Bogor wok makers supply households and restaurants

By Joko Sarwono

BOGOR (JP): Clang.. clang.. clang.. The repeated sound of beaten metal rings in your ears as you enter Cibadak village in Bogor. This is the wok makers' village in the Tanah Sereal district, and the noise is them pounding old drums.

There are five wok makers here, including Ali bin Jian. The shattering noise is nothing, he said.

It begins at 7 a.m. and continues until 3 p.m. as workers like Ali beat out two to 20 woks a day in various sizes.

Woks are made out of flattened old drums, the best being ones that had once contained coconut oil or fat.

"Kerosene or fuel drums rust easily, and cannot take poundings," Ali said.

No special molds are needed. Woks are made with three types of hammer. "A hammer to hollow out, another to polish and a third to flatten the wok's edges," explained Ali.

Ali buys his drums from oil agents in Lawang Saketeng.

"I usually pay up to Rp 6,500 for a drum. Drums delivered to my place fetch only Rp 5,000 because they leak."

Leaking drums are cheaper because they contain less material. "An undamaged drum has enough material for 16 woks with an 18 centimeter diameter. A leaking drum makes only 10."

Wok making is not his first profession. Before, he helped his father make bird cages.

"I have been doing it since school," Ali said.

He confessed he quit elementary school at third grade because of problems with a new teacher.

"The teacher was mean. He would hit me for coming in a few minutes late only. So, I quit in the end," he said.

"I also wanted to help my parents. We did not have enough to eat so I helped make bird cages," said Ali who is 34 years old.

He entered the wok business in 1978 while still making bird cages.

"I was making cages in the mornings, and the afternoons were filled with wok making lessons," he said.

Ali slowly realized the bird cage business was no longer profitable. "There were times when cages did not sell at all," he said.

In 1979 he began to seriously concentrate on the wok making lessons from his neighbor Neji. "I helped flatten the old drums."

When Neji fell ill one day, he asked Ali to finish the woks for him, and Ali did. But he worked with Neji for seven years until he was confident. "In 1985 I opened my own workshop," he said.

Ali makes 14 wok sizes. The largest has a diameter of 80 centimeters, and the smallest measures 18 centimeters.

The smallest costs Rp 2,500 and the largest Rp 18,500, and he usually makes about 80 woks a month.

Despite modern kitchenware the traditional wok is still popular.

"So far my business is doing well," Ali said. Restaurants, fried rice sellers and many others use these woks because they are strong," he said.

The woks sell easily too. Buyers arrive, mostly intermediate buyers who resell the woks in Bogor, or send them to Jakarta.

Marketing

Retailers sell these woks on Jl. Baru-Kayumanis and further on toward Kedungbadak. Here a line of wok sellers sell 18-cm woks for Rp 5,000 and 80 cm ones for Rp 45,000.

"Some of our woks are sent to Glodok, Senen and Pasar Ikan Angke," said Ali.

Woks are usually delivered first and paid for later. A payment system that makes it difficult for Ali's business to grow as he cannot buy new material until he is paid.

Sometimes his wife, Husnul Khotimah, 25, asks him to change profession. "But since I am used to his work I just go along with its ups and downs. It has always been like this," said Husnul.

Ali makes Rp 350,000 a month, just enough for a family with a six-year old daughter. Ali's toil has given them a concrete home.

He said he wished the business would grow, but, lack of funds hampers this.

"In 1994 an official from the office of the Bogor Regency promised capital. But nothing happened," he said.

Ali said he only needed some Rp 2 million to buy drums.

"That sort of money would buy material for stock," Ali said.

Without hope of improving the business, he said, he might change his profession.

But, he said, "I will be making woks until I find another craft."