New Year's Eve is business as usual for some

JAKARTA (JP): For some Jakartans, the New Year's eve does not hold any great expectations, just business as usual.

Suhanda, a 52-year-old street sweeper and a father of three, has to get to work by 4 p.m. on every Dec. 31 and finish before the sun rises the following day.

Together with his friends, Suhanda cleaned Jl. MH Thamrin until the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jl. Sudirman, which is about one kilometer, from the debris left behind by Jakartans celebrating the New Year's Eve on the street.

"I have no plans for the New Year's Eve since I have to go to work. I just finished sweeping the area in front of McDonald's (a fast food restaurant in Sarinah Plaza on Jl. MH Thamrin)," he said in the wee of hours, while cleaning the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle from the paper shreds of handmade firecrackers.

"I cannot take a break as I have to get my work done on time. I have a supervisor who is inspecting my work," Suhanda said.

Traffic policeman Second Adj. Insp. Djatmin claimed he used to spend Idul Fitri and New Year's eve with my his family in the past 26 years.

"But now, I will celebrate the new year with the public and colleagues here," he said while monitoring the traffic at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sunday evening.

Different experiences were told by street singers and the homeless.

"Big days are not our good days. Just like Idul Fitri (on Dec. 27), we didn't receive anything. We don't get much, but have to run away from the city public officials instead," Wati, 22, who used to beg at the side of Jl. Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta, said.

Iwan, 24, a street singer, said that since he cannot "work" among the festive environment, he decided to just watch the entertainment provided for the celebration.

"Myself and some friends will watch the musical programs performed in the Sarinah Plaza parking field, the Koes Plus live band in Hotel Indonesia and the moving stage of artists at traffic circles. I'm off work tonight," he said.

In the prostitution complex in Bongkaran, Tanah Abang area in Central Jakarta, a soft drink vendor Warsih said that she would open her kiosk until the next day since she hardly had buyers.

"People come and go as there is a dangdut musical performance here to celebrate New Year's eve. But, they usually bring their own drinks," the woman in her 60s said. (bby)