Kite festival informs of risk to power lines

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of people from all over the world took part in the Jakarta International Kite Festival '99 over the weekend. State-owned electricity company PLN was the most domineering presence in using the event to educate the public about the hazards of the popular pastime.

During the festival on July 17 and July 18, PLN said kites were among the worst power disrupters in the country.

PLN officials, who acted as coordinators for the annual event, recorded 85 cases of blackouts in 1997, 64 cases in 1998 and 31 cases so far this year which were attributed to kites flown too close to power lines.

The people responsible were unaware they could be electrocuted by the high-voltage lines or that strings getting caught on the cables could cause short circuits and blackouts in the whole area.

"People are not aware that power cuts affect houses, offices, businesses and hospitals that rely on PLN's electricity for their power supply," said a PLN manager who did not want to be named.

PLN employees regularly clear abandoned kites from lines to ensure the electricity system functions properly.

He said: "This job takes time, energy and expense. We regularly clean high-voltage lines every three months or so from the mound of disused kites."

PLN came to the right venue to spread the message -- thousands of unique kites flew high during the seventh Jakarta International Kite Festival at the National Monument square, Central Jakarta.

Besides host Jakarta, 11 other provinces took part in the event: Southeast Sulawesi, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Lampung, Central Java, East Java, West Java, Yogyakarta and Aceh.

Representatives from the Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Malaysia and France also participated.

Chief organizer of the event Sari Madjid told The Jakarta Post that there were commendable kite designs featured at the festival.

"Indonesians are quite smart in creating stunt kites (those of controlled speed) which even surpass Japan," Sari said.

She said the kite was first created in Southeast Sulawesi, named kamanu-manu, and made of wild tuber leaves called gadung. However, China also stakes claim to being home to the world's first kite.

-- Irene Sugiharto