Hillary Rodham Clinton inspects Jakarta kampong
JAKARTA (JP): A magic wand was waved over Pasar Manggis district in Setiabudi area in southern Jakarta when Hillary Rodham Clinton came for a visit yesterday.
Everything was spic and span. Even the open sewers, which are usually full of garbage and mosquitoes, did not dare expel any foul odors as the first lady of the United States walked past. Apparently, some houses were repainted and the two meter wide gang (alley) was scrubbed in order to welcome Mrs. Clinton.
"We were ordered to clean everything by Pak RT (head of neighborhood administration unit) a week ago. We painted our house to welcome um...um...wife of...um, president of...," Marni stopped her sentence when her daughter helped out with "America".
She said residents of the kampong Pasar Manggis were told to lock their gates and to stay inside their houses between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. because a very important person was visiting the area. Mrs. Clinton arrived at 11 a.m.
"We are happy that someone like her is willing to see our kampong," said Marni, balancing on a chair behind her steel fence in order to see Hillary Clinton clearly.
"But I am disappointed because she didn't shake my hand, and I missed Kassandra on T.V," Marni's teenager daughter who declined to give her name told The Jakarta Post.
Kassandra is a hit Venezuelan telenovela on SCTV every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 a.m.
Marni explained that some of her neighbors had extended their two-day holiday to catch a glimpse of the American First Lady.
Pasar Manggis residents stood behind their fences to watch the entourage pass in front of their houses. Some of them were able to shake hands with Hillary Clinton.
'Bule'
Students at a primary school located in the middle of the crowded housing area waved Indonesian and American flags while some of them chanted "yes, yes, yes", the only English word they know. Others cheerfully exclaimed in Indonesian "there is a bule (westerner)."
Mrs. Clinton, clad in blue two-piece dress, also stopped at Jl. Jatinegara Barat in East Jakarta. She inspected a distant slum kampong along the bank of the river from a bridge on the street. The river overflows and inundates the kampong when it rains. The kampong is home of more than 300,000 people.
Throngs of people mobbed the pavements. The street was cleaned and then temporarily closed to the public to make way for Mrs. Clinton. This held-up hundreds of cars near Kampung Melayu terminal at the far end of Jl. Jatinegara Barat. Shops along the road were closed. On normal days, the street is one of the busiest centers in East Jakarta.
The two visits were planned to give Mrs. Clinton a firsthand view of the Kampong Improvement Program which began in 1969 with assistance from the United States Agency for International Development. Both Kampongs are in the project. Pasar Manggis has been a success, while Bukit Duri is still undergoing the process.
"This is also important for us to know that this kind of situation is also similar to other Asian countries," Mrs. Clinton commented briefly.
The visit yesterday was marked with tight security involving Indonesian and American security agents.(als)