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)