Megawati's bracelets tell stories

Megawati's bracelets tell stories

JAKARTA: Trendy President Megawati Soekarnoputri's trademark,
it appears, is a number of different bracelets she wears on her
right wrist.

Megawati swears she is not a bracelet collector but says that
each of the bracelets she wears has its own particular story.

"These three were the ones that my mother wore until she
died," she said, showing three thin silver bracelets in a rare
exclusive interview with Antara on Tuesday.

But the bracelet that Megawati admires most is the one that
she believes were made by artists from the Majapahit Kingdom
around the 13th century.

She described the silver-colored bracelet made of unknown
metal as "very beautiful and stunning".

"They (the artists) could make such beautiful coils with only
this single string," she said.

She would not tell how she obtained the bracelet but admitted
she had never taken it off since she first got it.

Then she showed off a silver bracelet she received from Papuan
tribes people while she was on her first visit to the eastern-
most province.

She insisted she wears all the bracelets because she likes
them not because she believes they have magical power.

"I wear them all the time because it would be cumbersome to
have to take them off and put them on again all the time," she
said. --Antara