Residents, weather welcome APEC to Bogor
BOGOR (JP): About one thousand Bogor residents cheerfully welcomed APEC delegations here as their leaders snaked through city streets in one procession after another.
The cloudy day also looked to welcome the meeting as prospects of rain feared earlier went unfounded, though it rained the day before as well as on Saturday evening here.
Hundreds of students, government officials and members of youth organizations lined the streets where APEC leaders passed.
A line of residents stretched for a kilometer down Jl. Pajajaran, which is in front of the Jakarta-Bogor tollgate, to Jl. Jalak Harupat and Jl. H. Juanda, in front of the Bogor Palace gate.
Dressed casually, some still in jogging suits, they started gathering at 6 a.m. and dispersed gradually after all the leaders entered the palace around 8.30 a.m.
Bogor authorities announced early on that the town's central area, where the palace is situated, would be off limits to vehicles and pedestrians from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
The people waved their hands excitedly every time a procession of vehicles passed by, though it was never clear who was on board.
"Has Clinton passed by?" people asked one another after the procession was over, some believing he came by chopper instead.
Many in attendance were there on their own accord, but most were ordered to come.
"We are here at the instruction of our teachers," said Nurhasanah, a local private high school student.
She and several schoolmates walked one kilometer from their house to the road site.
Each of them carried a yellow card, issued by the Bogor police intelligence service. Under the initial plan, security officers would have checked on the cards but, as it turned out, none of them did.
The students reportedly had been provided with red and white Indonesian flags which, according the initial plan, they would wave at each procession of APEC leaders. But, at the last minute the plan was canceled by the officials for reasons unknown to most.
"I have no idea why it has been canceled," said Sgt. Syafrul Husein.
Deserted
While APEC leaders were holding their meeting at the palace, most Bogor residents looked more interested in staying home, watching television or doing household jobs.
Shops were all closed on Jl. Surya Kencana, the main business thoroughfare. Some food stores were still open, hoping to lure customers from the visiting APEC crowd. Banners reading "Welcome APEC delegates" were still hanging in front of the stores.
The Baranangsiang bus terminal, which was situated in front of the Jakarta-Bogor tollgate was closed since midnight. Streets were very much deserted as most public bus drivers called it a day-off.
"I think more than half of the drivers are sleeping at home, waiting for all the presidents (APEC leaders) to leave," said bus driver Dadang, who acknowledged that he wasn't terribly informed about APEC.
"So far, the authorities have not given clear information about it," he argued.
Over 700 officers, recruited from the police corps and the West Java agency of traffic and land transportation, were standing on guard at almost every intersection.
Dozens lingered near the famed Bogor Botanical Garden, which is adjacent to the palace ground, to watch the officers chat about the weather and the rumors circulating about authorities having hired shamans to ward off the rains.
Bogor Mayor H.E. Gunardi strongly denied the rumor, saying the officials had only held prayers with clerics at mosques for that purpose, which they did routinely for several weeks before the APEC meeting.
"We believe in God and, God willing, hope the weather will be good," said the mayor.