Governor Surjadi urges people to eat more fish

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja urged residents to eat more fish yesterday, guaranteeing that the fish sold in the city's markets were both delicious and poison-free.

Surjadi led a one-day fish festival at the Jakarta Fair Grounds in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, aimed at encouraging people to eat a more nutritious diet. The festival, organized by Jakarta's Fish Eating Movement, follows on from the nationwide Eat Fish Movement campaign launched by President Soeharto in October.

A fish-only food bazaar involving 246 participants and a cooking contest was the highlight of the proceedings.

Surjadi was mindful of the challenge facing the campaign, coming at a time when an increasing number of Jakartans are acquiring a taste for fast food.

"Eating out is seen more as a prestige thing. People don't care if it's nutritious or not," he said after opening the festival.

While not stating his outright opposition to the flourishing fast-food outlets in the city, the governor said people should nevertheless develop healthy eating habits.

"Don't just go for the taste. Think also of your brain. You must eat healthy food," he said, adding that fish should become part of people's regular diet.

"Why fish? Because fish has a lot of protein and nutrition. It is especially good for women and children.

"It's also inexpensive and I think everyone can afford it," he said.

The governor also addressed the concerns, expressed by some people, about the quality of the fish from Jakarta Bay because of continuous reports about the water's pollution level.

"The city has been conducting a major reclamation project in the bay, so we have automatically been cleaning the sea of garbage and liquid waste.

"The environment is healthy for the fish, and I hope there will be no more poisonous fish.

"And don't believe those old stories which say that you get worms if you eat too much fish."

Muhammad Nasser, a doctor who heads the city's Eat Fish Movement committee, said that for an archipelagic nation, Indonesia surprisingly ate less fish than many other countries, such as Japan and Malaysia.

Indonesia's annual per capita fish consumption is only 26.5 kilograms. In Japan, it averages between 65 and 70 kilograms while in Malaysia it is 37 kilograms.

He said a fish diet was especially beneficial for children and pregnant women.

"A diet rich in fish will help improve a child's intelligence. It's an investment in human resources development," he said.

Yesterday's cooking contest involved celebrities such as jazz musician Idang Rasyidi, noted physician Azrul Aswar, TV talk-show host Lula Kamal, and lawyer Yan Apul.

Lula, 27, confessed she could not cook.

"I was dragged here by the committee. So I took a recipe from an old cook book. I hope it tastes good," Lula said, somewhat unconvincingly, of her soya-pompano concoction.

Not surprisingly, she did not win.

That honor went to Idang, who quipped: "It's fun ... and I love cooking fish."

"He likes to eat and cook. No wonder he won the contest," Uga Wiranto, the head of the jury, said of the well-fed musician. (07)