Scavengers take walk with President

Thousands of Jakartans, including scavengers, clad in red-and- white attire headed to the National Monument (Monas) park on Sunday morning for a walk, as part of Indonesia's 60th Independence Day celebrations.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Kristiani Herawati Yudhoyono (third left), Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso (second right) and his wife Rini Sutiyoso (third left), as well as several Cabinet members joined the crowd for the five-kilometer walk.

Before kicking off the event at around 6:30 a.m., Susilo handed out gift packages to scavengers, homeless people and former athletes participating in the walk.

The President also made a donation in the form of medicine to the Indonesian Red Cross.

The crowd, which mainly consisted of war veterans, students, athletes, office workers, scavengers and homeless Jakartans, were treated to a variety of entertainments after the walk ended.

Also present at the event on Sunday were People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid, Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono, State Minister of Administrative Reforms Taufik Effendi, State Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Suryadarma Ali and State Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs Adyaksa Dault.

The walk was held as part of activities to mark the country's 60th Independence Day, which falls on Wednesday. --JP