Recreational parks remain popular among revelers
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)