NU congress means fortune for locals

NU congress means fortune for locals

Slamet Susanto and Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post/Surakarta

Sartini, 36, a food vendor outside Donohudan Haj Dormitory in
Surakarta, Central Java, which hosted the recently completed
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) congress, said her income drastically
increased during the five-day national convention.

"In normal days, I alone am able to serve all the customers.
But over the last week, I've had three staff people always busy
because so many people are coming to eat," she told The Jakarta
Post.

Previously, Sartini, who runs a soto (Javanese soup) food
stall in front of the congress venue, normally goes through
around five kilograms of rice each day, but this week she was up
to 20 kilograms of rice to keep all the congress delegates fed.
"Normally, we sell around three kilograms of chicken, and that's
a good day. But most days this week, we sold 10 kilograms.

"From 6 a.m. to well into the night, I was constantly serving
up food, without taking a break. I would immediately fall asleep
after closing the stall," she added.

Sartini is among a number of local residents benefiting
economically from the congress, which was opened on Sunday by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. More than 3,500 participants
from 30 provinces across the country were in attendance, with the
chief aim of electing a new chairperson.

Less than 2,000 delegates can be accommodated in the 34 hotels
across Surakarta and many others stay inside the Donohudan
dormitory or have to rent houses from local residents.

Almost all of the houses near the venue have been rented out
by delegates and media crew covering the event, while the owners
moved out temporarily.

At least one school, located 200 meters from the venue, was
closed for a week as it was also used to house participants,
including activists of the NU Crisis Center.

The house rentals were quite costly, ranging from Rp 100,000
to Rp 400,000 per room, for one night. Relatively equal to the
prices that hotels in the city were charging.

Delegates also pay up to Rp 1.5 million per house if they want
to rent a house for the entire duration of the congress. "In my
area, around 30 houses have been rented out entirely, all but
four in my neighborhood unit," said Muji Rahardjo, 53, the
neighborhood unit chief in Ngemplak village, around 500 meters
west of the venue.

However, he said the four that did not rent their houses still
made a pretty penny because they rented out one or two rooms for
between Rp 200,000 and Rp 400,000 per night. "So, all have shared
in the good fortune. If such an event were to take place all the
time, we would quickly become rich," Muji dreamily envisioned.

His house, consisting of two rooms, was rented to the
secretariat of the NU Students Association (IPNU). He received Rp
1.5 million for one week.

Along with his wife and a son, Muji moved to a warehouse
located behind his house. "For me, it's no problem to sleep here
together. I don't know if we'll ever again reap such a big amount
of money in such a short time period."

His 34-year old neighbor, Sarini did the same thing. She, her
husband and two children were not reluctant to temporarily stay
at their relative's house.

Sarini charged her guests Rp 1 million for the week for each
bedroom in the house. Her house has five bedrooms.

"All my rooms were booked up by congress delegates. It's no
problem for us to stay a while at my relative's place. Maybe,
there will be no other time to gain such a good fortune," said
Sarini, whose monthly income ranges from Rp 500,000 to Rp
700,000.

A photographer with the Kedaulatan Yogyakarta daily newspaper
said that the rent for a local house was the same as the hotels
were charging.

He admitted he paid Rp 1.5 million to rent a room during the
congress. "With five friends, we rented two rooms," said the
photographer, Eko Budiarto.

Though being costly, he said, he preferred to live in a house
because the location was near the Donohudan dormitory, which is
15 kilometers from downtown, where the hotels are located.

"If we stayed overnight in a better hotel, we'd have to
commute all the way through Solo (Surakarta) each day.
Journalists with local newspapers, like us, need access to the
venue to quickly update information at any time. If we stay in a
hotel downtown, it would make that difficult for us, especially
during the rainy season and the slower traffic," Eko said.