A day in the life of Samsuri, a busker
Samsuri is just a seven-year-old boy but he has already experienced a great deal of hardship in the city. The fourth of five children of a poor single mother he is one of the family's bread winners. He sings along with his younger brother Jois, and plays the ukulele on the bus plying the short straight roads of Jl. Imam Bonjol and Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta. The boy, who lives in Tangerang, talked to The Jakarta Post's reporter Ida Indawati Khouw.
JAKARTA (JP): "The only way to get what I want is by earning money myself because my mother could never afford it. That's why I spend most of my time singing in public buses in addition to going to school.
Like other children, after I wake up at 6 a.m. I go to school. It starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m. I am now in the second grade of a state elementary school in Tangerang, (about 40 kilometers west of Jakarta).
I usually start working at 11 a.m. If I have homework, my mother will give me some time to do it first. I will take a bus towards a bus stop at Jl. Imam Bonjol from my house in Tangerang, accompanied by my mother and my younger brother Jois.
My mother watches me when I work, sometimes following me and sits at the very back part of a bus where I am singing, or just waits at a bus stop on Jl. Imam Bonjol or in the Megaria area (on Jl. Diponegoro). This is my route everyday. I am certain that I will always meet my mother at one of these two bus stops, because I only sing on the bus when it travels along Jl. Imam Bonjol and Jl. Diponegoro.
That way we won't get lost. Even Jois has become familiar with the area although he is just five years old.
Jois accompanies me by singing, because I concentrate more on playing the ukulele (small guitar with four strings).
Mother said that I should earn my own money if I want something because she is too poor to buy things.
(His mother Umi said that she never forces her children to help her earn money even though her income as a vegetable vendor is not enough. She even said that she doesn't mind if Samsuri occasionally doesn't like working. But her friend Ugah told The Jakarta Post that Umi is actually jobless and she relies on her children as the breadwinner).
(Umi said that sometimes the children don't work effectively as they like to sit around for a while, sometimes for an hour after getting off a bus, instead of directly hopping into another passing bus)
Mother said that we can't survive if I don't make money myself as I have no father. She said that father had died.
(Umi said separately that Samsuri's father is married to another woman, 'he is a playboy,' she said.)
I forget the time when I started becoming a street singer, I first followed my older sister (who is also a street singer), and helped her to collect money from bus passengers. Months ago my mother told me to work by myself while guiding Jois.
Jois now does what I did in the past, collecting money from bus passengers. We can earn about Rp 15,000 a day. Mother said that the money is needed to finance my studies and additional needs, that's why everyday I immediately pass the money on to her and she buys things for me and Jois.
My seniors said that I should learn adult songs instead of children's songs to attract more attention. So far I have mastered (an English song) Carol (he means Oh Carol) and Sengaja Aku.. (the first words of a song titled Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan, Along the Road of Memory).
The way Samsuri dresses is just like a young adult - he wears a baseball cap backwards and wears boots - and sings adult songs. Passengers always smile every time the kid and his brother sing Oh Carol because they sing confidently even though their pronunciation of English is far from good, and the music is too high for their voices. However, unlike many other street children singers who just clap their hands and mumble some unclear lyrics, Samsuri is indeed 'talented' as he plays the music instrument well and has a nice voice. Many passengers give the brothers a Rp 500 note, instead of the usual Rp 100.)
My ukulele teacher said that I played quite well, so I just followed what my teacher did when he showed me how to play the musical instrument and I found it quite easy. After practising for about one month I was able to play it.
(Samsuri is also quite a clever boy - he is now among the top three in his class, his mother said.)
I don't remember how many buses I take in one day but I usually get a rest after 4 p.m. and I spend it by just sitting around or playing with other street singers at the Imam Bonjol bus stop.
Usually I reach home at 8 p.m. but I don't go directly to bed because I first enjoy sinetron (local soap operas) on TV. I go to sleep only after 11 p.m.
I want to become a president, it seems that (the position) is enjoyable. A president can travel everywhere by car because I've seen it many times. (What Samsuri saw regularly must be the convoy of Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose official house is on Jl. Diponegoro)."