Batam 'shallot peelers' village' finds its niche
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam
The water in their container has turned murky and the four housewives who have been sitting around their shallot-filled containers for hours have already peeled 30 kilograms of the small red onions.
Starting their job at 10 a.m., the women finish at 3 p.m. every day and often work on the holidays to make ends meet in the expensive industrial city of Batam.
In their home in Kampong Pisang, Lubuk Baja district, about 40 housewives have earned additional income for their families by peeling onions since 1998.
"The job is not bad. We can earn extra money to supplement our husbands' wages as factory laborers and even provide our children's pocket money and pay their school fees," Aminah, 30, a housewife who has been working as an onion peeler since 1999, told The Jakarta Post.
The popularity of the job has meant Kampong Pisang, located in the city center not far from the city's biggest shopping mall, has been given the nickname Onion Peelers' Village.
The fresh smell of shallots wafting through the lanes of the slum area is common as are the peelings littering the streets and drains.
Aminah said the women were paid to peel shallots and garlic by traders in Batam wholesale market.
Peeled shallots fetch a higher price than unpeeled ones, with a kilogram of unpeeled red onions sold at Rp 10,000 (US$1.00), while peeled ones can reach Rp 13,000. Peeled garlic is priced at Rp 12,000 per kilogram, compared to Rp 9,000 for unpeeled ones.
"The onions are first soaked in water so that our eyes won't sting, and to make the peeling process easier," Aminah said explaining the tricks of the trade.
The trader sends them around 120 to 200 kg of onions along with 50 to 100 kilograms each day.
The peelers, who are divided into groups of four, distribute the onions equally and then take them home to peel.
A peeler usually uses a bucket or washbasin to hold the vegetables and to get an idea of how much she will earn.
After peeling, the onions are rinsed and dried for a day until they are picked up and new supplies are sent.
The housewives are paid Rp 1,000 for kilogram of onions they peel and Rp 700 a kg for garlic.
"Garlic is easier to peel and there's no need to soak it in water, therefore the payment is not as high. Also the traders usually want us to peel only a small amount of garlic," said another peeler, Ani, 28.
On monthly basis, each woman might take home Rp 300,000 to Rp 500,000 from the job. But if the supplies from the traders are less, their earnings drop.
"We are paid on daily basis, depending on the supply of onions sent to us. The job is very helpful since our husbands' earnings are just enough for the food. We're thankful," said Ani, whose husband works as a hotel bell-hop in Batam.
And where do the onions go? Mostly to restaurants and large- scale meatball producers; buyers that are reluctant to buy unpeeled onions because they take to long to process.
"We heard that the peeled onions are bought directly by restaurant owners from the trader's place," said Ani, a native of the West Sumatra town of Solok.
Head of Kampong Pisang village, Sarimin, 40, said he was proud of the village's nickname. "But we're only squatters, we'll be gone if the Batam administration clears out the area and evicts us," he said wryly.