Independence celebrations more muted in elite areas

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The neighborhood looks deserted, with just a few cars passing a street that has red-and-white flags flapping in the wind in front of houses in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

Residential Menteng is one of the city's upper-class areas where the houses date back to the Dutch colonial era.

A similar sight is seen in the upmarket Pondok Indah housing complex in South Jakarta.

There are no lines of small flags crisscrossing the streets like there are in the city's densely populated kampongs, but it does not mean that affluent people do not observe Independence Day.

"All we can do is hoist the red-and-white flag in front of our houses as well as at strategic places in our neighborhood.

"Most residents here are old people and pensioners. There are not many young people here," Haryanto, a community unit (RW) head in the district, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Haryanto's neighborhood is a prominent one as President Megawati and former president Soeharto Soekarnoputri both live nearby.

He also said his neighborhood did not collect donations from residents for celebrations.

One local resident, Tashya, who lives on Jl. Sumbawa, Menteng, said her neighborhood had not organized any events to celebrate the occasion this year as many residents were out of town.

"My neighborhood organized many events in past years, but not this year," she said.

"As for myself, I really don't miss the festivities because I seldom took an active part in them. I just loved to watch the crowd."

Meanwhile, a RW spokeswoman on Jl. Alam Asri in Pondok Indah said her neighborhood had decided to stage festivities after several years of not doing so due to security reasons, especially since the economic crisis.

"In the past several years we have only distributed staple foods to local security guards and cleaners," said Ibu Edi Arifin.

"But we decided to celebrate this year."

"We are not setting a specific amount to be donated for the celebration; it's totally up to the residents themselves. Many of them also give other things such as cakes," she added.

Many expatriates also live in Pondok Indah, such as in Apartment Golf Pondok Indah.

"We don't stage an Independence Day celebration for our tenants as most of them are expatriates," said a marketing staff member cautiously.

"But we have organized an internal celebration for the employees."

In a separate development, city spokesman Muhayat said it was possible that Governor Sutiyoso would not hold a celebration especially designed for foreign diplomats, which he did in the past two years.

"I haven't got the details yet because the celebration is usually handled by an event organizer," he said. "We only provide technical assistance."

Sutiyoso normally holds an Independence Day event at Taman Surapati in Menteng, just across from his official residence.

The diplomats watch cracker-eating contests, as well as tugs- of-war and sack races, which are traditionally staged on Independence Day.