Thanks to a water race between two Indonesian politicians, we can now hope to have clean lakes in the capital.
Late last year, Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti challenged the Jakarta Provincial Government to clean up and revitalize popular Sunter Lake in North Jakarta, which previously had issues with litter and mud deposits. Jakarta Vice Governor Sandiaga Uno — a known fitness buff — then accepted the challenge on the condition that Susi must be prepared to race him on the lake — him swimming and Susi on her trusty paddle board — to prove to the public that Sunter is safe for water activities once it’s been cleaned. Susi accepted.
Yesterday, coinciding with the Sunter Lake Festival and with thousands of spectators in attendance, Indonesia’s most popular minister proved that she uses her paddleboard for much more than just looking cool while smoking and drinking coffee as she made light work out of the swimming Sandiaga on the 1 km race (that said, she did stop in the middle of the race while she was way ahead of Sandiaga to lie down and then have a cup of coffee on her board, as shown at the 7:50 mark in the video below).
Susi eventually won the race, saying afterwards that the intention was always to raise the public’s awareness of the importance of clean lakes and waterways.
“I don’t mind if I’m turned into a dancing monkey. We are the monkeys for the public’s amusement, that’s fine. What for? For a clean Jakarta, a happy Jakarta,” Susi said, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Susi also hinted that her racing days are far from over, saying that she might challenge other regional officials in Indonesia to race so that they too will clean their lakes.
Sandiaga admitted that his administration still has a long way to go to clean up the capital’s lakes.
“There’s still a lot of homework. Yesterday is the start of hopefully many more,” Sandiaga said at City Hall today, as quoted by Kompas.
“But however (the administration) maintains the lakes, it won’t be completely effective unless the public plays their part (in keeping them clean).”
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