A day in the competitive life of a joki<\/p>\n
Starting Jan. 26, the Jakarta administration enforced a new
\nthree-in-one traffic policy, an extension of the 1993 policy. A
\nlonger period and additional restricted zones has not detered
\nprivate car owners from defying the policy by simply hiring joki
\nto meet the quota of three passengers. Many urban activists have
\nridiculed the new policy as an effort by the city to provide a
\nfull-time income to the joki.The Jakarta Post's Urip Hudiono
\nspent a day as a joki for a streetside look.<\/p>\n
It was 8 a.m. on Friday, a slow day even for the hectic city, but
\nseveral people standing along Jl. Gerbang Pemuda, Central
\nJakarta, near the state-run TVRI building, were already offering
\ntheir services as joki before the three-in-one policy kicked in
\nat 7 a.m.<\/p>\n
The one standing next to me, Fajrul, was dressed neatly like
\nan ordinary college student and sporting a black backpack.<\/p>\n
Three other joki were also waiting along the street -- one
\ndressed impeccably in shirt and trousers typical of office
\nemployees, though Fajrul said more would probably come out by 9
\na.m.<\/p>\n
Tougher competition, however, was already in view at the
\nnearby Jl. Pintu Gelora 1, about a kilometer from Jl. Gerbang
\nPemuda. At least a dozen joki comprising men, women and children
\nwere seen lining up the street in five- to 10-meter intervals.<\/p>\n
\"I'd be lucky to get just one customer today if things keep on
\ngoing like this,\" said Fajrul.<\/p>\n
I quickly learned how joki make themselves stand out from bus
\ncommuters waiting on the street: They move forward the instant
\nthe traffic lights turn green, swaying their index fingers at
\neach and every passing car.<\/p>\n
I got myself a customer, the only customer throughout the day,
\na couple in a blue New Kijang minivan who needed a joki to drive
\nthrough Jl. Sudirman.<\/p>\n
The anxiety as to what would happen next disappeared, as the
\ncouple was polite.<\/p>\n
Although there was a moment of silence -- particularly as the
\ncar passed a traffic police inspection point at the end of the
\nroad -- the couple then broke the ice with some small-talk. They
\neven offered to help me find a job at their office, and gave me
\nRp 5,000 (58 U.S. cents) for my services, when we finally reached
\ntheir destination, the Wisma Dharmala.<\/p>\n
Azril, a joki from Slipi, West Jakarta, however, laughed at
\nsuch job offers from customers.<\/p>\n
\"I was also offered a job once, but it was probably just
\nsmall-talk with no follow-up.<\/p>\n
\"I mean, just think about it. People riding such nice cars,
\nbut who only give us barely enough for the return bus fare,\" he
\nsaid, adding it was a waste of time if he had to ride quite a
\nways with a customer for the same chicken-feed.<\/p>\n
But he was left with no other option as more people, mostly
\nunemployed, are taking to the streets as joki.<\/p>\n
Turan, who was carrying three-year-old daughter Anik in a
\nbatik sling, said she became a joki just to make ends meet, as
\nthe income from her husband, who worked as a bemo (three-wheeled
\npublic transportation) driver, was not enough.<\/p>\n
She claimed she always made a fair profit of between Rp 5,000
\nand Rp 15,000 -- depending on the distance -- and the two were
\nalways treated nicely by her customers.<\/p>\n
\"They sometimes even give bread or cookies for Anik ... The
\nfees they give me help pay the tuition of my older children and
\nsometimes some extra left over for their allowance,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The small takings and the competition, however, are nothing
\ncompared to the menace of continual -- and ever increasing --
\nraids from the Jakarta Public Order Agency.<\/p>\n
That Friday morning, there were at least two agency trucks
\npatrolling the area in search of joki and sidewalk vendors. Each
\ntime they passed by, the joki fled and slipped through openings
\nin the corrugated iron fences surrounding the Gelora Senayan
\npark, which is currently being rehabilitated.<\/p>\n
\"I was once chased by public order officers up to the nearby
\nsoftball field fence until I fell down the other side. Thank God,
\nAnik wasn't hurt,\" said Turan, who found help in fellow joki on
\nthe run.<\/p>\n
Although most joki work individually, they occasionally joined
\nforces and shared customers.<\/p>\n
\"It's just a matter of showing courtesy toward each other,
\nlike giving customers to those who were here first and respecting
\nthose who already have regular customers,\" said Adi, a joki from
\nCiledug, South Jakarta, who said no hoodlums extorted them.<\/p>\n
Adi, however, could not deny that the increasing number of
\njoki in the area these days made it difficult for him to pick up
\nfour to five customers like the old days. He has no other job.<\/p>\n
As the clock neared 10 a.m., a light drizzle began to fall.<\/p>\n
Two child joki bought packaged iced tea with some of their
\nhard-earned money before disbanding with Adi and the other joki.<\/p>\n
Cars waiting for the morning's three-in-one to end then lined
\nthe streets in place the of the joki, who would come back later
\nfor the 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. three-in-one.<\/p>",
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