Thousands become Scottish
Thousands become Scottish
for a day at Highland event
JAKARTA (JP): The essence of the Scottish highlands transpired
here yesterday as the distinct sound of bagpipes and muscled men
in kilts roamed the grounds of the PASI athletic stadium for the
20th Highland Gathering.
Thousands of expatriates, Indonesians and Scottish "wanna-
be's" flocked to the Senayan sports complex for the annual one-
day event celebrating Scottish culture.
In addition to the traditional Scottish pastimes of tossing
the caber, hammer throwing, Celtic dances and bagpipe music, the
spectators were also treated to athletic competitions and curious
events such as an Australian wood-chopping team.
The origin of the highland gatherings dates back several
centuries to the annual assemblage of Scottish clans. They became
formally established in Britain in the 19th century and have
grown in popularity ever since.
The first gathering to be held here was in 1975, with only a
few hundred people at Kuningan stadium.
Present yesterday was the City's Vice-Governor R.S. Museno,
who came on behalf of Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, the patron of
the event.
"It's absolutely marvelous," exclaimed British Ambassador
Roger Carrick when asked by The Jakarta Post to comment on this
year's gathering. "Its a wonderful family event and Indonesians
are a family minded people, that's why its so popular."
A delightful family atmosphere was certainly apparent at
yesterday's events. It would be difficult to find a similar scene
in Jakarta where so many little feet and baby-carriages roamed
freely.
Nowhere was the constant sound of giggling louder than on the
Children's Greasy Pole, where two-children, seated on a slippery
horizontal pole, would bang pillows at each other until one fell
into the water.
"This is fun, it's nice and cool to fall into the water," said
10 year-old Michelle.
Throughout the day the weather was the only sore spot, with
the grumbling at the scorching heat mostly coming from
Indonesians.
"They should have it at a place with more trees," muttered
Adji behind his thick sunglasses and hat.
Chairman of the executive committee of the gathering, J.
Crawford-Hogarth, estimated that throughout the day about 7000
came, half of whom were Indonesians.
Accident
Unfortunately the gathering did have some tense moments, when
during the skydiving exhibition one of the parachutists, Efad,
was caught in a gust of wind and smashed into the fence
surrounding the athletic field, bending two-iron pikes.
The high winds pushed the jumper away from the landing site
and towards the fence.
Marshals at the gathering told the Post that Efad was not
critically injured, but did suffer a broken jaw and femur as a
result of the accident.
Though Efad's 20 other colleagues from the Indonesian
Skydiving International (I.S.I.) team safely landed on the
designated target, it was heart-stopping to see the proximity of
the jumpers to the stands.
It is unclear whether this was deliberate theatrics or
flirting with disaster. In any case, keeping in mind the small
size of the stadium and the large crowds, similar stunts in the
future should be reconsidered.
Crawford-Hogarth said the proceeds from the gathering will go
to various social charities here, although he did not yet know
the amount collected at yesterday's event. Last year the Highland
Gathering donated Rp 10 million (US$4,716).
When asked to compare the gathering here to similar events
throughout the world, Crawford-Hogarth said that Jakarta's was
"the biggest in Asia."
"You would have to go to Scotland to find anything to match
this."
He pointed out that nearly 200 foreign participants were
taking part from such countries as Hong Kong and Singapore.
(dlz/mds)