Ridwan Kamil - JP/Arya Dipa

From April 18 to May 2, the city of Bandung in West Java will host a series of events to complement the 60th anniversary of the 1955 Asian-African Conference. Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil is setting his sights high in utilizing the events to promote the city known as Paris van Java, even though heads of state and delegates will be in Bandung for less than 12 hours as the main events will be held in Jakarta.

Ridwan recently talked with journalists, including The Jakarta Post'€™s Bagus BT Saragih and Arya Dipa, at his office about the events, which will be his first herculean test as mayor since taking office in 2013. Here are excerpts of the interview.

Question: There will be dozens of attractions related to the Asian-African Conference'€™s commemoration in Bandung over several days, but heads of state will be in the city for only one of those days. How do you feel about that?

Answer: It has been decided by the national committee in Jakarta. Besides, delegates at the government-head level require presidential suite hotel rooms. Bandung'€™s hotels do not have enough rooms like that.

You said you wanted to promote Bandung through these events. Is that still possible to achieve if most of the events will not be witnessed by the high-ranking delegates?

State leaders will be in Bandung for only one day but other delegates can stay here longer to attend all events that we are going to organize. I am also thinking about facilitating a city tour for foreign journalists after the commemoration ceremony.

What will the activities of the high-ranking delegates be during their short visit to Bandung?

They will take part in a historical walk along Jl. Asia-Afrika to the Merdeka Building, where Asian and African leaders held the first conference in 1955. Then there will be some speeches by state leaders at the building, followed with Friday prayers at Bandung'€™s Grand Mosque. Finally, the West Java governor will host a lunch at the Pa-
kuan building. That'€™s all. We will also declare April 24 a public holiday to support the event.

On the sidelines of the 50th commemoration 10 years ago, heads of state planted trees taken from their respective countries at Tegallega Park. Do you want them to walk there to see how big the trees are today?

[Laughing] Well, it has been decided by Jakarta that it is not part of the agenda in Bandung. That'€™s all I can say.

Could you name some of the side events to be organized in Bandung?

The Asia-Africa carnival will involve 23 participating countries and will include a solidarity walk and cultural performances. There will be a folk festival at every RW [community unit]. We are trying to break a world record by playing 20,000 angklung Sundanese bamboo musical instruments at the Siliwangi Sports Stadium. Mayors from major cities in Asia and Africa will attend the Smart City Summit.

There will also be an international conference on human rights initiated directly by the UN. Bandung has been regarded as a world pilot city for human rights values.

In addition, there will be the Asia-Africa Youth Conference that will be organized by the Asian-African Conference Museum, not to mention many other performances, photo exhibitions, etc.

Bandung has been greatly preparing for the upcoming events, but are there financial issues that may hamper the efforts?

The issue is that the Bandung municipal administration is not allowed to directly receive funds earmarked for financing the events, including those coming in as third-party grants. This is a national event, so everything is [administered] centrally from Jakarta. For example, the carnival in Bandung will be coordinated by us but it will be registered as the Tourism Ministry'€™s program. There have indeed been delays in the channeling of Rp 20 billion [US$1.56 million] in funds that we requested. We hope it can be settled soon and I am still optimistic everything will go smoothly as planned.

Physically, Bandung has also been reshaping. What are the projects you have been working on to make the city better-looking before the delegates arrive?

We have been renovating the gate at the Pasteur exit of the Cipularang toll road. We are also working on pedestrian crossings in many major streets, particularly along the historic Jl. Asia-Afrika. Along the street, there will be 109 stone balls, which each will represent participating countries in the conference. We have also been mobilizing thousands of volunteers who will also help us prepare our infrastructure. So Bandung people are really enthusiastic about this conference.

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