Monetary turmoil deals heavy blow to laborers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The monetary crisis has put the brakes on many
\ncity projects, leaving an untold number of construction workers
\njobless, homeless and starving.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of unskilled workers, mostly bricklayers and workmen,
\nare forced to live under the flyovers -- such as the ones in
\nGrogol, West Jakarta, and Cawang in East Jakarta -- where they
\nwait for work.<\/p>\n
Eighteen-year-old Wagiman, one of the jobless, has been
\nsitting under the Grogol flyover for the last three months in the
\nhope of finding a job. But he has received only a few days of
\nwork.<\/p>\n
Wagiman, from a small village in Jepara regency, Central Java,
\nadmitted that he sometimes has to control his hunger and eat just
\nonce a day because he has no money to buy food.<\/p>\n
\"I eat when I feel pain in my stomach. I'm forced to owe money
\nto a vendor for the rice I eat every day,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He said his total debt to the vendor was Rp 5,000 (US$1) for
\nthe nasi bungkus (rice and meat or vegetables which are wrapped
\nin a piece of paper).<\/p>\n
The job shortage has left him penniless and he has been unable
\nto visit his wife, who lives in his hometown.<\/p>\n
Wagiman, who used to go home once or twice a month, needs at
\nleast Rp 15,000 for a one-way bus ticket to see his wife, Sarti,
\nwhom he married nine months ago.<\/p>\n
Before the monetary crisis he claimed he could earn between Rp
\n25,000 and Rp 30,000 a day.<\/p>\n
But now the second-grade dropout from Tsanawiyah (an Islamic
\njunior high school) rarely has enough to live.<\/p>\n
More than 500 construction workers live under the Grogol
\nflyover, where they sleep, eat, and do other daily activities
\nsuch as washing and drying their clothes underneath the flyover
\nalongside the Ciputra Mal and Hotel complex.<\/p>\n
The workers stand to attention whenever a foreman arrives with
\na pick-up and offers them a job. But many are turned back because
\nonly a few men are needed for each job.<\/p>\n
Busairi, a leader of the workers, decides how many workers can
\njoin the foreman. And when the men return to their temporary home
\nunder the flyover, they are asked to hand over part of their
\nwages to their friends.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, a group of eight men were sitting under the Cawang
\nflyover in East Jakarta, and talking in Sundanese while six hoes
\nlay unused at their feet.<\/p>\n
There are some people who are not afraid of dying but they are
\nafraid of not having things such as good clothes, cars, jewelry
\nand power, one of them, said.<\/p>\n
\"But we're here because we're still afraid of dying. We're
\nafraid if our children can't eat or live properly,\" Tarman said.<\/p>\n
Forty-year-old Tarman said he has not had any job offers over
\nthe last two months and he has often starved.<\/p>\n
Deciding to leave your hometown means daring to endure tapa
\n(self-denial as a measure of discipline), he said convincingly.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes we can only afford to eat once in two or three days
\nbut that doesn't matter, we're used to,\" he said.<\/p>\n
If a good offer comes along, workers can get at least Rp
\n150,000 a month, he said.<\/p>\n
Encun, 54, who has four children, said that he did not want
\nhis children to live like him.<\/p>\n
He recalled a bitter experience about two weeks ago when a
\nsupervisor invited him and three of his friends to work for him
\nin Bekasi. They were told to paint an almost-completed building.<\/p>\n
\"It was a two-story market, I don't remember the name,\" he
\nsaid. \"The supervisor was so kind to us, but after we finished
\npainting, he ran away without giving us any money.\"<\/p>\n
The jobless workers -- among an estimated 2.8 million
\nconstruction workers in the city -- sleep wherever they can.<\/p>\n
One of them said: \"As long as there is a roof, we can sleep
\nthere.\"<\/p>\n
Most of the workers, aged between 20 and 60, sit and talk
\nunder the flyover when they do not have a job to go to.<\/p>\n
But 69-year-old Saliban has found his own way to endure the
\nhardships of the last three months.<\/p>\n
He has drifted from one office garbage site to another along
\nJl. Panjaitan in East Jakarta collecting used cardboard.<\/p>\n
Occasionally he collects at least 10 pieces a day and sells
\nthem for Rp 200 per kilogram.<\/p>\n
\"A collector in Prumpung always takes whatever I have,\" he
\nsaid proudly, adding that even if he had only collected one piece
\nof cardboard it would be bought.<\/p>\n
\"He must sympathize with me,\" he said, laughing and exposing a
\ntoothless grin.<\/p>\n
Saliban, a grandfather of seven, said that he no longer misses
\nhis family.<\/p>\n
\"My children all live far away from me. Two of them migrated
\nto Sumatra while the other three are married and live in Java.\"<\/p>\n
With the money he earns selling cardboard, he can buy food and
\ncigarettes. However he also puts a little bit aside for emergency
\nneeds.<\/p>\n
Some of his friends often borrow money from him. He has told
\nthem that if they become sick they must go directly to a doctor
\nor just buy medicine.<\/p>\n
The monetary crisis has suspended or halted work on many
\nprojects, such as toll roads and buildings constructions, forcing
\nmany workers off the payroll and onto the streets.<\/p>\n
As for the workers, no one can predict when they will have
\njobs to go to again because no one knows precisely when the
\ncrisis will end. (jun\/04)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/monetary-turmoil-deals-heavy-blow-to-laborers-1447893297",
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