'Jamu' grocers avoid pre-Idul Fitri struggle for transport home<\/p>\n
By Dwi Atmanta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The energy sapping battle against hunger and
\nthirst during the fasting month of Ramadhan shifts into high gear
\nfor Moslems here when they search for buses and trains bound for
\ntheir hometowns prior to the Idul Fitri holidays.<\/p>\n
However, such a routine, which has always been marked with
\nchaos at bus terminals and railway stations, no longer belongs to
\ntraditional medicinal herbal tonic (jamu) grocers.<\/p>\n
While almost three million holiday revelers slug it out for
\nseats throughout next week, the jamu sellers will be enjoying
\ntheir trip back home.<\/p>\n
The Idul Fitri holidays fall on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.<\/p>\n
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto has predicted
\nthat 25 million people will join the annual exodus. Traffic jams
\nlook unavoidable, not to mention some areas along Java's northern
\ncoast route which are prone to floods and landslides.<\/p>\n
There will be 38,236 public buses and 986 train cars deployed
\nfor the holiday season, but judging by those figures, it looks
\nlike they will be incapable of accommodating an estimated 16.5
\nmillion people who will return home by road.<\/p>\n
With the government recommending hikes in bus fares up to 25
\npercent a week before and after the holidays -- although in fact,
\nthe increase is uncontrollable -- the jamu peddlers can enter the
\nbuses free of charge.<\/p>\n
\"I'm lucky enough not to break a sweat or shed tears,\" said
\nSoleh, who sells jamu in Palmerah, Central Jakarta. The 25-year-
\nold native of Kuningan, West Java will join the trip organized by
\nPT Sidomuncul, one of the country's leading jamu factories.<\/p>\n
\"During the holiday season, the bus fare to my hometown can
\nreach Rp 12,000 (US$5.2), more than twice as high as the usual
\nfare,\" Soleh said.<\/p>\n
The trip, which constitutes the company's seventh successive
\ncharity program, which will take place Wednesday. It is expected
\nto involve 9,000 jamu sellers and their families who live in
\nGreater Jakarta. Soleh will be making his fourth journey with the
\nSidoarjo, East Java-based firm.<\/p>\n
Passengers will gather at the Senayan parking lot and be
\ndivided into several groups according to their destinations. The
\nfarthest destination is Wonogiri, Central Java, home to another
\njamu giant, PT Air Mancur.<\/p>\n
Other than the free bus trip, the traders will be vying for
\nthe top prize of a motorcycle in a lucky draw organized by the
\nsponsoring company prior to their departure.<\/p>\n
Sidomuncul's Jakarta branch office spokesperson, Maria,
\nclaimed that the firm is the first to introduce the program,
\nwhich is aimed to maintain a good relationship with the sellers.<\/p>\n
\"Rival jamu companies just followed in our footsteps,\" she
\nsaid. However, she refused to comment about the impact of the
\nprogram on the company's selling rate.<\/p>\n
A staff member of the Wonogiri-based PT Air Mancur, Bambang
\nTriono, said the company decided to start the charity program
\nthree years ago for long-term purposes.<\/p>\n
\"We don't expect instant results from this program. We are
\nthinking about the future,\" Bambang said. \"Weaving a mutual
\ncooperation with sellers is part of our promotion strategy,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Bambang declined to disclose the budget for the annual
\nprogram, but hinted that it would cost the company nearly Rp 29
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
He said 25 buses have been provided to accommodate 1,250
\npeople for this year's trip, which takes place Thursday. Each bus
\nwill cost the company up to Rp 700,000.<\/p>\n
Each jamu seller will receive a dinner worth Rp 1,500 plus a
\nT-shirt, which costs Rp 7,500.<\/p>\n
Secured<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief has called on all companies
\nto provide vehicles for their employees who are returning home
\nfor Idul Fitri.<\/p>\n
Latief said transportation facilities would allow the
\nemployees to feel secure prior to the Islamic holidays, which are
\nalways marked by a massive exodus involving millions of people.
\nMost of the revelers head for towns in West Java, Central Java
\nand East Java.<\/p>\n
\"Transportation expenses have always cost the employees most
\nof their holiday allowances,\" the minister said.<\/p>\n
For that reason, cosmetic producer PT Martina Berto has, since
\n1992, initiated a collective trip for its employees who will
\ncelebrate the Moslem holidays in their hometowns, according to
\nthe head of the company's trade union, Wasisto.<\/p>\n
The firm, a supplier for national cosmetic giant PT Sari Ayu,
\nwill send 200 employees back home for Idul Fitri on Friday
\nafternoon. Four buses will carry them, but not for free.<\/p>\n
Wasisto said the company provides only Rp 15,000 in
\ntransportation subsidies for each homeward bound employee,
\nmeaning that the employee has to pay extra expenditures for his
\nor her family.<\/p>\n
\"It's hard for the management to cover them all, because this
\nis unfair. There are more employees who do not return home,\" said
\nWasisto, who has been with the company for 12 years.<\/p>\n
The company's management will give all employees the same
\namount in holiday allowances plus an extra two days of leave next
\nWednesday and Thursday, in observance of the holidays.<\/p>\n
He said before 1992, the employees' productivity dropped
\nbefore the Idul Fitri holidays because their thoughts were on
\ntheir hometowns hundreds of miles away. \"They were restless after
\nwatching thousands of people fight tooth and nail for buses,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Wasisto said the annual exodus would not adversely affect the
\nproduction process of the company. \"No problem. We have regularly
\nfaced the same thing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in Serang, West Java, each company at the Cikande
\nand Cilegon industrial estates will provide buses for its
\nemployees. This year's holidays will see 150,000 workers leave
\nfor home.<\/p>\n
But the lucky employees and jamu sellers forget that the
\ndifficulties common to this holiday period will also occur on the
\nreturn trip, when the same amount of holiday revelers leave home
\nto return to their places of business.<\/p>\n
\"No problem. At least I can celebrate the holidays
\npeacefully,\" said Soleh, the jamu seller working in Palmerah.<\/p>",
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