Kemang Festival proves Jakarta needs good party
Eka N. Ginting, Contributor, Jakarta
Kemang Street Festival 2002, an event organized by RajaCraft.com, a business unit of indo.com, with the full support of the Kemang community and in partnership with JakArt@2002, took place on Jun. 1, 2002.
Jl. Kemang, stretching almost one kilometer from McDonalds to Barbados, was blocked off from motor traffic. And starting from about 9 a.m., pedestrians, numbering easily over 200,000 people, amassed at the area, creating crowds like never before in Kemang, lasting until after 8 p.m.
Who were these people, who sacrificed their precious Saturday to hang out in the sun in the middle of Kemang? There were three major groups.
First, there was the local Kemang community. Behind the luxurious compounds of expatriate housing and international schools, there are rows and rows of local housing, ranging from bare shacks to more modern, brick buildings sprawled behind the major roads of Kemang.
That Saturday, the people of Kemang came out of their houses, and enjoyed the entertainment and festivities on offer at Kemang Street Festival. Among the most amazing sights was the facial expression of a 10-year old boy, lost in enjoyment in front of a jazz band. There was also a taste of Reog Ponorogo dance and an impressive display of Japanese drums.
The second group consisted of yuppies. Always well dressed in branded attire, toting and yakking on their cellular phones, these were the mall crowd, who just for this day forgot their mall existence and instead broke a sweat amid hundreds of thousands of people.
To think that these people would be willing to drive for over half an hour, spend the same time looking for parking, walk back and forth for over three or four hours under the glare of Jakarta's sun - it was quite remarkable. And they shop. Shop they did until all the restaurants ran out of food, the ATM machines needed to be refilled, and vendors smiled to welcome them, resisting the closing bell well beyond the promised 8 p.m.
The third group was the expatriate community, who now call Kemang home, with a few invited friends and colleagues from Menteng and Pondok Indah. Baby strollers were out and hit the asphalt - a phenomenon you rarely see in Jakarta. Shorts and boat shoes and flowery summer dresses were out.
They moved from stall to stall, stood and enjoyed the arts performances, and even danced along with the Brazilian Street Carnival procession.
"The only difference is that they dress up more here," quipped a tall redhead with a distinct New York accent. "And the lack of Budweiser".
If there is one thing that we are proud to say about Kemang Street Festival, it is that it brings people together for fun. These three distinctly separate groups - continents apart in their daily living, economic, religious and cultural backgrounds - converged on Jl. Kemang together, enjoying the festivities.
As the street festival proved, Jakarta simply needs a good party!