Independence, yes but economically -- not yet

T.Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

It was Thursday afternoon at around 3 p.m. and the sun was still shining brightly. A young man walked slowly along the road in a housing complex in Bintaro, Tangerang, pushing a cart loaded with red-and-white flags and bamboo poles.

Rohim, 24, is one of many seasonal vendors who try their luck selling flags and poles for people to hoist on Independence Day.

He left his hometown in Babakan village of Cirebon, West Java, on Sunday hoping he would be able to earn a handsome sum of money.

"But I have been here for five days and so far I have only made Rp 40,000 (less than US$5)," he said sighing.

"Today I sold only four bamboo poles and a single flag," he said. He is selling bamboo poles for Rp 7,500 each while a large- size flag costs Rp 30,000, but the buyers can also bargain. Most of the profit, however, goes to his boss.

Rohim, who normally works as a farmer, knows his boss from his neighborhood in Cirebon, who is also in Jakarta selling flags and poles. Rohim has been a seasonal vendor here for the past four years.

Independence Day gives Rohim a chance to make more than the Rp 5,000 he makes a day working on the fields in his village. He lives with his mother, who does not work, and the money is barely enough to cover their daily needs.

"There was a time when I did not eat for three days because I had no money at all," said Rohim, who dropped out of elementary school.

He said he often ate only once a day.

Once every two months, he said, he and his mother were entitled to receive aid from the government in the form of cheap rice.

It was only three kilograms of rice and it was not free. "Let's say, if the market price is Rp 2,500 per kilogram, then we only had to pay Rp 1,500 a kilogram," he said.

For Rohim and many other poor people, events like Independence Day can give them much-needed extra income, even if it is only for three or four days.

For them, the fact the fight for independence cost thousands of lives is just a historical fact.

For although Indonesia has been politically free from the control of foreign nations for 59 years, its founding fathers' goal for the people to prosper under an equitable system is still a dream.

Official reports say the number of poor people has dropped dramatically from 23.4 percent in 1999 to 18.2 percent in 2002 and 17.4 percent in 2003; about 37.50 million people. However, social workers say that many people, both in rural and urban areas, find that life remains hard -- if not harder -- than before.

Wardah Hafidz from the Urban Poor Consortium observed that while the lives of middle and upper income people might have improved there had been no parallel improvement in the lives of those without.

"The shopping malls may be crowded, luxury cars may sell well and restaurants may be packed, but low-income people still lead a hard life," she said.

Wardah criticized the government for implementing policies that marginalized the poor. Regional governments were actually fighting against poor people, not poverty, while the central government was blind to their condition, she said.

A clear example of this was the city administration's policy of evicting sidewalk vendors who were cluttering streets.

Instead of helping those in the informal sector, the authorities had deprived them of the right to make a living without providing alternatives. As a result those who were poor became poorer, she said.

"The state has gained its independence, but not the people - they are not free to work to fulfill their daily needs," she said. Wardah also opposed Jakarta's policy to upgrade the old becak (three-wheeled motorcycle cabs) in the city.

The government, she said, should accept the reality that 80 percent of the labor force was employed in the informal sector. The informal sector should be included in the whole economic system, she said.

Wardah noted that in the rural areas, farmers often suffered because they had no choice but to sell their harvests cheaply following the government's failure to stabilize prices for farm goods. Even worse, the government was allowing imported rice to flood the market, she said.

Indonesia gained its Independence in 1945. The nation is free from colonialism but many people can not enjoy any real freedom because they are imprisoned in poverty. While many may celebrate Independence Day cheerfully with carnivals and festivals, parties and games, others are still struggling to survive.

When Rohim was asked what Independence Day meant to him, he just stared blankly. Asked what he would wish for on the day, his answer was surprising. He did not say that he wanted to be a rich man with a lot of money, a car or a house. He said softly he just wanted to live peacefully.

Poverty is a complicated problem, difficult to solve, and it might be impossible to completely eradicate it. But at least, it could be alleviated if the government was really serious about helping the poor.

"What we need is the government's political will to solve the problem," Wardah said.