- REUTERS/ Supri
VIVAnews - Twenty-eight teams comprising 66 persons were driving auto-rickshaws (“Bemo”) from Jakarta to Bangkok, a distance of 3,000 km, starting today. They compete to reach the finishing line on Sunday, 30 October, says the ASEAN Secretariat in its release in Jakarta.
The ASEAN Rickshaw Run teams were flagged off from the ASEAN Secretariat building in Jakarta this morning by the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr Surin Pitsuwan; the Governor of Jakarta, Dr Fauzi Bowo; and the Director-General of ASEAN-Indonesia, Mr Djauhari Oratmangun.
The participants come from 12 countries, and Jakarta is the capital of the ASEAN Chair this year.
Dr Surin said the activity will reach out to many people along the route. “The ASEAN Rickshaw Run will help to promote the beauty and connectivity of ASEAN to the eyes of the world, and foster close relationships among the participants and the people of ASEAN they will meet along the journey,” he said.
“The ASEAN Rickshaw Run is the first in this region, but I hope that the success this year will encourage us to turn this into an annual event – featuring the diversity in each Member State.”
All teams started from Jakarta, and ride their Bemos westwards to Sumatra (Indonesia). In Belawan, they will cross the Straits of Malacca to Penang (Malaysia) by vessel, before travelling mainland again, this time northwards towards Satun (Thailand). All teams are expected to finish in Bangkok on Sunday, 30 October.
The ASEAN Rickshaw Run is organised by The Adventurists, an English award-winning adventure company which specialises in running extreme global adventures to raise money for charities. They do this in cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat.
“There's no guarantee of the teams making it to the finish line and no back-up. It's just them, half a horse power of engineering genius and every obstacle an unfamiliar continent can put in their way,” said CEO of the Adventurists, Mr Tom Morgan. “We want them to get lost, stuck, lost again, more stuck, and waist deep in mud and mangroves.”
Each team has been asked to raise £1,000 for charity, at least £500 of which will go towards BirdLife International, the official charity for this event. BirdLife International is the world’s largest conservation partnership and the world’s leading authority on birds and their habitats.
The funds raised from the ASEAN Rickshaw Run will help with the reforestation work and training of local people to become forest wardens. This will save many species from becoming extinct.
The forests in ASEAN cover about 213 million hectares of land. It supports rich diversity of plant and animal species and the livelihoods of the region’s people. At least 350 million people live in or around forests, and depend on forest resources for income and subsistence.
During the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) Meeting this month, a tribute was paid to this year’s United Nations International Year of Forests.
With the theme “Forests for People”, the event also showcased ASEAN's cooperation on forestry in the last four decades. Forestry cooperation is expected to help establish a sustainable and inclusive ASEAN Community by the year 2015.
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