Rafting body chief gives priority to safety

Rafting body chief gives priority to safety

By Primastuti Handayani and Riyadi

JAKARTA (JP): After having an accident in 1988 she quit
whitewater rafting for three years. But now she heads the newly-
established Indonesian Whitewater Rafting Federation.

"I got into an accident the first time I rafted; my marine
raft broke into two after hitting a large rock," said 29-year-old
Amalia Yunita. But that was eight years ago, when rafting was new
here.

She started up again in 1991, when her university friends on
the Aranyacala female rafting team asked her to join the team's
rafting expedition in Alas River, Aceh. Since then, rafting has
become one of her favorite activities, besides cave exploring,
rock climbing and mountain climbing.

Together with her fiancee Lody R. Korua and some of her
friends, Yunita -- who was then a civil engineer -- established a
commercial rafting firm, PT Lintas Jeram Nusantara, in September
1995. It is popularly known as Arus Liar.

Arus Liar operates rafting rides on the Citarik River in West
Java, where it competes with its sister company, Buaya Jeram
Sungai. When a rafting federation was formed in March this year
by 38 professional and amateur rafting associations, Yunita was
appointed chairwoman.

The Jakarta Post interviewed Yunita to get her views on the
development of rafting as a favorite weekend pastime for yuppies.

QUESTION: Whitewater rafting used to be regarded as a
dangerous sport, especially after a number of people were killed
here in Indonesia. How did it then become so popular among
yuppies here?

ANSWER: Whitewater rafting has been around in Indonesia since
1975, when there was a competition on the Citarum River, West
Java, organized by the Wanadri nature lovers club. At that time,
most of the participants did not have any knowledge about
rafting. They had guts but improper equipment. As a result, seven
people died.

The media began to dwell on rafting accidents and people
started to get scared of the sport. It was an international
whitewater rafting expedition, called Sobek Expedition, that
introduced whitewater rafting as a commercial sport in Indonesia.

Sobek, which was part of the Mountain Travel expedition
company, introduced commercial whitewater rafting on the Alas
river in Aceh, the Ayung river in Bali, the Sa'adah river in
Sulawesi and the Citarik river in West Java.

Now there are more than 100 whitewater rafting clubs in the
country, of which only 11 are professionally managed. And then we
have the federation, which groups not only the commercial clubs
but also the non-commercial clubs, including those from
universities.

Q: What's the idea behind establishing a federation?

A: We have some commercial rafting operators which are very
advanced in terms of equipment compared to the others. However,
there are non-commercial rafting clubs which do not have proper
equipment. They still use marine rafts, for instance.

Well, many of those clubs take guests because they see it as a
profitable business. But most of them are not serious. They don't
have proper equipment for their guests' safety. It worrying
because if there's an accident, then all of us will take the
blame.

Commercial and non-commercial rafting clubs have to help each
other and reduce the number of rafting casualties, if possible to
a zero level. The accidents are usually caused by a lack of
knowledge and proper equipment. For instance, they do not survey
the river first, or use proper rafts.

The more river rafting accidents you have the more difficult
it will be for commercial clubs to attract guests. When Arus Liar
started its operation it had difficulties in marketing its
product. People were still scared of rafting because of the media
accounts of so many people being killed in rafting accidents.

Therefore, commercial and non-commercial rafting clubs
established the federation so that the members could exchange
views and knowledge and communicate with each other. In addition,
they can also exchange guests. We now have better relationships
among commercial rafting groups. However, some commercial clubs
refuse to join the federation and think that they only have to
give a donation to the federation.

Q: Do you get support from the government?

A: Yes, we receive support from Pak Sarwono (Kusumaatmadja,
State Minister of the Environment) and Maj. Gen. Soeharto, the
marine commander, who is our patron.

Q: What are your plans as the new head of the federation?

A: First of all, we will try to convince those who are not yet
members to join us. By joining the federation, they will get a
lot of advantages, like what I have just explained. Of course,
they will be competing against each other to attract guests but
it should be done fairly.

We will try to set standards and criteria for equipment and
rafting guides to ensure that they provide secure rafting
services to customers.

We will also continue rafting promotion activities so more and
more people will try whitewater rafting, either for a hobby or
just for relaxing on weekends.

Q: Do commercial clubs have to insure their guests?

A: As far as I know, there is no government regulation. Only a
few rafting firms insure their customers. The federation plans to
include insurance requirements for the establishment of
commercial rafting firms. So, when people ask for recommendations
on how to start the business, we will require them to provide
life insurance for their guests and also their rafting guides.

Q: There are those who say that commercial whitewater rafting
damages the environment, especially the river. How would you
respond?

A: I've heard cynical comments from some non-governmental
organizations that we -- commercial rafting operators -- damage
the environment. Of course that's not true. We have invited them
to try our rafting trips to show them that we do not cause any
damage. If we did, we wouldn't be able to sell rafting to our
main customers, who are middle and upper-class people that are
aware of environmental issues.

Arus Liar has invested a lot of money to help preserve the
environment. We needed nearly a year to change the behavior of
our local staff, like refraining from throwing garbage into the
river. We have some 50 local staff members. We also cooperate
with local administrations to educate the those living on river
banks about the importance of keeping the rivers clean.

Yes, there are still people who wash their clothes in the
river. We cannot do much about this because if we don't want them
to wash in the river, we must provide washing places for them
away from the river.

Arus Liar is now studying the prospects of opening a branch on
the Cicatih river. The water is dirty but the streams are good.