Crisis fail to take away joy of 'Lebaran'

By Juliane Gunardono

JAKARTA (JP): Teo could not stop smiling as he sat in his seat on the train from Senen to Semarang. "I'm going home!" he said laughing. "I am going to be with my family for Idul Fitri".

It was a smile of joy and relief. His plan to return home for the post-fasting celebration, locally called Lebaran, was still up in the air last week.

He may have arrived in Jakarta two years ago with a dream of one day returning to his hometown a rich man, but he could barely scrape together the money for his ticket home.

Luck shined on him when he landed a few small jobs.

"My wife cried when I called her to say that I was coming," remembered Teo. "I am so happy that I will see her and my daughter again!"

Teo came alone to work in the capital, leaving his family to tend their fields in Semarang.

"I wanted to bring money and presents for my family at home. But I didn't get a permanent job, and all I can bring is me."

Teo will stay in Semarang for two weeks before returning to Jakarta. It is a hard but necessary choice.

"Actually, I would like to live in Semarang again and become a farmer. That is better than living a poor life in Jakarta. But we don't have enough fields to sustain the whole family."

Rono is also not bringing any gifts for his family. He waits on the station platform surrounded by boxes containing a mattress, a few pots and pans and some items of clothing.

They are all his worldly possessions, and he is going home for good. He is giving up the slog of life as a vendor in Jakarta to return to farming.

"I am broke," he admitted. "And though my family at home also has no money, it is still nicer to be broke in the village together with the family than to be without money alone in Jakarta."

Homeward-bound fever has struck everybody who can afford to go home for the celebration on Jan. 19 and Jan 20. But some say the number of those headed home has plunged from previous years.

"The number of passengers is about three quarters less than it used to be before the end of the Ramadhan," a worker at the station said.

Mothers, some of whom have come three and a half hours before the train's departure in order to land a prized seat, sit in the nearly empty car reserved for mothers of small children and pregnant women. They have not lost their joviality even though it will be more than 20 hours before they arrive in Surabaya.

"We won't leave our seats, because it is to difficult to get in again," one of them said. "And later it might get crowded."

Bags, neatly stowed on the ledge above her head, contain some presents for the family at home: Cookies, a present from her husband who works in a cookie factory, and money.

Toys, clothes, pans and money are the gifts borne by a Madurese man waiting at the Pulogadung Bus Terminal. He and his friends sell scrap iron and engines in Jakarta, and they still have enough money for quite a good living because they are single.

Not all of them are carrying presents. It is not because they cannot afford them, but the fear of thieves.

"I will spend two days in Surabaya to buy presents for my parents, aunts, uncles and their children and grandchildren," says another Madurese. "It is not a matter of money, but a matter of tradition."

Adi, who has been saving money for nearly a year to buy the tickets from Gambir railway station to Surakarta for himself, his wife and his young son, wishes he had the same fortune.

"It is a matter of tradition to buy Idul Fitri presents but still I can't bring any. If I hadn't saved money for a long time, I couldn't even go home. Now, you can't save money anymore, can you?"

For their two weeks in Surakarta, Adi and his family have Rp 200,000.

"If there is anything left when we return home, we will give it to our family," Adi said. "But if not, everybody will still be happy. The important thing is to celebrate together."

Like Rono, Adi was one of the lucky passengers who did not have to spend the night at Gambir to get a ticket. Only at Gambir, the departure point for the fast, clean trains, nearly as many people as last year have flocked to buy tickets.

Rono will have a window seat in the crowded train to Yogyakarta, but he is not fearful of getting hurt from the stones often thrown by people along the tracks. "I hope, in this holy month, people won't do things like that."

Although he is sad to be returning home almost empty-handed, he could still take some solace in his situation.

"I am bringing no presents, and I nearly have no baggage," he said smiling. "I am lucky because I don't have to be afraid of thieves!"