Opening ceremony to be grand festival

Opening ceremony to be grand festival

JAKARTA (JP): A well-knit blend of dance, music and acrobatic
performances are set to raise the curtain to the 19th SEA Games
at Senayan stadium tomorrow.

Barring unexpected rain that may fall due to the change of
season, the opening ceremony will be a grandiose, exuberant
festival, courtesy of 13,000 high school students, athletes,
artists and Armed Forces cadets.

The military academy music corps will serve as the appetizer
of the ceremony, playing melodies of both traditional and pop
songs.

The Gita Nusantara choir will then sing popular songs from the
Games' 10 participating countries.

A group of 40 parachutists from the Indonesian Aerosports
Federation and the Indonesian Armed Forces are also due to land
in the stadium. They will carry the flags of the SEA Games, the
10 participating countries and the Games mascot Hanoman.

In the east stand, 6,000 high school students will be keeping
an eye on their instructor for a card-flashing display of 52
configurations, including logos, the flag of each participating
country and Hanoman.

The students will notify the tens of thousands of spectators
of the arrival of President Soeharto and Vice President Try
Sutrisno with a configuration depicting the state's leaders.

The procession of the participating athletes will then follow.
The contingents will enter the stadium in alphabetical order,
with host Indonesia bringing up the rear. Each of the contingents
will be welcomed by configurations showing images of its national
flag and a greeting in its own language.

Brunei will lead the pack, followed by Cambodia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and
host Indonesia. Olympic badminton men's doubles gold medalist
Rexy Mainaky will carry the Indonesian national flag.

Eight local sports stars of yesteryear -- shuttlers Christian
Hadinata and Verawaty Fajrin, karate great Luciana Taroreh,
spiker Liem Siao Bok, judo master Perry Pantaow, sprinter
Carolina Reopassa, archer Nurfitriyana Saiman and boxer Ferry
Moniaga -- will hoist the Games flag.

Christian had the same honor in the 1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona.

Climax

Another badminton legend, Ferry Sonnevile, will bring the
ceremony to its climax with a solo torch lighting.

Gripping the torch in his right hand, 66-year-old Ferry will
enter the arena, do a full lap and then make his way to the
cauldron accompanied by a choir of Indonesian high school
students singing Whitney Houston's One Moment in Time.

Ferry will just have to stretch out his hand to light the
cauldron.

The man in charge of the ceremony, M. Mansjur, said that Ferry
was chosen because he was a competent athlete who had become a
successful businessman.

"Ferry will open people's eyes that an athlete need not
undergo a hard life after his or her golden era fades," Mansjur
said at Wednesday's general rehearsal.

After the moment of solemnity, pop singer Ruth Sahanaya will
burst out of a huge plywood ball to sing the SEA Games theme
song, The Spirit of the SEA Games. The song was composed by
singer Melky Guslow.

The athletes' oath will be read by judoka Aprillia Marzuki,
while volleyball referee Leo Rolex will read the officials' oath.

The 10 days of competition will get into its full swing as
soon as President Soeharto declares the Games open by pressing a
siren.

As soon as the siren wails, a cannon will be fired 19 times
and thousands of balloons will be released into the sky. A laser
show, fireworks and a performance by a band will mark the end of
the ceremony.

SEA Games organizers said that the ceremony would need 450,000
watts for lighting, 350,000 watts for sound and another 750,000
watts for stadium illumination. In anticipation of a blackout,
the committee has set up a two-megawatt generator. (08/10)