Kites in the reticulus while planes face the danger

In a Paddy field, two kilometers from Jakarta International Airport, the rustling of floating kites is periodically drowned by the thunderous roar of plane engines.

The ropes of kite on the ground are a group of children, their neck is surrounded by the sky. But their eyes are also in the below, keeping an overview of the managers of the airport who could come to confiscate their kite-and their pleasure.

“In the past, my friends and I fled to us when an officer came,” said Atif, seven years old, one of the children on the ground, at the BBC. “Now I’m more courageous, so I support it when they rumble me.”

“If my kite is taken, it’s sad, but I can always do another one.”

A war tug takes place here, between the airport authorities and one of Indonesia’s most cherished pastime.

The flight of kite is popular in Indonesia – especially at that time of the year when students have a summer vacation. But the authorities have expressed warnings on the kite, which they say, present a risk of security if they block the aircraft sensors or be hung in the engines.

For three days at the beginning of July, the kite disrupted 21 flights at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the one near the Paddy, according to Airnav Indonesia air controller. Some had been diverted to another airport and certain aborted landing, deeming it too dangerous to approach the kite.

The kite “moves obstacles” for planes and a “serious risk for flight safety,” said Putu Eka Cahyadi, head of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Authority, told the BBC.

“We don’t want accidents to happen.”

Such fears are not unfounded.

In July 2024, a helicopter crashed in Bali after being entangled in custard strings, injuring three Indonesians and two Australians on board.

In July 2020, strings and bamboo sticks of a kite were found in the engine of an aircraft after his arrival in Soekarno-Hatta. While the plane had managed to land without accident, the incident sparked serious security problems. The following month, the airport set up a working group to suppress the flight of kite near its premises.

Five years later, the problem persisted. In July, the Minister of Transport, Dudy Purwagandhi, urged the airport authorities and regional governments through Indonesia to minimize the damage that the stakes pose in flights.

“It is certainly a fun activity, but we must also educate them to prevent the public or children from engaging in activities that could endanger thefts,” said Putu.

His colleagues tried to give children’s football balls and badminton snowshoes to direct them to other sports. But the flight of kite is woven in the fabric of Indonesian culture.

Traditionally made of leaves, paper or colored fabric, the kite is transported in Indonesia for various ends: for rice harvesting ceremonies, to hunt crop birds or, in Bali, like a form of prayer and offering to the gods.

“The flight of kite has been transmitted through generations of our ancestors. Almost all regions of Indonesia have a tradition of kite theft,” said Asep Irawan, an expert in Indonesia Kite Museum.

“However, we must be careful, especially (with) children. They steal them. They do not see the potential danger.”

Those who have taken flying kite, drones or other things that pose security risks in airports can be imprisoned up to three years or a fine of one billion Indonesian rupees ($ 61,000; £ 46,000).

But it is not only on landing breads that kite can be dangerous. In densely populated areas, kite is also a fatal distraction. Last year, an eight -year -old boy died after venturing on a toll road in Depok City, south of Jakarta. Police think he was hit by a car while pursuing a kite.

In 2020, a man was arrested after breaking his kite and came across a basement in Bali, causing hours of breakdown in more than 70,000 houses and buildings.

Back on the Paddy’s field near Suekarno-Hatta airport, children say they don’t want to play with planes-but they find it difficult to find better places for their hobby.

Jakarta has lost 31% of its urban green spaces between 2000 and 2020, while fields and forests have given way to congestioned roads and apartments.

“There is nowhere else here,” explains Rasha, a 17-year-old who makes and sells kite. “There is another place, but it is still close to the airport. There are simply no other places to fly.”

Paddy Field now houses a community of kite enthusiasts, who organize regular kite flight competitions. Rasha won them twice.

He has already been in trouble with the officials of the Patrouillant Airport, who reprimanded him and confiscated his kite.

“The police even came to us and took two of my kite and burned them, ropes and everything. After that, my brothers and sisters scolded me and told me to stop. But recently, I started to pilot kite,” he said.

“It’s quite dangerous. But once your kites have been taken, you stop being afraid.”