D

espite the controversies surrounding the Komodo Dragon Park’s bid in the New7Wonders of Nature global competition, the public enthusiastically voted for the park during the final hours before online voting closed.

Some 400 visitors to the Komodo Museum at the Indonesia Miniature Park (TMII) in East Jakarta collectively voted for Komodo on Friday, minutes before the voting ended at 6 p.m. Jakarta time, as former vice president Jusuf Kalla asked them to send SMS to support the park in its attempt to win the competition.

“Type KOMODO and send it to 9818,” Kalla, who is also the ambassador for Komodo Island, said.

Stamps with pictures of Komodo were also launched at the museum.

State-owned postal company PT Pos Indonesia executive director GNP Sugiarta Yasa said the launching of the stamps also marked the opening of the 26th SEA Games — using two pictures of Komodo, known as Modo and Modi — as their mascots.

Emmy Hafild, who chairs the Komodo Dragon Park’s Official Supporting Committee (P2Komodo), said the committee was optimistic the park would be named one of the seven winners.

“We are confident that the park will make it onto the list of the seven wonders of nature,” she said.

The Switzerland-based New7Wonders Foundation has announced that the first count indicating the provisional voting results will be announced on Friday at 7:07 p.m. GMT (2:07 a.m. on Saturday in
Jakarta), at new7wonders.com.

The nomination of Komodo park has sparked controversy as the tourism ministry’s official supporting committee for Komodo withdrew from the poll in mid-August due to the foundation’s lack of transparency and credibility. The island’s candidacy was subsequently picked up by P2Komodo, which is run by a group of environmentalists.

People in other parts of the archipelago have also keenly supported the Komodo park’s bid in the competition, which has been running since early 2009.

State-owned power company PT PLN chief Nur Pamudji led collective voting for the park at the Geothermal Power Plant (PLTP) in Ulumbu, West Manggarai regency in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Thursday.

More than 5,000 people also gathered at Manggarai’s capital of Labuan Bajo during a cultural festival and
together they voted for Komodo.

The festival, held from Nov. 10 to 12, saw 2,011 dancers from nine regencies in NTT perform the Ndundu Ndake traditional dance to reflect their joy that the giant lizards should become one of the world’s wonders of nature.

But not all NTT residents, such as Ludgerius Minus, enjoyed the excitement. The Labuan Bajo resident said his neighbors did not feel the excitement of the celebration.

“We have been living very close to the park for years but we have felt excluded since the beginning of the campaign,” he said.

He doubted that the government would involve the locals in any development plans in the province.

Florianus Surion Adu, West Manggarai Fishermen’s Union chairman, said the park was already widely known prior to its bid and yet the locals still live in poverty and are in need of empowerment. (msa)