Jakarta's backpackers paradise no longer so Edenic

By Juliane Gunardono

JAKARTA (JP): "Hello Mister, need a room, some food, a cold drink?" This was how foreign tourists on Jalan Jaksa, the center for backpackers in Jakarta, used to be greeted. Before they could answer, they would be dragged into a restaurant or a hostel and offered everything they could want.

Now, a foreigner on Jalan Jaksa meets with nothing but silence and "closed" signs on the door.

A few days after the Idul Fitri holiday, most of the workers at the hostels, known locally as losmen, restaurants, bookshops and money changers, have not yet returned from their vacations. "Why should they come back quickly," asked an employee. "You don't need anybody to take care of an empty place."

The tourist industry has suffered sharp declines in revenue because of the country's political uncertainty. From January to October last year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals was 2.9 million, with the government estimating a total of 3.1 million by year's end. It constituted a 30 percent drop from 1997's figure of 5 million. Projected arrivals this year are 3.5 million.

In the last three months, four losmen along Jalan Jaksa have closed down because of the lack of tourists. The remaining hostels, about 40 in all, are struggling to attract what tourists there are. Because of the political situation in Indonesia, a lot of foreigners do not dare to come to Indonesia for their holidays, resulting in about a 70 percent decline in the usual number of tourists.

Pendawa, a small hostel with 10 rooms, went weeks without a guest. At the moment, the owners are happy to have four of their rooms occupied by tourists from France, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

"Before the crisis we always used to be booked solid," said Rikfi, one of the owners. "We even had to send people away. Sometimes they begged to sleep on the floor because all the other places were full too."

The owners of Pendawa are lucky to have saved some money in the years before the crisis. At the moment, there is no way for them to make money running their hostel.

"We spend about Rp 1 million a month for electricity, water, telephone, garbage and to pay the man who cleans the street, as well as a security fee and the salaries for our workers," Rikfi said. "If we are lucky, we earn about Rp 500,000 a month running the hostel, which means that we have to pay Rp 500,000 out of our savings every month."

A room with two beds, a fan and a bathroom used to cost Rp 15,000 (US$1.70) at the Pendawa. The price has been raised to Rp 20,000, but in practice the owners are willing to negotiate. "Better to have a tourist who pays just a little than to have none at all", is the new motto at the hostel.

With the sharp slump in business, people who did not manage to save money during the precrisis days when former president Soeharto was still in control of the country have no way of surviving the current crisis that is affecting everyone in the country, including business owners on Jalan Jaksa. It is now nearly impossible to survive by only operating a losmen.

"We hope the crisis will be over before our savings are gone," said Rikfi, who also works in a bank.

It is rumored that some of the hostels on Jaksa are so desperate that they rent their rooms to prostitutes, foreigners who overstay their visas or people who sell drugs.

However, most establishments claim that they would not even consider such a business. "We would rather have empty rooms than illegal people staying here," said an employee at the Borneo hostel. "It would be too expensive if we were caught."

The Borneo, with only half of its 40 rooms filled, has tried to deal with the crisis by improving efficiency. The staff has been reduced from 20 to seven and the hotel restaurant has been closed.

"Most of the people who used to stay here were foreigners", explained an employee. "Now we have quite a lot of Indonesian tourists and Indonesians who work in Jakarta."

Unlike most other establishments, losmen Rose is still full, living on the reputation it has earned among tourists.

The price for one of its 10 rooms has not been raised from Rp 20,000. Ali, the only employee at the hostel, cleans the rooms, washes the blankets and looks after the guests.

Still, he could not survive on his monthly wage of Rp 80,000 alone. He often receives tips from guests, and, to earn more money, he also sells Coca-Cola, beer and other drinks at the losmen. With all this work, his total income reaches about Rp 250,000 a month -- enough to live on, especially because he sleeps at the losmen for free.

"If you need money, you have to search for the arriving tourists. If there are not enough tourists, you have to look for something else to make money. It's not impossible to make money here," he said.

However, for many, business at Jalan Jaksa has become a hard, if not impossible task. "It is no fun anymore," said Rikfi. "It's a difficult season for people working here; a bitter time."