When a noodle vendor speaks up<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): What's the correlation between the threat of
\ndragging the President before a special session of the House of
\nRepresentatives and the fate of a fried noodle seller?<\/p>\n
This might seem like a ridiculous question, but the threat has
\nmuch to do with the income of Nanang, a 23-year-old native of
\nKuningan, West Java, who sells noodles on Jl. Kaliurang in
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>\n
\"I heard on the radio the rupiah's exchange rate against the
\ndollar is 9,000, even more,\" Nanang said sadly one recent gloomy
\nnight.<\/p>\n
The street was deserted. A perfect time for Nanang to
\ncontemplate. What was on his mind was the list of the latest
\nprice hikes that affect his business of making a decent plate of
\nnoodles with egg and vegetables -- like thousands of other
\nvendors all over Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The price of instant noodles has jumped by Rp 4,000 to Rp
\n31,000 (US$3.35), he said. Because he usually buys 20 cartons
\nevery week, Nanang's expenditure on this alone has jumped by Rp
\n80,000 ($8.65). The recent increase in kerosene prices by Rp 100
\nper liter also forces him to spend an extra Rp 1,000 every day to
\nkeep his small stove burning.<\/p>\n
Things are the same for eggs, Nanang lamented. A dozen eggs
\nused to cost Rp 6,200, now the price has jumped to Rp 7,000.<\/p>\n
\"These increases just happened at the same time as all of the
\nfuss over demands that Gus Dur step down,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nanang heard on the radio what most readers had seen on
\ntelevision night after night for several weeks: certain national
\nleaders accusing President Abdurrahman Wahid of failing to meet
\npublic expectations in his first year in office.<\/p>\n
Some of these leaders, like economist Syahrir, brought up
\nmatters like the economy and the public feeling that the spirit
\nof reformasi had been abandoned. While others, such as People's
\nConsultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, threatened to convene a
\nspecial session to force the President from office.<\/p>\n
This clearly made the international community and major
\neconomic players nervous. The rupiah almost instantaneously took
\na nosedive from around Rp 8,500 to Rp 9,300.<\/p>\n
The reverberations found their way down to Nanang and his
\nhumble road-side warung.<\/p>\n
Despite the price hikes, Nanang says he has not raised the
\nprice of his food, not even by a rupiah. A dish of plain noodles,
\nfried or boiled, still costs Rp 1,200 (13 U.S. cents), if you
\nwant the special, which means an egg with the noodles, Nanang
\nwill charge you Rp 1,800. Neither did he decrease the size of the
\nportions, as some tempeh and tofu vendors did.<\/p>\n
Nanang also complained about the hike in the price of other
\nstaple foods like sugar, which increased from Rp 2,800 per
\nkilogram to Rp 3,700 (32.1 percent), as well as coffee and tea.<\/p>\n
\"Yeah, it's just not right to decrease the amount of sugar (in
\nthe tea or coffee) because the students (who are his loyal
\ncustomers) work well into the night and need it for energy,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Also, if the prices of the food and the drink were increased
\nand the portions decreased, the cash-strapped students might
\nprefer to buy instant noodles at the supermarket for between Rp
\n600 and Rp 900 per pack and cook it at their boardinghouses, said
\nNanang a couple of weeks before Ramadhan began. (Now that Idul
\nFitri is drawing near, the prices keep on crawling up.)<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, according to Nanang, there are around 700
\nwarung like his selling noodles, all run by natives of Kuningan,
\nWest Java, and all open 24 hours a day. If each warung is run by
\nthree individuals working in shifts, there are at least 2,100
\npeople earning a living from this business. Nanang himself works
\nwith his brother and two cousins, all between the ages of 20 and
\n30, the most productive years of their lives.<\/p>\n
If you come to Yogyakarta and happen to find yourself near
\nGadjah Mada University, you will no doubt see Nanang or his
\nfellow migrants plying their trade. Spare a thought for the
\nmachinations of the global economy and the cold statistics we
\nhear and read so much. If you have heard Nanang's practical
\nunderstanding of these phenomena, you might wonder why those
\npoliticians do not see the correlation between Indonesia's
\neconomic health and the price of fried noodles.<\/p>\n
-- F. Fendry Ponomban<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/when-a-noodle-vendor-speaks-up-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }