Foreign embassies join carriage festival

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)