JP/20/YASIN/

Onyx supports craftsman on 'sunlight' island

Indra Harsaputra The Jakarta Post/Bawean, East Java

Bawean island lies about 70 kilometers off the north coast of East Java province. It takes its name from a sanskrit phrase that means "there is sunlight".

Apart from its tok-tok bull races, which are a major tourist attraction in themselves, Bawean also has onyx, a sought-after form of quartz that has a wax-like luster. Unfortunately, only a few people have the skills to turn this valuable stone into highly prized objects.

One of these is Mohammad Yasin, who comes from Rijing hamlet, Sungai Teluk Sangkapura village, Bawean. Yasin is now a successful onyx craftsman and businessman.

When The Jakarta Post visited his onyx workshop, Yasin, born on April 15, 1937, in Laut Sungai hamlet, Sawah Mulya Sangkapura village, Bawean, was wiping sweat from his face.

He was taking a break after supervising 32 workers who had been excavating and processing onyx for a full day, and was about to eat the meal that had been prepared for him at home.

"I work hard to promote my onyx business. Most of my employees are from Bawean. As they work here, they don't have to migrate to Malaysia for work," he said, adding that other workers were from Tulungagung, East Java..

Yasin started up in 2000. Before that, he was a government school teacher at several schools in Bawean. In 1970 he taught at government elementary school Lebak No. 2, Sangkapura Bawean. Five years later he was appointed headmaster of a government elementary school in Sukalela, Tambak district.

"You live a difficult life as a teacher on an isolated island. My income was barely enough to feed the whole family and we had to eat cassava every day," said Yasin, who graduated from Surabaya Teachers' Training Secondary School in 1970.

To earn extra income, Yasin went fishing after teaching. His wife, Salmah, sold vegetables and several other daily necessities.

In 1992, Yasin, who earned very little as a teacher, gave up his job and started making roof tiles and bricks. He not only sold them on Bawean but also in Gresik and Surabaya.

Gradually, Yasin's standard of living went up. Earning about Rp 10 million a month, he was able to send his five sons and a daughter to university in Malang.

"I also bought each of my children a home on Bawean," he said.

After graduating from university, Yasin's six children returned to Bawean. His sons help him with his business while his daughter is a health official on the island.

When the monetary crisis hit Indonesia in 1998, Yasin's business collapsed as the demand for bricks and roof tiles from places outside Bawean dropped. In 1999, he shut down the enterprise.

Yasin remained optimistic, though, and in 2000 he started his onyx business. A businessman in Gresik gave him a loan of Rp 210 million to start up. Some of the onyx he had excavated was sent to an onyx craftsman in Tulungagung.

"I repaid the loan within a year," he said.

Thanks to his perseverance, Yasin not only sells unprocessed onyx but also his own onyx products such as sculptures, furniture and so on.

His onyx products are sold not only in Bawean but also in one outlet in Tulungagung. Prices range from Rp 100,000 to Rp 10 million depending on the size of the objects and the intricacy with which they are carved.

His onyx products are also exported to, among others, France, Australia, Hongkong and China. Yasin's business makes about Rp 65 million a month.