Foreign embassies join carriage festival

JAKARTA (JP): The embassies of Japan, Britain and Mexico in Jakarta will take part in a festival that features a parade of horse-drawn carriages in Jakarta on Sunday morning, the organizers said on Monday.

The Festival Delman Hias, part of the celebration to mark Jakarta's 473rd anniversary, will involve 58 organizations, including groups from the local film industry.

"The event is intended to increase public appreciation of Jakarta's traditional mode of transportation," Deputy Governor of Economy and Finance Fawzi Alvi Yasin said.

Delman is a single-horse drawn carriage which seats up to five people, including the driver. The vehicle is still in use in some parts of the capital, although mostly for leisure and short trips.

Besides a parade of decorated carriages, there will be marching bands, traditional Ondel-Ondel dances, Tanjidor and traditional Chinese Barongsai dance along the roads designated for the festival on Sunday.

Fawzi said the street festival was also meant to show to the world that Jakarta is a safe city.

The three-hour parade will start from City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan and proceed to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jl. Thamrin and then back to Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat before heading back to City Hall.

The administration is providing carriages, horses and drivers.

Participants are required to decorate the carriages and there will be prizes for the best carriages, the head of the administration's cultural department, E. Sjahrial, said.

"We are paying each driver Rp 250,000 for the three days they will take part in the festival," he said, adding that preparations began on Friday. (06)