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.