Malls celebrate RI anniversary with discounts

JAKARTA (JP): Major shopping malls are offering huge discounts to mark Independence Day tomorrow.

At Mal Ciputra, Seibu, Megamal, Plaza Senayan and Pasaraya, the discounts range from 10 percent to 70 percent.

For many shops, the sales are a continuation of the Jakarta Big Sales that started in June to mark the capital's 470th anniversary.

Some malls are holding special programs.

Mal Ciputra in West Jakarta is holding a Youth Fiesta from Aug. 20 to Aug. 31 with contests such as in logo design for Mal Ciputra's fifth anniversary next year, joke telling for students, shop-counter design, website homepage design, T-shirt design and ice cream eating.

Top prizes include package tours to Thailand and Singapore, said Halida Hajadi, marketing manager of Mal Ciputra.

Megamal Pluit is holding an exhibition of traditional handicrafts from various regions in the archipelago, public relations manager Wina Andriyani said.

A new, somewhat more exclusive boutique mall, Mitra Hadiprana on Jl. Kemang Raya, is opening tomorrow.

There will be a festival presenting an array of traditional Indonesian snacks on the grand opening day.

Competition

Meanwhile, the one-year-old Mal Taman Anggrek is to hold a fast-food eating competition and face-painting festival today in the main atrium of the shopping mall on Jl. S. Parman at Tomang in West Jakarta.

The events, held to commemorate its first anniversary and the 52nd anniversary of Indonesia's independence, will be followed by another fast-food competition and red-and-white clothing contest the next day.

"Except for the face painting festival, which is only for kids, the winners of the other events will receive gifts from Mal Taman Anggrek and other sponsors," the spokesman of the site's management, PT Mulia Intipelangi, Geoffry Samuel, said yesterday.

The mall will provide no less than 5,000 gifts for visitors attired in the most attractive red-and-white clothes or accessories, he said.

According to Geoffry, all visitors, including foreigners, are welcome to participate in the games.

Entry is free except for the eating contest, for which participants will have to produce receipts worth at least Rp 50,000 (US$18.50) spent at any shop in the mall on the same day.

Fast food on the competition menu includes burgers, spaghetti, muffins and kebab, Geoffry said.

Puri Ayu traditional cosmetics producer will paint children's faces for free.

All the events will start at around 12 a.m. and last until 6 p.m. (04/bsr)