Moersia Zaafril-Ilyas, a woman with vision

Moersia Zaafril-Ilyas, a woman with vision

By Carla Bianpoen

MALANG, East Java (JP): "I do not believe in material
development alone," says Moersia Zaafril Ilyas. Her sparsely
furnished sitting room in a garage, where market vendors, becak
(pedicab) drivers, youths and colleagues have come to discuss
problems and plans for decades, reflects the sober lifestyle of a
woman who believes in life's essential values.

Zaafril has spent more than fifty years propagating and
putting into action her beliefs on how to best attain sustainable
development through human development. Successful women
cooperatives operating under the umbrella of the Pusat Koperasi
Wanita Jawa Timur (Puskowanjati), are the result of the Tanggung
Renteng system which she first introduced to a women's savings
and credit cooperative in Malang in the early 1950s.

In this system, default by one member of the group is borne by
the whole group. Joint liability is not new to cooperatives, but
the mechanism developed by Zaafril is marked by participatory
decision-making at both the bottom and top levels. Taking
elements from traditional Indonesian concepts like gotong royong
(mutual help), musyawarah (deliberation) and arisan (credit by
rotation), Puskowanjati's cooperatives have successfully
encouraged a democratic approach and strengthens character.

Zaafril considers building character indispensable to
sustainable human development. "It is essential to counter
confusion and negative trends occurring in a changing society,"
she notes. It is very simple she explains, "The main thing is to
become strong, help other people, making use of available
dynamics, but never at the expense of others."

The cooperatives promote and support their members with low
interest loans through revolving funds, which keeps money lenders
from exploiting women. Equally important is its role in
cultivating self-confidence and self-sufficiency, thus improving
the quality of life for women and the wider community.

Responsibility

Puskowanjati member cooperatives are made up of groups of 10
to 25 members. It is in these groups that individual
responsibility and decision-making is strongly implemented and
promoted. The members are familiarized with taking responsibility
by making their own decisions: they must elect their own group's
leader and approve new membership and credit applications. At
least 50 percent of the members must attend the meeting and give
their approval for these decisions.

Another important feature in the Puskowanjati cooperatives is
the provision of intensive guidance and training, which leads to
the strengthening of personal and technical skills. Easy
procedures for credit applications, without collateral, and free
skills training attract women who often lack the necessary
education and training to find a lucrative job. Many women in
East Java have been able to increase their income, their status
and their self-esteem by joining these cooperatives.

"I needed money to pay for my children's school fees," says
the wife of a becak driver in Surabaya who participates in the
Setia Bhakti Cooperative, a member of the Puskowanjati umbrella.
"Then I joined the sewing course provided at no cost," she
explains.

Now she is an accomplished dressmaker, and provides for the
her household and her children's education. She also owns a
house, rice fields and cattle in the village, and supports both
her own and her husband's relatives.

Another woman, interviewed at her food stall along one of the
busy streets in Surabaya, reveals that participating in the
Waspada cooperative, has helped her increase her income. The
money her husband made as a truck driver was not enough to
survive. Credit from the cooperative helped her set up a food
stall, which is now so big that her husband stopped driving the
truck to assist her. They now own eight pedicabs, as well as land
and cattle in her home village.

A woman in Malang relates that she had been elected group
leader several times, but had never accepted because she was
overwhelmed with household chores. Her husband wouldn't think of
lending a hand. But her ability to help out in a financial
crisis, completely changed him. At a loss because they could not
pay their children's school fees, she obtained credit from the
cooperative. Her esteem in the family rose, and her husband even
urged her to lead her group, offering to help her with the
household chores.

Today the Puskowanjati Women Cooperatives Center covers 35
Primary Cooperatives throughout East Java consisting of over
20,000 individual members. They include members of Koperasi Unit
Desa, PKK Family Welfare Movement and the Dharma Wanita. Unlike
other cooperatives, Puskowanjati does not receive any subsidies.
Their member cooperatives build on the participants' own capital
obtained through the initial savings of new members and monthly
compulsory as well as voluntary savings. Assistance from some
donors is used for training and institution building, not for the
provision of credit.

Potential

Zaafril first thought about setting up of a cooperative as a
mechanism for the rapid horizontal spread of basic human values
some time in the 1950s, not long after Indonesia declared
political independence from the Dutch. It was a time of economic
instability, she explains. Inflation hit the country, and its
people, particularly poor women, suffered a blow. The members of
her arisan agreed that there was an immediate need for financial
facilitation.

"I suggested setting up a savings and credit cooperative for
women," she said.

Javanese women, traditionally the household managers, were in
dire need of cash. Her arisan friends were somewhat hesitant,
but, in the end, believed that the cooperative held the best
potential for a rapid horizontal spread of wealth. Zaafril was
responsible for any financially negative consequences. Seed
capital was collected from all the members, and, according to a
friend, Zaafril gave the most. The initiative turned into a
success. The All-Purpose Setia Budi Wanita Cooperative, as it was
called, flourished.

In the late 1970s, Zaafril was called in to revive the waning
Puskowanjati center in Madiun. Under her charismatic leadership,
its seat was moved to her garage in Malang. She consolidated the
board, introduced the concept of Tanggung Renteng to its members
and managed to bring it to new heights. Today, Puskowanjati
covers cooperatives reaching the urban middle class down to lower
income communities.

Unlike many successful leaders, she has long left the
executive board of the center, allowing younger leaders a chance.
This was possible both because of her own as well as her
colleagues' close guidance instilling democratic principles in
the cooperative's members. Turning 70 this month, Zaafril
continues to retain a distinct integrity.

In contrast to many women of her age and from the same social
strata, she continues to live a simple life.

"She even declines her son's offer to drive her, if she can go
by foot, by becak or by bus," reveals one of the center's younger
staff members with admiration.

Her charisma continues to stimulate young and old.

"She never fails to impress me deeply, and I like to listen to
what she says," says a young field worker.

Biography

The daughter of a supreme court judge on the island of Madura,
she went to Dutch, Taman Siswa (national oriented) and national
schools.

Her interest in the wellbeing of her people started as early
as the age of 18. Acquaintance with people involved in the
national movement further kindled this interest. She joined the
national movement and was sent to prison by the Dutch colonial
authorities. Ironically, she was jailed again after Indonesia's
independence, under the Sukarno regime. President Soeharto's New
Order honored her in 1992 with a Special Award for her
contribution to the development of the nation.

Although Zaafril has long retired from the Puskowanjati
leadership, she continuous to be active in the world of
cooperatives.

"I just enjoy being active," she says.

She chairs a recently established national umbrella for
women's cooperatives, Induk Koperasi Wanita (INKOWAN). Included
in this umbrella are the centers for women cooperatives in
Greater Jakarta as well as West, and East Java.

She also helps set up centers in other provinces. "To
accelerate social development," she explains.

Having focussed on women in the past, she has now commenced
including men in her cooperatives.

Together with male colleagues she has set up the Yayasan
Pembangunan Masyarakat, a foundation involved in pre-cooperative
efforts. Local satay hawkers and vendors from a nearby market are
assisted with the same Tanggung Renteng mechanism used in the
cooperatives under Puskowanjati. Participants in these groups are
men and women, she explains.

In the ambience of the same garage of old in Malang, this
admirable, dynamic lady continues to lead. And people of all
sorts continue to flock for her counseling, encouragement and
enthusiasm. In spite of her seventy years, she is as active and
inspiring as ever.