River festival attracts huge crowd
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Oarsmen carefully paddled through Kali Angke, North Jakarta, one of the most polluted rivers in the city, as thousands of onlookers applauded and laughed as some of the inexperienced rowers got into a bit of trouble.
"Look, those oarsmen seem too hesitant to row their boats. Perhaps they fear that the stinky river water will splash into their faces," said Rinto, a resident of Pluit in North Jakarta.
Sunday's event was called "Enjoy Jakarta's Clean Rivers", and included a decorative boat race and a fashion show, as part of the Jakarta administration's campaign to raise public awareness about cleaning up the city's rivers.
Jostling for a view along both sides of the 1.5-kilometer section of the river, the spectators watched 11 decorative boats -- some of which were delegations from North Jakarta's districts such as Cilincing, Koja, Penjaringan, Tanjung Priok and Kelapa Gading.
"I can't imagine what will happen if those fully loaded boats turn upside down in that stinky river. There might not be anybody willing to go in and rescue them," said another onlooker Elly, 25, a resident of Teluk Gong district.
The river was relatively clean of the floating garbage on Sunday, but it still smelled bad and was blackish in color.
In his address, Governor Sutiyoso acknowledged that the rivers had been severely polluted because of uncontrolled activities by the squatters along riverbanks, who dump their household waste into the rivers.
"As you see right now, we can use the river for our festival. If all of Jakarta residents would stop disposing their waste in the rivers, then we can all enjoy river transportation and tourism in the future," said Sutiyoso.
Sutiyoso has repeatedly said that river transportation was among the alternatives for the public transportation woes in the city -- which has 13 rivers -- as part of an overall transportation system along with the busway and planned subway and monorail lines.
The administration has also started dredging and widening the rivers to help mitigate annual flooding in the city.
Six stages made of wooden planks and empty barrels were created for over 30 artists, former participants of the Abang- None (Mister-Miss) pageant and local youths, who performed during the event.
Sutiyoso, accompanied by the acting City Council chairman Dani Anwar and acting deputy chairman Johnny Wenas Polii, also took the opportunity to cruise the river.
Aside from the decorative boats, spectators also enjoyed a Chinese lion dance, an areca tree-climbing contest, as well as traditional Betawi Tanjidor and Gambang Kromong music performances.
Jakarta Tourism Agency head Aurora Tambunan revealed earlier that the drive to clean up the city's rivers had also prompted local residents in Kota, West Jakarta, to organize a similar festival.
"In the Kali Besar Festival to be held next month, the residents grouped in the Batavia Advancement Committee will clean up the garbage on the river," said Aurora.
The event would also be supported by officials from the public works and sanitation agencies, she said.