River festival attracts huge crowd

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.