JP/5/ASIP

JP/5/ASIP

ASIP A. HASANI, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Passing silverware shops along the narrow streets of the
ancient town of Kota Gede -- in the southeast of downtown
Yogyakarta -- will always remind Jumali of his previous
silvercraft business, which no longer exists following the
monstrous blow of the economic crisis in early 1998.

During the "glory" days, Jumali, now 43, used regularly to
knock on the doors of several shops on those streets to deliver
their orders of handmade silver jewelry.

Every month, Jumali, who worked with the help of 10 employees,
could fulfill orders worth at least Rp 10 million for the Kota
Gede shops.

One morning early this week, he was again in the town but
carried no jewelry in his hands. Jumali today sells rice,
vegetables and other items at the Kota Gede traditional market.

He purchases these from his neighbors in nearby Semoyan
village, where 80 percent of its population used to earn a living
as traditional silversmiths before the crisis.

Most of their production went to the jewelry shops at Kota
Gede, known among local and foreign tourists as Silver Town.

"The gravy train stopped. I can't even afford now to pay my
children's school fees," Jumali said.

To keep his children at school, he finally had to sell all
three of the motorcycles he once bought during the "good" days.

The local government estimates that some 4,000 families in
Kota Gede and surrounding villages, such as Semoyan, Jagalan,
Prenggan, Keboan and Tegalgendu, were once involved in the
silverware industry during the boom days.

At that time, the main streets of Kota Gede, once home to the
ancient Mataram Kingdom, saw at least 40 silverware shops
trading.

"Now, about half of the shops are already closed," Sutojo,
deputy chief of Yogyakarta Production Cooperative of
Silverware Entrepreneurs (KP3Y), told The Jakarta
Post early this week.

The crisis, which hit the country in mid-1997, abruptly took
the shine off the silvercraft business in Kota Gede.

And the most badly affected party was home industries
belonging to the villagers like Jumali, as they could no longer
afford to purchase the raw materials.

"Before the crisis, the unprocessed silver cost between Rp
380,000 and Rp 400,000 per kilogram (kg). Then when the crisis
started to cripple our economy, the material went up to between
Rp 1.5 million and Rp 3 million per kg," Sutojo explained.

The skyrocketing price of the material was an inevitable
consequence of the rupiah's depreciation against the U.S. dollar.

The price for other materials used in the silvercraft
industry has also soared. Velvet, for example, has tripled from
Rp 6,000 to Rp 18,000 per meter, and glue jumped from Rp 8,500 to
Rp 40,000 per tin.

According to KP3Y's database, almost half of the silverware
production of Kota Gede and its surroundings is shipped for
export, with another half for the local market.

"However, domestic sales have been in sharp decline since the
crisis," Sutojo said.

The other significant factor that pushed the industry to its
currently gloomy state was the significant drop of foreign
tourist arrivals in Indonesia.

"The silverware industry here used to consume at least 200 kg
of unprocessed silver per month. Now, we only use some 100 kg,"
Sutojo went on.

In contrast, overseas orders for Kota Gede silverware were
probably not affected by the crisis. Data compiled by the
provincial office of trade and industry reveals that the export
value has been relatively stable, at US$ 913,234 in 1996,
$893,924 (1997), $1.04 million (1998), $ 796,704 (1999) and $1.4
million in 2000.

The figure for this year, however, might be another grim story
as in the first seven months the value was only $304,276.

But Sutojo firmly believed that overseas markets are still
wide open for Kota Gede silversmiths. However, he acknowledged
that the scarcity of capital would remain the most crucial
problem for small silverware businesses here.

Like the existing silversmiths, Sutojo also wondered whether
Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration could create a better and
more stable economic situation to ignite the dying silver
industry of Kota Gede.

Locals also worried that the U.S. military attacks against
Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks on America would
further worsen their business, which had been handed down from
generation to generation since the 17th century.