Jakarta (The Jakarta Post : (21/06/07) As school holidays kicked off in Jakarta and Tangerang last week, shopping malls already had plans in place to tap into the flood of new shoppers. South Jakarta's Pondok Indah Mall 2 was at the head of the pack, launching daily live shows and meet and greet sessions with characters from British children's show Bob the Builder in the first days of the holidays.

Ciputra Mall in West Jakarta is holding a series of Transformers themed events for holidaying children and their families to promote the Hollywood of the same name. The mall is also holding its "Hip-Hip Holiday" fun games for kids each day between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. until July 10. The activities, which include puzzles, Scrabble games and group drawing and coloring sessions, are free of charge.

On the weekends, the event gives way to the "FamFun" games, with parents and children joining coloring and a MEGA blocs building competition. The 14 to 25-year-old demographic is also being well catered for, with a modern dance competition with prizes totaling Rp 7 million taking place on June 29. A styrofoam "Transformers" robot competition, offering a Rp 5 million prize, will also be held for those with a more visual bent.

Competitions seems to be the theme of this year's school holiday mall activities, but the most skillful, creative and innovative competition by far is the Indonesian Robotic Olympiad (IRO) being held at the Center Atrium of the Taman Anggrek Mall, West Jakarta, from June 19-24. IRO 2007 is the fourth national robotic competition organized by Mikroskil Robotic Center, LEGO's education partner for Indonesia. "We wanted to hold something different to fill the school holidays this year, something beneficial," a spokeswoman for Taman Anggrek, Yunny Christine, said Tuesday. "And considering the public's enthusiasm for a similar robotic event we hosted last year, we decided to follow through on a bigger scale by hosting it here at the Atrium."

According to a representative from Mikroskil Robotic Center, Bambang Rusli, public interest in robotic technology had risen significantly in recent years and could be seen in the number of participants that had so far registered for the competition. "We're expecting at least 120 participants from six major Indonesian cities, namely Medan, Palembang, Bandung, Semarang Surabaya and Jakarta, to participate in the event this year," Bambang said. "This is a great way of showing kids that technology can be fun too."

The IRO 2007 is the national selection round for the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) scheduled to take place in Taiwan this coming November. "I took a day off from work in order to accompany my son to this event," said Rival, the father of 11-year-old Joe Ega. "I'm hoping to draw his attention to robotics because I know my son has so much potential." "There should be more events like this in the country -- events aimed at channeling the creativity of kids in a healthy way."

Alongside the Olympiad, visitors to Taman Anggrek Mall will also enjoy a robot dance and live band performance; a Sampoerna Foundation talk show; a number of fun games and quizzes; and a special chance for the public to operate robotic toys set up on display.