Four days of exhaustive search of Megawati in Bali

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

When the plane carrying President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her entourage took off from Bali's international airport for Jakarta on Tuesday evening, the reporters on the ground breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now we can take a long rest -- a very long one perhaps," a reporter for a national daily paper said, adding that she had already filed for a year's leave from the newsroom.

It was an appropriate statement indeed, considering the fact that, for the last four days, the journalists assigned to cover the presidential visit had been caught up in an energy-draining, mind-boggling, wild goose chase in trying to find out the President's activities.

The first omen indicating that the four-day visit would be a trying one for the harried journalists was already clear on the first day, Saturday Dec. 29, when they were barred from entering the airport's VIP II room to witness the President's arrival.

The arrival time of the plane itself had caught many off guard -- including the Bali Police chief Brigadier General Budi Setyawan, who could not make it to the airport in time.

Initially, the plane was scheduled to land at around 5 p.m. local time, then it was moved forward to 3 p.m. In the end, the plane touched the ground at 2:11 pm.

From that point onward, things only got worse: confusion and secrecy were perhaps the two words best describing the visit.

For starters, official information was, for the journalists, frustratingly scarce -- there was nary a press release on the President's daily itinerary, or the objectives of her visit.

"It is a private visit; we don't have any information on the details on the members of the entourage and of the President's schedule," Bali Administration Spokesperson I Gede Nurjaya repeatedly said Saturday afternoon.

"The President," he added, "just want to take a rest."

The journalists had no choice but to rely on the information transmitted via police radio, which turned out to have one major shortcoming -- namely the fact that not even the police knew beforehand of the President's schedule at any given time.

"We are told to stay on alert in case the President or her entourage needs our assistance," said a high-ranking officer who asked not to be named. "We don't know where she will go next, or how many cars will accompany her.

"So, all we can do is deploy our officers on every road intersection from Tampaksiring Palace, where the President is staying, to Denpasar," the officer added.

Yet, it turned out that mostly the President traveled in a small convoy of only three cars, led by a Mercedes sedan packed with presidential guards, bereft of trademark sirens or blazing police reflectors.

Reportedly -- and surprisingly, too -- the President specifically asked drivers in the convoy to heed all local traffic regulations, including stopping at red lights.

"Ibu (Megawati) did not want to be escorted by a huge uniformed police escort," the officer said

"But, of course, we don't want to take any risk -- so, although we did not assign uniformed police escort in front of the convoy, we still assigned enough plainclothes officers to tail the convoy," he added.

On the second day of her visit, Sunday, December 30, Megawati left Tampaksiring Palace, some 35 kilometer east of Denpasar, early in the morning to visit nearby Tirta Empur temple.

Using the palace's rear exit, hence effectively eluding the pack of journalists waiting out front, Megawati traveled on foot through a village dirt road and into the temple, where a sacred water spring was located.

Megawati spent her time in the temple by feeding the fish swimming in the temple's pond -- while the journalists, starved for information, grew hungrier and hungrier.

Later that afternoon, the President went to the luxurious Bali Intercontinental Hotel in Jimbaran area, some 60 kilometers south of Tampaksiring Palace, to visit her daughter, Puan Maharani, who was staying there with her family.

At about the same time, husband Taufik Kiemas was having a nasi campur lunch in the famous Warung Wardani at Jalan Yudistira No. 2 in downtown Denpasar. The street was closed for about 15 minutes in preparation for his arrival.

Arriving in a nine-car convoy, Kiemas was accompanied by the Mayor of Denpasar, A.A. Gde Puspayoga. Meanwhile, the Regent of Badung Cok Ratmadi had already been waiting for him inside the VIP room of the establishment.

During the lunch, presidential guard officers barred two photographers from taking pictures, insisting that it was an informal and private visit.

One hour later, the entourage left the Warung for the Bali Intercontinental Hotel to join the President.

On the morning of the third day, Monday, Dec. 31, Megawati took a leisurely bike ride around the Tampaksiring palace compound for 15 minutes.

Later in the afternoon, Megawati traveled on some 50 kilometers to the east of the palace to the traditional Bali Aga village of Tenganan in Karangasem regency.

The village is well-known for its hand-made and intricately- designed Gringsing cloth. There, it was reported that the President bought a piece of the cloth.

By 2 p.m., she was back at the palace. At about the same time, the palace grounds were bustling with the preparations for New Year Eve celebrations, which coincided with Taufik Kiemas' 58th birthday.

The next day, Megawati's plane took off for Jakarta. On the ground beneath, the frazzled reporters she left behind could only scratch their heads -- in amazement and, of course, relief.