International Scout Jamboree in Indonesia

My recollections of Scouting days in England I would rather forget and mainly because I was kicked out for unruly behaviour. If the truth be known I was only consulting with Girl Guides at the time.

Scouting is a big thing in South East Asia and especially in Indonesia. When Soeharto was President, he was the chief Scout bloke. He was always at Jamborees. And it seems that SBY is taking the mantle as well.

Over 100 boy and girl scouts from a number of countries are expected to take part in the 2006 National Jamboree to be held at Kiara Payung camping ground in Sumedang, West Java, from July 16 to 23.

The foreign scouts will be part of up to 22,093 participants from the country's 32 provinces at the event scheduled to be opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mohammad Masduki, chairman of the organizing committee said.

Most of the foreign participants were from Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. The Scout committee had cleared a 60 hectare plot of land for the scouting activities in addition to five camps.

The participants would be given the chance to join rowing and tea processing at Situ Cileunca and in Sumedang the participants would be invited to join trekking along rivers and observe tofu production. They will also have the chance to do some hiking at Mount Tangkubanperahu in Subang and Mount Gene in Cianjur. Other activities will include exploring caves in Sukabumi and a visit to Jatiluhur dam in Purwakarta as well as visiting a museum in Bandung.

The West Java provincial administration has allocated a fund of Rp 24 billion from its 2005 regional budget for the jamboree while the central government has allocated 9.2 billion from the state budget to cover the transportation costs and meal allowances.