Kutai readies for Erau festival
Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani Z.B. Simanjuntak, Tenggarong, East Kalimantan
The old city of Tenggarong in Kutai regency, East Kalimantan, is bristling with activities as it gears up for the Erau festival, a tradition that dates back to the heyday of the sultanate of Kutai Kertanegara.
This year, the festival, slated to run from Sept. 20 to Sept. 30, will be held in conjunction with the third running of Indonesia's Keraton Nusantara old kingdoms festival.
The Erau feast is said to have begun as a ritual to accompany various court events such as the bequeathing of honorary titles to members of the nobility and worthy commoners.
With a whopping Rp 2 billion (around US$221,975) budget, the gala event is expected to draw some 10,000 visitors into the city of 424,452 people.
The regency, dubbed the wealthiest regency in the country, hopes that the newly finished grand tourist attractions and facilities specially built for the event would catapult Kutai into the spotlight.
"Well...we want to start 'selling' Kutai as a tourist destination," head of Kutai Tourism Office Aji Surya Dharma, who also leads the festival committee, told The Jakarta Post earlier.
The regency, usually referred to as Kutai Kartanegara or Karta by East Kalimantan people, is serious about its promotion.
Signs of preparations can be seen along the way from Samarinda -- the capital of East Kalimantan -- to Tenggarong, which can be reached within a 30-minute drive from Samarinda.
An estimated 12 kilometer-long cemented highway connecting the two cities is being built to replace the narrow, bumpy, dusty road that was built only a year ago. Parts of the highway are still covered with gunny sacks to protect the wet cement.
Guests will include royal families from the country's 44 kingdoms, Cabinet ministers, officials from 11 neighboring regencies and 18 subdistricts. The total number could reach 7,500 guests. Most of the guests were officially invited by the Kutai administration.
All the guests' travel expenses, including accommodation, are paid for by the regency administration, according to Surya Dharma.
Accommodation, however, is a headache for the administration since the city only has 15 inns that can take in around 100 guests at the most. To solve the problem, the administration is constructing a three-star, 66-room hotel.
Residents are also encouraged to cooperate by providing rooms for the guests in their homes. Some 306 residents have offered the use of their homes for the guests, for two days before the festival and two days after the event. Each house is expected to take in up to 40 guests.
"The government will pay for the rooms and meals," Surya Dharma said, while refusing to reveal the amount the administration would pay each home owner.
Cruise ships are also being turned into floating hotels. Around 10 cruise ships have been leased from local travel agents for the purpose. The ships will be anchored along the banks of the Mahakam River.
"Guests can enjoy the river view while staying here," Surya Dharma added, referring to a San Francisco Golden Gate look-alike bridge that stretches across the legendary Mahakam river, connecting Tenggarong with Jongkang on the outskirts of Samarinda.
The massive preparations include the reconstruction of the old palace of the Kutai Sultanate which was burned down in the early 1900s. The grand palace is built on one hectare of land. Standing two stories high, the building structure is supported by precious iron wood. Marble tiles and chandeliers add grandeur to the palace that will be the residence of the current Sultan of Kutai, Salehuddin II.
Despite being the richest regency in Indonesia, Kutai does not have it all and water is an example, especially in this dry season.
Surya Dharma gave his assurance that the city would not run out of water. He said water trucks would be deployed to distribute clean water. However, a source who asked to remain anonymous said that at present the city only had one water truck operating out of four. Moreover, the water level at the Mahakam River, the city's main water source, is decreasing due to continuous disappearance of forest preserve areas along the river bank.
Surya Dharma stressed that the administration wanted to make tourism as the second revenue earner after property tax. The regency at present still relies on taxes collected from the oil and gas companies operating in the region as the main source of revenue.
Last year, the regency earned Rp 250 billion but only some Rp2 billion, or less than 1 percent, came from tourism.
Given the above problems, it seems Kutai has a long way to go before it becomes a really attractive tourist destination.