Cash-strapped people pawn their goods<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It is a perennial scene after the Idul Fitri
\nholiday, with state-run pawnshops overrun with people pawning
\ntheir valuables to obtain badly needed cash.<\/p>\n
Between 200 and 300 people toted their goods on Tuesday to the
\n40 pawnshops scattered throughout the greater Jakarta area.<\/p>\n
While people in villages usually bring clothes and household
\ngoods to the pawnshops, Jakarta residents mostly bank on pawning
\ngold jewelry.<\/p>\n
Marshall Aritonang, spokesman for the Perum Pegadaian Jakarta
\npawnshop company which oversees Greater Jakarta and West Java's
\nBogor, Banten and northern coastal areas, said on Tuesday that
\nhectic days shortly after Idul Fitri were commonplace.<\/p>\n
\"Before Idul Fitri, people usually take their pawned items so
\nthey could use them during the celebration. After that, they pawn
\nthem again.\"<\/p>\n
Marshall said it seemed people needed more money this year
\ntheir daily living expenses and finance their children's
\neducation. Schools reopened on Monday after a 40-day break for
\nthe Ramadhan fasting month and Idul Fitri.<\/p>\n
Total credit paid on Tuesday by several pawnshops to cash-
\nhungry customers was double the regular amount.<\/p>\n
At the Jatinegara pawnshop in East Jakarta, the credit value
\non Tuesday reached some Rp 211 million, a sharp increase from the
\naverage of Rp 100 million distributed per day in normal periods.<\/p>\n
\"Our pawnshop started to be busy on the third day after Idul
\nFitri,\" said Djubaedi, head of the Jatinegara pawnshop.<\/p>\n
Over 90 percent of the 200 items pawned at his office were
\ngold and jewelry, he added.<\/p>\n
\"It has become a tradition for people, especially those from
\nthe lower economic class, to wear the jewelry during the festive
\nseason and then put them in the pawnshop after the festivities
\nend,\" Djubaedi said while helping his personnel serve customers.<\/p>\n
It was a similar story at Tanah Abang pawnshop in Central
\nJakarta. The amount of cash loaned to the customers totaled Rp
\n155 million on Tuesday alone; the pawnshop usually provided
\ncredit of some Rp 65 million per day.<\/p>\n
\"The number of customers during these days reaches some 300
\npeople per day, much higher than regular days of 100 customers
\nper day,\" said head of the Tanah Abang pawnshop Djumari.<\/p>\n
Some opportunists, realizing that people queuing at the
\npawnshops are in desperate need of cash, have attempted to take
\nadvantage of the situation by directly approaching the pawnshop
\ncustomers with offers to buy.<\/p>\n
Such people could be seen on Tuesday hanging around and
\nfollowing customers at Senen pawnshop in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
There were few takers.<\/p>\n
Rahimsyah from Manggarai area insisted that he preferred to
\npawn his ring than sell it.<\/p>\n
\"I can still own the ring if I have money later,\" said the 26-
\nyear-old jobless man.<\/p>\n
Rahimsyah said he purchased the ring together with his
\nmother's bracelet from the same pawnshop a few days before Idul
\nFitri.<\/p>\n
\"I am forced to pawn it again to pay the medical bills of my
\nmother, who fell sick after the Idul Fitri holiday.\"<\/p>\n
He said he pawned his Rp 200,000 ring for Rp 75,000.<\/p>\n
\"I would have to pay a greater interest rate if I borrowed a
\nbigger amount of money,\" Rahimsyah said.<\/p>\n
The Senen pawnshop's head of administration, Sujud Sri
\nHandoyo, said the company reimbursed a total of Rp 108 million of
\ncredit on Tuesday to about 250 customers. (ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cash-strapped-people-pawn-their-goods-1447893297",
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