Klender woodcraft emerges as a lucrative business

Klender woodcraft emerges as a lucrative business

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Under the shade of a tree with the breeze in the leaves and
birds chirping overhead, Muntahar was steadily carving
traditional patterns of flowers on a teak cabinet.

The 34-year-old man, along with his four brothers and sisters,
has been trained since he was a teenager by his father, a
craftsman, in Jepara, a town in Central Java, which is
internationally renowned for its wood craftsmanship.

He said that in Jepara carving skills are common among
elementary school children and ordinary housewives. Therefore
craftsmanship is considered not so significant there.

That's why Muntahar had to move from Jepara 10 years ago to
the city, where he is one of 200 artists with rare carving skills
in Klender, East Jakarta.

"Here I can make more money as a skilled craftsman," Muntahar
told The Jakarta Post last week.

He was recently paid Rp 400,000 (approximately US$48.20) for
one day's work, to carve a panel for a five-star hotel in South
Jakarta. Not to mention his daily income from the orders he
receives from workshops in Klender.

Muntahar said he charged Rp 165,000 for a complicated carving
job in Jakarta, while the same job in Jepara was only worth Rp
95,000.

Klender is one of the popular places residents in Greater
Jakarta can find wood-based products at reasonable prices.

In the early 1940s, it was a center for railway parts
production. Today it has emerged into an area where some 6,750
people rely on wood-related businesses for their livelihoods.
There are 2,011 wood-related firms in Klender, including logging
bases, workshops, showrooms and transportation services.

At least 200 outlets display wooden furniture and antiques
along the 4.5-kilometer road between Jl. Raya Bekasi Timur and
Jl. Pahlawan Revolusi.

Visitors can find cupboards, chairs, benches, beds and tables
with relatively low prices ranging from Rp 200,000 to Rp 1
million per item.

To date, the East Jakarta mayoralty administration estimates
money circulating from business transactions in Klender to be
about Rp 30 billion a month. The amount is seen as big enough for
the city administration to give Klender special attention.

The mayoralty has plans to set up a Klender Furniture Center
to further promote the area into a center for wood-based
products, even more competitive than Muntahar's hometown, Jepara.

But the project has faced a challenge as local residents in
Klender recently filed a report to police that accused local
officials of embezzling billions of rupiah, dispersed by the city
administration for the planned promotion.

The trial of the embezzlement case is scheduled to begin mid
this month.

Ipung, 29, Muntahar's employer and a fellow craftsman,
however, doubted the center could succeed as planned.

"If the city administration wants to compete with Jepara it
should focus more on training people, because Klender lacks
skilled craftsmen," he argued.

"It should facilitate something like a transfer of skills," he
added.

"Workshops and showrooms in Klender prefer to order directly
from workers in Jepara who are paid lower that those here," said
Ipung, who owns Sentra Seni workshop.

"But what does the administration care about the art of
craftsmanship? They care only about one thing ... money, billions
of rupiah," he said.