`Femina' establishes `Friends of Botanical Gardens'
By Lenah Susianty
BOGOR, West Java (JP): The weekly women's magazine Femina went out of its way to celebrate its 22nd anniversary and established a foundation called Mitra Kebun Raya Indonesia, or Friends of Indonesian Botanical Gardens.
The foundation was launched during a sophisticated anniversary party attended by hundreds of famous artists, fashion designers, scientists, intellectuals and non-governmental organizations' activists at the Bogor Botanical Gardens last Saturday.
The magazine's chief editor, Widarti Gunawan, said Mitra Kebun Raya Indonesia aims to manifest the magazine's concerns for and awareness of the environment.
The magazine was the first women's magazine in the country to give environmental issues a permanent column, said Femina group's vice president Mirta Kartohadiprodjo in a speech prior to an open-air concert by the Nusantara Chamber Orchestra.
"The foundation aims to promote four botanical gardens in Indonesia and their educational, scientific, economic and research aspects," Minister for the Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who is also a patron of the new foundation, told The Jakarta Post.
As a first step, the foundation will install information on glass tablets at interesting points in the Bogor Botanical Garden.
The absence of information at historical points in the botanical garden has resulted in an uneven circulation of visitors to the garden. People currently visit the 167-year-old garden, established on May 18, 1817 by German botanist C.G.C. Reinwardt, only for a picnic. Their favorite places are the coolest and shady areas.
"It is a pity that there are corners of the garden which often escape people's attention, although historically and scientifically those places are very important and worth seeing," said S. Widjajanto who designed the information tablets at the Bandung Institute of Technology.
The glass tablets are expected to attract visitors to those forgotten corners. They will have pictures and portraits that will permit visitors not only to read but also see the relevant information.
At a pond, at one end of Astrid Avenue, named after Queen Astrid of Belgium who visited the garden in 1929, visitors can see real giant lotus leaves embellished with painted flowers in the glass. The tablet is also decorated with pictures of blossoming lotus and information about the giant lotus (Victoria amazonica). So, whenever visitors come, whether it is during lotus blossom season or not, they will always be able to see the flower.
Similar graphics will be installed at other sites, including in front of an old Dutch cemetery where those who died of cholera and other diseases are buried. Dutch East India governor general (Hindia Belanda) Van Den Bosch, who built the Anyer-Panarukan road, is also buried in the cemetery. There will also be a tablet at Teijsmann Garden, named after Johanes Elias Teisjmann who was the botanical garden's third director between 1837 to 1844 when the garden's name was still Lands Plantentuin or Hortus Botanicus Bogoriensis.
Most beautiful
"If the project is successful, the garden will be able to maintain its title as the most beautiful botanical garden in the world," Widjajanto said.
"This is great, and I hope the foundation will soon handle the three other botanical gardens," said Minister Sarwono, adding that a "flying plant" which grows in the Bogor Botanical Garden inspired a sportsman to invent the hang glider.
The 47 hectare Bogor Botanical Garden is also noted as home to the biggest tropical plant collection in the world. It has the biggest Irian orchids (Grammatophyllum speciosum Bl.), 6,000 species of rare plants such as cerbera manghas L. or Bintaro and the famous bunga bangkai or Rafflesia arnoldi.
"We need money for this project. If we have enough funds we will soon launch similar projects at the other three gardens in Cibodas, West Java, in Purwodadi, East Java and in Bedugul, Bali," Widarti said.
The Cibodas Botanical Garden, which is located in a valley between Mount Gede and Mount Pangrango, is known for its huge area and beauty. Purwodadi is special because of its collection of dried plants while the Eka Raya Botanical Garden in Bali was the first garden established by Indonesians in 1963.