Parade Mardeka: Tanjung Lesung Tanam Kembali event took place lively at Lalassa Beach Club, Tanjung Lesung- Banten, on August 16, 2022 to August 17, 2022. Tourists, locals, students, and the community enjoy the bazaar, live music, various interesting competitions, planting tree seedlings, welcoming bicycle marathons, to a flag ceremonies under the sea.
A scan of the Peduli Lindungi app recorded 200s of people coming to Lalassa Beach Club for two days. They consisted of children to adults who came alone or in groups to celebrate the 77th independence day of the Republic of Indonesia.
Visitors spend IDR 45,000 for tickets to enter lalassa Beach Club. All visitor vehicles park in the parking area near the entrance of lalassa Beach Club.
The series of Parade Merdeka events itself began with a bicycle marathon on Tuesday (16/8) morning at the Batavia Tower- Jakarta. Where marked the giving of the red and white flag by Poernomo Siswoprasetijo as the President Director of Tanjung Lesung to the bicycle community to be taken to Tanjung Lesung for a flag raising ceremony under the sea.
Arriving at Tanjung Lesung in the afternoon before the evening, the cyclists were greeted with a row of micro-business tents. They directly rushed over a bottle of thirst-relieving cold drinking at that time.
Poetoet Soedarjanto, representing the cycling community, said he was happy to be part of the Parade Merdeka event. Because besides Tanjung Lesung has a beautiful and comfortable place as a gathering place for community members, it can make a positive contribution to the community by campaigning for cycling to reduce the impact of global warming.
“Starting from being with our cyclist friends from Batavia-Jakarta Tower, we cycled together for 180 km to Tanjung Lesung. The trip, of course, was a lot of unexpected things, such as busy traffic, climbs, and other obstacles but thank God we finished well. And in the next few hours we will celebrate the 77th Anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia with great fanfare in Tanjung Lesung,” poetoet said.
Then, the event continued with the welcoming and folk party sang Saka Night which was enlivened by live music by the Roompoet Hijau Band. Hundreds of people were seen participating in the excitement of the welcoming event accompanied by reggae genre music.
The Second Day of the Parade Merdeka
The event began with the handover of flags from the bicycle community group to the management of Tanjung Lesung, represented by Kunto Wijoyo as the Operational Director of Tanjung Lesung. Then, the flag was brought to the edge of Lalassa Beach where the paskibra from the President’s High School was already waiting to be carried to the middle of the sea. After being accepted, the president’s high school paskibra carried the flag on a boat with the flag-raising divers.
The flag ceremony is carried out like a flag ceremony in general, which is attended by the master of ceremonies, flag raisers and participants of the ceremony. There is a pontoon – where the ceremonial leaders and ceremonial participants stand above the sea – and right in front of it is a flagpole poking up so that the ceremony participants can see the flag has been flown.
Well, as soon as the boat arrived at pontoon, there were already Tanjung Lesung management and community representatives, sponsors and supporters of the event around 10 people. A minute later, 20 divers also entered the sea water. They swam towards the flagpole and formed a formation directly in front of the mast. Then, three divers raised the flag until the red and white flag appeared above sea level. Signifying the raising of the flag under the sea went safely and successfully.
After that, the flag-raising event replaced with coral reef transplantation. Where it is carried out by a combination of various agencies, namely Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University, Sulat Sunda Conservation Foundation, Saka Bahari and Ndlahom Project.
Conserve Nature, Lack Global Warming
After the activity in the middle of the sea, the Merdeka Parade continues in the beach area of Lalassa Beach Club. It can be seen that hundreds of people have filled the bazaar area at Lalassa Beach Club and it became even more full when the committee informed that it would start the competition, including a competition to eat crackers, clogs, tug of war, kayaking competitions and Tanjung Lesung Fashion Week.
All competitions were exciting and lively. That’s at least what Nini and her family feel. They — who came from Bekasi and Tangerang — participated in the excitement of the Merdeka Parade by tasting the snacks, taking pictures and participating in the competition.
“If I as a visitor see it as a whole, this event is well coordinated, because it can be seen from the events that it is neatly assembled. And the most memorable event was Tanjung Lesung Fashion Week. It’s funny. My son also participated,” Nini said with a smile. Nini and her husband, who are compact in black shirts, also said they were satisfied with the series of Free Parade events.
Meanwhile, Poernomo Siswoprasetijo as the President Director of Tanjung Lesung, explained that Tanjung Lesung collaborated with communities and agencies to equally boost tourism while participating in preserving nature in the midst of facing global warming whose impact affects daily life. For example, longer or shorter season periods, rising sea levels, and increasing storm frequency.
“The Merdeka Parade has succeeded in becoming an attraction for tourism, promotion and synergy of community and agency creativity, which certainly strengthens Tanjung Lesung as a tourist area,” explained Poernomo.
Furthermore, Poernomo hopes that Tanjung Lesung can become a hub for various communities. Because the success of the Merdeka Parade event proves that Tanjung Lesung – one of the independent city projects owned by PT Jababeka Tbk – is the right place for the community to hold events.
“Not to forget, I would also like to thank all parties who support this Merdeka Parade event to be successfully carried out, namely the Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup, Yayasan Konservasi Selat Sunda, the Ndlahom Project, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University (UNTIRTA) and its students, Edan Eling Racing, Ikatan Dokter Indonesia (IDI), Saka Bahari, and Pemuda Pancasila,” poernomo concluded.
