Jakartans play to learn about books

Jakarta - Something unusual took place in Bank Mandiri Museum in the city‘s Old Town on Sunday afternoon: the building was filled with groups of teens and adults.

One group was watching a yo-yo performance, another was playing the Harry Potter edition of "Monopoly" and a third was making kites.

They all came to the museum to celebrate the Indonesian World Book Day Festival 2008, held between April 23 and 27 by booklover community Forum Indonesia Membaca (Indonesia Reading Forum).

One of the spectators, Ardhani, a civil servant in the North Jakarta mayoralty office, visited the event with her family. She learned about the festival from her sister, who had a booth there.

"I think the event is good because there are a lot of things to encourage children‘s creativity and reading habits," Ardhani said.

She said the venue was interesting for its historical background, which could tempt children to learn more about the city‘s history, museums and the Old Town. She said they would visit Fatahillah Square later if they had time.

"The location is also accessible. We reached this place by busway, after parking our car at Blok M," said Ardhani, who lives in Gandaria, South Jakarta.

Idha, who works in the private sector, said she had just arrived from Semarang, Central Java, for a business trip and went straight from the airport to the venue.

"My children have been asking to come here. It‘s a good event. Unfortunately it didn‘t get enough promotion. The organizer should let schools know that it is going on," said Idha, who learned about the event from a friend.

Another visitor, Dhimen, who cycled to the museum from his home in West Jakarta, said he was only interested in finding books.

The forum‘s program director Dessy Sekar Astina said the event was held to help encourage reading habits through games.

She said the event aimed to build a network among communities as there were around 50 communities and 20 book publishers involved in the event.

"We want this event to become a gathering for the communities, not just a cheap book sale," she said.

She said the event had around 5,000 visitors, a bit less than last year‘s festival.

"Perhaps it‘s because we switched locations to this museum, so only a few people knew and because there is the belief Kota is not accessible," she said.

This was the third time the forum held the event. In 2006 and 2007, it was held in the national Education Ministry‘s library in Senayan.

Source: old.thejakartapost.com (29 April 2008)
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