Firecracker-makers face death, as well as helpful police

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."