Hotels, businesses gear up for Independence Day

Hotels, businesses gear up for Independence Day

An atmosphere of national pride and tradition prevails not
only in Jakarta thoroughfares and in residential areas, but also
at major shopping malls, restaurants and hotels.

In commemoration of Independence Day on Aug. 17, many of the
capital's restaurants are offering traditional dishes for guests.

Le Gran Cafe at Hotel Gran Mahakam, South Jakarta, for
example, offers a thematic menu called The Beauty of Indonesia,
with fares such as nasi gurih ala Gran Mahakam, rice cooked in
coconut milk specially concocted by the restaurant.

"Traditional dishes on offer during the special national food
campaign include different appetizers, such as fish head soup ala
Kalimantan, serani Jawa pindang soup, soto sulung soup and tekwan
soup ala Palembang," said head chef Dicky.

Sari Pan Pacific Hotel in Jalan Thamrin, Central Jakarta has
also designed a menu with traditional dishes, the Archipelago
Cuisine Extravaganza, featuring an array of indigenous foods
across the country.

Several other hotels, such as Hotel Aston and Hotel Mulia
Senayan, are launching similar thematic campaigns to observe
Independence Day: Aston, with its Red and White Festival, and
Hotel Mulia, with its Nusantara Fiesta Promotion.

Corporations also make an effort to mark Independence Day, for
example, state telecommunications company Telkom is offering a
special discount package for subscribers.

Under a discount package valid from Aug. 1 to Dec. 31 for its
Telkom Instant Internet connection customers in West Java and
Banten provinces, customers receive a 20 percent discount on
Internet usage bills of at least Rp 100,000, 30 percent for
between Rp 200,000 and Rp 300,000, and 40 percent for over Rp
400,000.

"Those who connect to the Internet through Telkom Instant
between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. will also receive a special type of a
discount," said Dodi M. Gozali, public relations manager of
Telkom Division III overseeing Banten and West Java.

Besides discounts, Telkom III is marking Independence Day with
the launch of the second series of its Internet Goes to School
Program, a free Internet training course for high school students
of the two provinces.

Meanwhile, major tire producer PT Gajah Tunggal is taking
advantage of the occasion to improve internal relations through a
series of sporting events, games and a singing contest, as well
as charity programs, such as blood drives.

Sporting events started in mid-June and will last until mid-
August, and the company expects at least 3,000 employees to take
part in soccer, volleyball, badminton, table tennis and cycling
competitions.

While the anniversary of Indonesian independence is an annual
event, many businesses view this year's to be a little out of the
ordinary, as it falls ahead of the Sept. 20 election runoff, when
the people will elect their president directly for the first
time.

As Gajah Tunggal said, it is generally hoped that this year's
Independence Day would provide a good momentum for the people to
continue their struggle to overcome the prolonged multi-
dimensional crisis. -- The Jakarta Post