Walking backwards, diagonally? Why not?

Walking backwards, diagonally? Why not?

JAKARTA (JP): While the thought of someone walking backwards
or sideways for thousands of kilometers may strike you as odd, a
man from East Java has set out to do something even stranger, by
walking backwards diagonally across the entire Indonesian
archipelago.

Mudjiman Kamari, a 42-year-old from Jajar village in Blitar,
told Antara that he was not after publicity or some kind of
recognition, but hoping to fulfill a resolution he made when he
was crippled for six months.

"I meditated in water for a long time as part of the healing
process. And then came this 'revelation' during a dream
instructing me to do the walk after getting well," he said in
Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday.

The walk, he added, is also his way of expressing thanks in
the name of Indonesia's independence anniversary.

Mudjiman, a childless widower, said he had already traversed
12 provinces since starting on March 13, covering Sumatra,
Sulawesi, Irian Jaya, East and West Nusa Tenggara, East Timor and
Bali.

This week he began walking backwards diagonally across Java in
hopes of arriving in Jakarta for the commemoration of the Youth
Pledge on Oct. 28.

"God willing, I hope to meet with the Minister of Sports and
Youth Affairs, the Minister/State Secretary and the Vice
President," he said.

"Most government officials I met along the way were cordial,
although some of them turned a blind eye to what I'm doing," he
said without elaborating. (emb)