected, could still continue as
usual.

The fate of the camping ground, he said, was in the hands of
the people at higher levels.

"I'm just a staff member here and I don't really know what
plans have been discussed at the higher levels," the official,
who is a senior scout, said.

The Indonesian Scouting Association claims to have 22 million
scouts nationwide, with 10 million of them currently being
registered scouts. This figure makes it the biggest scouting
movement in the world, followed by that of the United States.

Membership is voluntary and the movement is positively
welcomed in most areas, except, it would seem, in the capital.

Here, students and pupils are frequently unwilling to join the
movement mainly because they are exposed to other more
interesting entertainment activities.

Despite losing its appeal to potential young scouts in the
capital, the movement is still trying to attract more members
from Jakarta to participate by showing that the activities are
fun and useful.

"Basically we want to improve our image and to show local
youth the benefits of joining the scouting movement. We highlight
the noble things that our members do and award them medals of
honor, books and scholarships" Syaukat said.

Recently, the Indonesian scout movement rewarded two scouts,
namely 15-year-old Taufik Dimira, a shepherd who found three live
grenades on a railroad track, thus preventing any fatalities, and
Agus Tambuni, who found wreckage from a missing helicopter in the
Irian Jaya jungle.