Speech from Mrs Retna Abdul Rachman - The Commissioner Chairperson of The Bandung Traffic Garden(YayasanTaman Lalu Lintas)
Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of Mr. Nazaruddin who is the founder of our traffic garden or the Taman Lalu Lintas(TLL), at this moment he is ill and we hope for his recovery also on behalf of the other members of the board who are not able to meet and welcome you to our TLL, I thank you for your attention, in particular :
To Mr. Hans Westerveld - Chairman of The Stichting Kansarme Kinderen Indonesie.
Mr. Frans van den Brink - Secretary of The Stichting Kansarme Kinderen Indonesie.
To you both gentlemen and your friends from Rotary Club Hilversum-West, on behalf of the board I congratulate you on the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands on 30th April isn't it?. Once again congratulation. Further, to Mr. Sujatmiko - District Governor Rotary International D3400, Mrs. Margaretha - President of the Rotary Club Bandung Kota Kembang and last but not least to Mrs. Lies Nusyirwan - Past President of the Rotary Club Bandung Kota Kembang, the District Officer on Literacy Promotion Chairperson and the Chair of the Yayasan Pondok Baca Rotary Indonesia.
I very appreciate your willingness to attend the opening ceremony of the children library which we call the Pondok Baca TLL and we are thankfull to the Rotary Club Bandung Kota Kembang that from now on the public of Bandung in particular the children can enjoy reading in the Pondok Baca TLL.
Allow me to inform you more about the TLL, when it was build, on what basic principals or reasons it is maintained and proceed until today. It's quite a long story but I'll make it short and it takes only a few minutes of your time.
TLL or the Bandung Traffic Garden was planned in 1954 by the board for traffic safety and being an educational organization and incorporated body, It's members consist of varoius governments offices, personnels as well as of educational and social organization in Bandung. Only after having faced various and serious problems, finally the board has been able to carried out the building of TLL, and on the 1st March 1958 It was opened to public in a crowded ceremony.
TLL is an educational establishment. Containing all kinds of attractions and facilities for children and schoolpupils in particular, so that we might apply; while playing entertaining and practising, in order to get to traffic discipline, good behavior, good manners on the streets.
It is worth mentioning that while in much countries where the building and maintaining of a traffic playing ground has been carried out by local minicipal government with special annual budget but TLL, for its continious operations depends entirely on ticket fares for entrance, playing tools and other playing facilities for children.
In fact, TLL is a medium to operate and reach its main function and purpose, and that is traffic education.
Traffic education is not the same as traffic information. As it is seriously concerned with education in general sense and therefore by using schoolteachers as medium to arrange educational programmes for school pupils in particular, extensive and successful result may be expected.
And so is the Pondok Baca, also a medium to stimulate children to read books. Therefore I hope the Pondok Baca TLL will always makes itself useful, now and in the future to come.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me finish my speech and thank you again.
Bandung, 3 Mei 2007
Retna Abdul Rachman,
Ketua Dewan Pembina YTLL-AISN
