Monas park to have deer, soccer fields
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration announced on Wednesday it would soon release deer into the 108-hectare National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta, as well as developing soccer fields and a jogging track in the park.
"We asked the Bogor Palace for some deer and will release them into the park," Governor Sutiyoso said at City Hall.
Sutiyoso said the administration was still in discussions with the Bogor Palace about the number of deer to be sent to Jakarta.
City spokesman Muhayat added that the administration must first make preparations, including hiring people to care for the deer, before importing the animals.
"The release of the deer probably will take place next year. But first we have to make some preparations, such as stocking up on feed, readying trucks to transport the grass and hiring caretakers," Muhayat said.
The governor said the administration would turn Monas park back into a public park with recreation centers and sports fields, as was originally intended.
Sutiyoso said there also were plans to build three small soccer fields and a jogging track in the park.
"We will develop Monas park like Victoria Park in Hong Kong, where people, including children, can play in the park," he said.
Muhayat said the jogging track would be financed by the 2003 city budget, though he did not provide an exact figure.
"But the small soccer fields will be built by a private company," he said, declining to say whether the company had already been appointed.
The administration is currently finishing work on a three- meter-high fence that rings the park. Built at a cost of about Rp 9 billion, the fence is meant to keep vendors out of the park.
It is believed that the fence also has another function: preventing demonstrators from staging rallies in the park. Since the downfall of former president Soeharto, the park has been a favorite spot for demonstrations.
Construction of the fence, which will be finished this month, sparked much protest by people worried about further loss of the city's sparse open space.
And thousands of poor people, feeling unfairly targeted by the administration's plan to close the park to vendors, formed a human chain to protest the installment of the fence, but to no avail.
There are about 1,500 vendors operating in the park, with their numbers peaking on Sundays.
Sutiyoso said his administration would set aside designated areas in the park for 650 vendors. The remaining vendors will face eviction from the park once the fence is complete.
"We could not accommodate all the vendors. The capacity of the park is limited," he said
He said the 650 vendors would each receive a two-by-two meter space in the southern part of the park, while the administration would build a plaza for park visitors near the vendors.
Benches and tables will be installed in the plaza for visitors wishing to sit down and eat or have a drink.
Non-governmental organization the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), which represents the vendors, said there were more than 2,000 vendors currently operating in the park.
During a meeting with the City Council, the UPC urged the administration to allow all of the vendors to remain in the park.
In other park-related matters, although entrance to the park is meant to be free of charge, those who wish to enter the park on a motorcycle or in a car are charged Rp 1,000 and Rp 2,000, respectively. Those people collecting the money do not work for the city, though there is speculation that they are backed my members of the City Public Order Office. It is unclear if the new fence will have any effect on this practice.