Firecracker-makers face death, as well as helpful police

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

In a small house in the village of Karangtengah in Pademangan subdistrict, Tangerang, three teenagers sat with their agile fingers busily filling a small carton tube with gunpowder, some of which dripped onto the floor.

Beside them lay a six kilogram sack of gunpowder, ready to explode with just a spark.

They worked after school until 9 p.m. After three months of work prior to the fasting month of Ramadhan, each boy was able to produce up to 100,000 packs of 100 petasan korek or match firecrackers, the smallest of its kind.

In another home in the village, teenagers were working on larger firecrackers. The largest sort could blow one of their houses into pieces.

The firecrackers are then sold in various places in the capital and its surrounding areas. Each pack of 100 petasan korek normally sells for Rp 500 (5 U.S. cents).

Pademangan and Legok have become the center of the illegal home firecracker industry, where death has become a constant companion.

Two deaths have been reported this year, and every year firecracker producers have to pay for their dangerous work with their lives.

Yet people in the two subdistricts are phlegmatic about the casualties, and business operates as usual.

Located some 35 kilometers southwest of Jakarta, Pademangan subdistrict has 12 villages and Legok has another 12 villages, all producing firecrackers.

Karangtengah village is the most notorious, producing a huge number of firecrackers.

All the houses along the village's small road have cabins for producing firecrackers, with recently completed products being dried under the sun.

Smoking is definitely forbidden around the cabins as they are full of gunpowder and other flammable materials, some of which have leaked onto the ground.

As the business is illegal, villagers are always wary of strangers. When a reporter from The Jakarta Post arrived in the village to observe their work, the villagers all watched him closely.

One of the firecracker makers, Wahab, 57, said that the villagers hated reporters because the press could ruin their illegal business.

Moch Wirta HS, 36, known by the name of Bang Ciing, a prominent figure in Karangtengah village, or more precisely a local fighter, said that the villagers had conducted the illegal business for generations.

He said that his grandfather had also been involved in making firecrackers long before Bang Ciing was born.

He added that the villagers could endure the danger. They had been involved in the business for a long time, and firecrackers had become part of their everyday life and culture.

"The death toll can not prevent us from making firecrackers. Every year there are always deaths among the villagers due to explosions of gunpowder.

"This year, so far, two men have died in my neighboring village of Pabuaran and Jatake, Pedemangan subdistrict. But we still continue making firecrackers," he said.

He explained that the villagers had no choice but to produce firecrackers because they had no other jobs.

Although some young people in Karangtengah worked for a local plantation, they were still lured to work in the firecracker business because it promised better returns.

Bang Ciing said he himself also acted as a firecracker and gunpowder agent for the villagers. He sells their products and buys what they need to make the firecrackers.

As an agent, he said he had spent almost Rp 20 million (some US$2000) this year.

There are basically two types of firecracker makers: permanent and seasonal producers.

The permanent makers produce firecrackers based on orders, usually for festivals or celebrations, while the seasonal makers run their businesses over the three months prior to and during Ramadhan, when demand for firecrackers reaches its peak.

Tanti, 20, a housewife in Karangtengah village, is a seasonal maker. Together with her two children, she begins producing firecrackers three months before Ramadan. She has been in the business for the past three years.

Each day she and her children could produce 10,000 packs of petasan korek from a six kilogram sack of gunpowder.

She added that she was able to buy the gunpowder easily from vendors along the Parung Panjang-Legok main road.

As a seasonal producer, Tanti has no special cabin in her home to produce firecrackers. Her home's dining room, measuring some 16 square meters, is filled with firecrackers wrapped in noodle cartons and brown wrapping papers.

"Normally I invest Rp 2 million (US$200) in this seasonal business. Then, in one month, especially in Ramadhan, I can make Rp 5 million (US$500). Still, not all of my products are sold yet. So, you see, the return is more than 100 percent," she said.

Tanti added that all her neighbors also ran similar businesses.

As for permanent firecracker producers, their work goes on year round, not only during the Muslim fasting month.

They work to meet orders from agents, usually for certain types of firecrackers. The agents are mostly located along the Parung Panjang-Legok main road.

Sidiq, 46, who has been involved in the business for more than six years as a permanent firecracker maker, admitted that he only took orders as he had no capital to finance his own workshop.

Currently he had an order to produce one million packs of petasan korek for an agent, whom he refused to disclose.

Public officers from the Legok and Pademangan subdistrict seem to be deliberately turning a blind eye toward the illegal firecracker industry that exists in their area.

They are even believed to be involved in nurturing the industry and colluding with the makers.

Tanti said that her village never received any warnings from the authorities in the subdistrict.

She even said that recently the police from the Legok subdistrict police station had come to her village to ask for a levy of Rp 1,000 and firecrackers or Rp 2,000 per house.

No officials would comment on the illegal business in the area.

Legok subdistrict police chief First Insp. Syafrudin also refused to make any comment.

"Don't ask me, I have no authority to give information to reporters," he said.

No public officers in the subdistrict office provided any information, and even the chief of Legok subdistrict, Hidayat, was not available.

"I forget his phone number sir. No employee in this office knows Mr. Hidayat's number," said one of the employees at the subdistrict office.

When asked about possible raids by the authorities, Bang Ciing, with a cynical smile, said: "The police have no courage to raid us. They even come to us for free firecrackers if they are going to hold a celebration."