RI's kids shine in painting competition
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian children shone in this year's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) painting contest.
Jessica Gunawan, an 11-year-old from Jakarta, was one of the 10 top winners in B group for entrants aged 10 to 16.
Titled Golekkan (Playing with Wooden Puppets), her colorful painting depicted a group of children playing with puppets in a garden. She received a gold medal.
In the A group of children aged between five and 10, Ahmad Herbie Wibowo, 5, from Bandung also won the gold. His work, Canoe Competition, showed several canoes racing toward the finish line.
Held to commemorate the 54th independence anniversary of Indonesia and to welcome the new millennium, the painting contest was intended to strengthen solidarity among ASEAN children by providing a media for them to express their creativity through painting. It was organized by the Indonesian Directorate General of Culture.
It was also to reaffirm the need to enhance cooperative efforts among ASEAN countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- for the survival, protection and development of children as agreed at the fifth summit of ASEAN head of governments in Bangkok in December 1995.
Themed "We are the Children of ASEAN" and subthemed "Traditional Arts in Our Country", the competition garnered huge interest from children throughout ASEAN, especially Indonesia. Winners were announced last week.
In group A, the competition's organizer received 1,029 entries: six from Brunei Darussalam, 188 from Myanmar, 81 from Singapore, 34 from Thailand, 88 from Vietnam and 632 from Indonesia.
For group B, the organizer received nine paintings from Brunei Darussalam, 22 from Laos, 144 from Myanmar, 74 from Singapore, 48 from Thailand, 23 from Vietnam and 465 from Indonesia.
The paintings were selected by a five-member jury on Oct. 26 based on criteria including their consistency with the selected theme, technical skills and creativity.
Indonesia reaped most gold medals in group A with eight of the 10 winning pieces. The winners were Artesa Galuh with Art Festival, Ayu Katarina Kusnadi (Balinese Ceremony), Ahmad Herbie Wibowo (Canoe Competition), Bich Hong of Vietnam (Wash One's Hair), Lisma Niken Pratiwi (Wayang Golek/Wooden Puppet), Nathania (Candle Dance), Russy Novita A. (Cocks Fighting), Yor Rayuth of Thailand (In The Temple), Y. Permana P. (Dayak Art Festival) and Zinda Ilma (untitled).
First winners in group B are Ardidho A. Sandy (Watching Folk Art), Candra Megatawa (Reog Dance), Dusit of Thailand (Khon), Jessica Gunawan (Golekkan, MG Zaw Win Phyoe of Myanmar (Elephant Dance), Narrupon of Thailand (untitled), Nguyen Ngoc Que of Vietnam (Help Lonely Old Women), Patcharin of Thailand (Thai Custom), Ryan Ricardo (Kuda Lumping Dance) and Vo Thi Thoa of Vietnam (Have A Good Time). (ste)