Tugu Muda replica made of garbage

SEMARANG: Students grouped under the Student Nature Lovers of Semarang State University have created a replica of the renowned Tugu Muda, the city's landmark, from garbage in protest over improper management of waste.

The same height as the original landmark, the replica now stands 15 meters high in the yard of the library building of the university.

Chairman of the replica's technical team Dwi Harjana said that garbage was deliberately chosen as the main raw material for making the monument because, as the group saw it, problems related to garbage had not been managed properly.

"We still witness garbage being dumped into rivers every day. It's obviously polluting," Dwi said.

It took twenty-five people and three weeks to finish the replica using some 2.8 tons of garbage and 250 pieces of wood of four by six centimeters thick and three meters in length.

For their innovative idea, the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) granted the group a certificate of merit as the first and biggest replica made of garbage. It was the 1492nd certificate the museum has issued and was directly handed over to the group by MURI director Paulus Pangka on Tuesday. -- JP