Recreational parks remain popular among revelers
JAKARTA (JP): The city's major recreational parks -- Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Ragunan Zoo and Taman Impian Jaya Ancol -- have remained favorite places for people to celebrate Idul Fitri.
Thousands of people spent part of their holiday at the parks on Saturday and yesterday, though crowds were small on Friday since most people went to mosques for Idul Fitri prayers and visited relatives.
Friday's heavy downpours also forced many people to stay at home.
Visitor turnout at Taman Mini (the Beautiful Indonesia in Miniature Park) in East Jakarta reached its peak yesterday with the total number of visitors reaching over 80,000, Dandul Hardoyono, the park's spokesman, said.
Dandul said that 76,306 people visited the park Saturday while only 15,000 people came Friday.
He attributed the few number of visitors on Friday to the heavy rain. "Moreover, people also concentrated on meeting their relatives first to ask their elders for forgiveness and to exchange greetings," he said.
The visitors who came to Taman Mini were mostly from Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, he said.
Thousands of visitors also came to Taman Impian Jaya Ancol (Ancol Dreamland) in North Jakarta on the second day (Saturday) of Idul Fitri.
Agus, an employee at the park, admitted that the number of visitors Friday was fewer than on Saturday. But he did not have an exact count of visitors.
He predicted the park would experience its heaviest visitor turnout of the holiday on Sunday.
Visitors at the park consisted of not only those who were celebrating Idul Fitri, but also Indonesians of Chinese origin who celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year on Jan. 28 and others who just wanted to enjoy the official three-day holiday with their families.
Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta was also a popular visitation site on Saturday. Park officials estimated that 100,000 people would visit the zoo yesterday.
Eddy M. Rasjid, head of the zoo's promotion department, said that the number of zoo visitors had reached only 20,000 on Friday, but had jumped to about 60,000 on Saturday.
Crowds of people were also seen at major shopping centers, including the Lippo shopping mall in Karawaci, Tangerang, and Plaza Senayan in South Jakarta. Most people spent time in the food courts.
People in Pegangsaan subdistrict in Central Jakarta celebrated Idul Fitri in a special way by performing their Bedug Lebaran tradition for one full week.
The tradition of beating bedug (drums) has been maintained in the subdistrict for years.
Eight colorfully decorated drums were arranged in a row along Jl. Tambak, with each representing one of the subdistrict's neighborhood associations.
"We are maintaining the tradition which has been performed for years," said Haerul Saleh, chairman of the Bedug Lebaran committee.
No one knew when the tradition started. "When I started to live here 20 years ago, the tradition already existed," Haerul said.
According to him, the number of drums had fallen from 18 last year to only eight.
"Maybe because of the monetary crisis which has hit everybody, including members of our community," he said.
Haerul said that a decorated drum cost about Rp 500,000 (US$50).
"Years ago, there was a contest for the best drum decorations, but there wasn't one this year. We only tried to maintain the tradition," he said.
Haerul said that the heavy rain which hit the area on the eve of Idul Fitri did not lessen the community spirit for beating the drums.
"The heavy rain, instead, stirred up our spirits to make the drums louder," Sunandar, a community member said. (team)