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)