Kite festival colors Jakarta skies
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta
A dream-like scene unfolded across an open sky: A yellow goldfish swam past a rainbow-colored phoenix as a man on a bicycle pedaled his way through a line-up of cartoon figures, including Winnie the Pooh and Doraemon.
Meanwhile, a pair of red and green dragons swayed their 50- meter tails majestically in a midair standoff, and mischievous bats swooped here and there around a plethora of flowing shapes and flying colors.
This mosaic of color filled the city sky on Sunday above Karnaval Beach in Ancol, North Jakarta, created by 102 kite makers from 15 provinces to greet spectators of the 2004 Jakarta International Kite Festival.
"Kite makers from Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Sweden participated in the festival," said organizing committee chairman Tinton Prianggono of the Le Gong Kite Society.
He said Indonesian kite makers could enter their creations in a competition, while international kite makers only exhibited their work.
"A panel from Le Gong and the Jakarta Institute of Arts will judge the kites according to originality, quality and artistic value," Tinton said. "The panel will also judge the kites' ability to fly."
The West Java team displayed its goldfish kite and a becak -- pedicab -- kite, while the Southeast Sulawesi team showed a kite made from broad leaves, which attracted spectators for its entirely traditional construction.
The Rp 750,000 (US$83) grand prize for the best kite was awarded to the woodpecker kite from the Yogyakarta team in the three-dimensional category and the Den Bagus comic figure kite from Jakarta in the two-dimensional category.
Bejo, a kite maker from Tulungagung, East Java, said the satisfaction of making and flying their kites was the main motivation for participating in the festival. He had made a kite resembling a house and a traditional red-and-white-striped Madurese shirt kite for the festival.
"The important thing is that our kites can actually fly," he said.
Tinton said this year's festival was made possible by the kite makers themselves, despite a slight decrease in participants over the past few years.
"The location at Karnaval Beach is also ideal, with its wide space and winds, although we hoped it wasn't too remote so as to attract many spectators," he said.
The 12th kite festival was held from Friday to Sunday to commemorate Jakarta's 477th anniversary, and also featured a free kite-making workshop open to the public.
Sugianto, a resident of Sunter, North Jakarta, who brought his two sons to the kite festival, said they came to the festival because it provided an interesting and different kind of attraction.
"I especially liked the free kite-making workshop, because my sons could take part in it and learn the history of kites and how to actually make them," he said.