Crisis fail to take away joy of 'Lebaran'

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!"