Jakarta still the best for less-privileged
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
JAKARTA (JP): As Jakarta approaches its 267th birthday tomorrow, the bustling city remains a magnet for those willing to endure the cruel existence of laboring as petty traders and street vendors.
"No matter how tough things get it's still the best place to make a living," Maman, a cigarette vendor working at a traffic light in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, said to The Jakarta Post yesterday.
He revealed how he left his village near Cianjur, West Java, nearly three years ago not long after he got married. Realizing his responsibility, Maman left his village to try his luck here.
When asked why he didn't stay home, Maman said that there wasn't much to do, let alone enough to support a family.
"Look, no matter how measly you think my job is I can support my family this way," retorted Maman, who is now the proud father of two-young boys.
Maman's words are a common refrain among the thousands of street vendors in Jakarta.
In their attempt to make a living the vendors erect human obstacles which obstruct the flow of vehicles creating bottlenecks and traffic jams.
The Bureau for the Development of Regional Products puts the number of street vendors in Jakarta at around 90,000. Other sources have placed the figure as high as 450,000.
On an intersection at Pasar Rumput market in Central Jakarta, a group of cigarette vendors told a similar story of how they headed for the metropolis, not to find fortune and fame, but a decent income to support their families back home.
"I knew what I'd end up doing when I got here, I'm not the first to come here and sell cigarettes," said Pepen who hails from Tasikmalaya, West Java.
To prove his point he named many relatives peddling in close proximity, including a female cousin who owns a food kiosk or warung Tegal, and a brother and brother-in-law also selling cigarettes.
Pepen said that he and his brothers along with four friends from a nearby village rent a room together behind the market.
On an average month they each make about Rp 80,000 ($37) from selling cigarettes, bottled mineral water and an assortment of candies to passing motorists.
"Since we're all neighbors we take turns going home to take the money to our family," Pepen explained.
When asked how long he would be peddling on the streets, Pepen said he had only meant to do this for a couple of years but now it has been over three so he really can't say.
However he noted that if in a couple of years he can not save enough, he will probably bring his family to Jakarta so his wife can help out at the market. "I'd rather have my family with me than be poor alone."
"I never stop the passing cars or purposely slow them down to offer cigarettes. There's usually red traffic light or a traffic jam somewhere up front," Maman said when asked whether his job caused the traffic to slow down.
Traffic
Meanwhile a vendor who sells socks and handkerchiefs near the Tanah Abang market admitted that by placing his wares on a mat at the street pavement, he was interfering with traffic.
"I'm just doing what everyone else is...besides if its illegal why do they levy me every day?" asked Syahril, who moved from Gunung Kidul, Central Java, only last January.
Despite it being illegal, local market inspectors permit the vendors to remain and extort money from them.
Syahril accounts at least three different fees he has to pay daily - cleaning fee, security fee and a place/location fee - ranging from Rp 500 (US23 cents) to Rp 1000.
"I do like the rest do so don't tell me that I have no right here when I have to pay just to stand here," he said contentiously.
When told of Jakarta's anniversary on June 22, Syahril didn't answer simply throwing a sarcastic grin as if to say "so what."
Naniek Sutoyo, a housewife who was shopping in the vicinity, said she didn't mind the presence of the street vendors.
"What I mind is having to walk on the streets so near to the moving cars because they (the vendors) take so much of the pavement," she said.
When asked of her greatest concern in her daily life in the city of over 10 million, Naniek said it was the daily commute to and from the market.
According to her the problem is not the lack of transportation but the number of people competing to get on at certain times.
Naniek explained that during the early morning and late afternoon it is nearly impossible to get a bus because time everyone is commuting to or from work and school.
"When it's past rush hour there's no problem. You can usually find a seat," Naniek explained.
She further said that day or night in Jakarta you can find transportation, thus she believes that it is only at rush hour that public transportation is at a premium.
"Imagine getting into a jam-packed bus with four bags of groceries," Naniek said, who at the time only had one bag.
Naniek admits she doesn't know what to do about the problems of the traffic and the over-population saying only that its part of life in Jakarta.