A day in the life of a monkey seller

Mat Jaes forgets the year of his birth but thinks he may be about 26 years old. Born in the Central Java town of Setamplat, Mat began his working life as a becak (pedicab) driver, before moving to the capital to earn a better living, which he says he does by peddling monkeys at the notorious bird market on Jl. Pramuka in Central Jakarta -- a trading center for all manner of endangered animals, and home to, among others, orangutan and sun bear smugglers. He spoke to The Jakarta Post's contributor William Furney.

JAKARTA (JP): "I get up at 3 a.m. to play football with the lads and watch television. It's time to pray at 5 a.m., and then I go back to bed. Or rather, the floor. I live in a market building -- Genjing market in West Jakarta. It's a fruit and vegetable market, but they allow me to sleep there for Rp 100,000 a month, which is quite cheap. Lots of my friends stay there too, so it's not that bad.

I get up again at 10 a.m. and go to my place of work, which is at Pasar Burung (bird market) in Central Jakarta. I'll have breakfast of rice and fish at a warung (food stall) and then go to my monkeys. I keep them in a special set of cages, which is on wheels; it's easy to move around.

They are beach monkeys from various areas of Sumatra, and they need to be washed first thing in the morning, as their cages are small and they foul them up overnight. So I take them to the public toilet in the market and clean them there. I give them bananas when they're back in their cages. That's their favorite food.

I have two types of monkey, but I'm not sure what the exact species is. I don't go to Sumatra to get them - a man comes to the market. I pay him Rp 50,000 and Rp 70,000 for the two kinds, which I then sell for Rp 75,000 and Rp 200,000 (respectively). It's better that he does the work. If I were to go to Sumatra to get monkeys, it'd cost me about Rp 500,000 for transport, and so on. There's no way I can afford it. People bargain to get a better price from me, of course. So, I'll always go down a bit -- but not that much.

Monkeys with long tails are cheaper, while those with short tails are more expensive. And there are good monkeys and bad ones. I sell about one monkey a day, on average. I've been working here for two years now, and in that time I'd say I've sold a great number of monkeys.

Life here is not that bad; it's usually okay, but sometimes it can be difficult, especially when there are no customers. Everyone likes monkeys anyway, so it's not always that difficult to make a sale. But a lot of people come here just to see the animals and birds; they don't want to buy anything. Most of the Westerners who come here want to look and take photographs. That's not good for business.

I have lunch twice if I have the cash, at a warung nearby. On days I don't have any money, I won't have anything at all. It's better to stock up on food while you can.

I barely made Rp 5,000 when I was working as a becak driver in my village. It was a waste of time, and that's why I came here. I'm better off selling monkeys. I got into the business through a friend who was working at the market.

There's a big sign here that says it's forbidden to sell endangered species, such as orangutans, cendrawasih (Birds of Paradise), tigers and eagles, and people pay attention to that.

So there's never a problem if the police come to inspect the market. And I'm not causing any trouble by selling my monkeys, as they're not endangered

I finish for the day about 5 p.m., having made about Rp 100,000. I'll give the monkeys more bananas and lock them up for the day. There are wooden flaps at either side of the cages that I lock to make sure no one will steal the monkeys.

I play football in the evenings and watch television. I don't have a girlfriend, as they're too expensive, especially when you get married. It costs too much. And getting married itself is far too expensive in Jakarta. So I go to a certain area nearby and meet some of the women on the street; many of my friends do the same. The women are good, and they only charge Rp 20,000. I go there a few times a week.

I went home for Lebaran (post-fasting month celebration), for five days. And I realized again that Jakarta is a better place to be. My day ends at about 10 p.m., when I settle down to sleep inside the market, a smell of overripe fruit and vegetables in the air."