Nature festival to be held soon

Nature festival to be held soon

JAKARTA (JP): A unique festival featuring potted plants as
well as other plants, natural artistic stones, wild chicken and
bamboo products will take place at the Senayan sports stadium in
Central Jakarta early in June.

The festival, the first of its kind in Indonesia, is being
jointly organized by five different groups: the bonsai lovers,
the suiseki (natural artistic stones) lovers, the flora lovers,
the Ayam Bekisar (wild chicken of phasianidae family) lovers, and
the bamboo society.

Honorary chairman of the organizing committee, former minister
of justice Ismail Saleh said President Soeharto or First Lady
Tien Soeharto is expected to open the nine-day event on June 3.
Government officials, public figures and diplomats will be among
the honorary guests during the opening ceremony, he told a press
conference yesterday.

Ismail expressed the hope that the festival, called Salam
Nusantara '95, would help improve the people's appreciation of
nature and arts.

Ismail, who owns a suiseki shop in South Jakarta's Pondok
Indah Mall, said that in view of their artistic value, bonsai and
suiseki could be quite invaluable.

"You can buy bonsai or suiseki for as low as Rp 25,000 a
piece, but there are many which sell for up to Rp 20 million
each," he said.

The best local suiseki is found in West Sumatra, Ismail said,
adding that the stones are black and harder than those found in
other places in the country.

Suiseki is very popular in Japan and Korea, and have been
collected by people for centuries. The Japanese and Korean
governments have banned stone-hunting activities in those
countries because suiseki have become rare, according to Ismail.

"Now, they start to eye Indonesia, where the artistic stones
are still abundant," said Ismail.

Former minister of environment and population Emil Salim,
who is a patron of the Indonesian Bamboo Society, was also
present at the press conference.

The unique festival will be held in conjunction with the 50th
anniversary of Indonesia's independence. (sim)