Four days of exhaustive search of Megawati in Bali

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.