People scrimp and save to weather crisis

By M.M.I Ahyani & Agus Maryono

BANDUNG (JP): Fifty-year-old Komariah earns Rp 200,000 (US$ 18) per month washing clothes for eight university students living in boarding houses on Jl. Taman Sari. Her meager earnings are stretched to provide for her two children and two grandchildren.

She used to be able to buy two kilograms of rice, some vegetables and other side dishes, some cooking oil and kerosene for Rp 7,500. Now, with the cost of low quality rice rising to Rp 2,750 per kilogram, she has to make do with much less.

"I buy much less rice and make porridge out of it so that it can go further. If we can't have tempeh or tofu, then we just eat the porridge with salt and cengek (hot chili)," she said last week.

She said she was also preparing for a day when she would no longer be able to afford rice and they would be forced to eat yams instead.

"Insya Allah (God willing), I'll be able to stand (the hardship). As long as I can eat something and continue to work. But I don't know whether my grandchildren would be able to stand it," she sighed.

She could not bring herself to ask for a raise from the students, given how they, too, have had to make various adjustments in their budgets because of the economic crisis.

"I am just thankful that they still let me do their laundry. Many of their friends have started doing their own laundry, while others have to stop eating rice and buy noodles, instead," Komariah said.

Komariah and her family are among the many urban dwellers in the country who face increasing hardships due to, among others, skyrocketing prices of basic commodities, especially rice.

Lili, a 20-year-old man from Majalaya regency, said many of his neighbors had stopped eating rice and were now subsisting on yams or cassava. Many of them stole the yams because they do not have land of their own.

"Many of my neighbors have lost their jobs. They don't have any money and prices keep increasing. That's why they steal yams and cassava," Lili said.

Lili, who said he chose not to steal, came to Bandung and approached families at random offering to do anything in exchange for a meal. "I don't want to steal. Just give me enough to eat, and I'll do anything," he said.

He now washes the car and does odd jobs around the house for a local family.

Dayat, 24, sings for coins at the traffic light at the Pasir Kaliki-Padjadjaran intersection. He used to make Rp 7,500 a day, with which he could buy three good meals a day and a pack of cigarettes. Now, he makes much less and has to ask for credit from a local warung (foodstall) in order to eat.

"I used to be able to eat on only Rp 2,000 per day, and save some money to take home to my family in Lembang (north of Bandung)," he said. "Now, unless I have Rp 3,500, I'm not able to eat."

"I no longer think about bringing money back to my family. If I can pass a day without adding to my credit at the foodstall, I consider myself lucky," he said.

West Java used to be among the most important rice suppliers of the nation. In 1994, it produced almost 10 million metric tons of rice, a significant portion of the country's total 46.4 million ton yield that year.

Experts have pointed out that the country's rice production will be lower this year due to an El Nio-induced late planting season. Higher prices that have followed have been compounded by the fact it is too costly to import enough rice for the country's 203 million people due to the rupiah's fall against the U.S. dollar.

The government had projected the need to import 4.1 million tons of rice to meet demand. It has so far imported 3.6 million tons.

However, experts also say that even if 90 percent of the planting target can be met this year, the country would still have to import 4.5 million tons if consumption levels remained at 130 kgs per person.

Villages

Some people in rural areas are better prepared.

Umar, 70, said her family and many neighbors in Ciamis still had some rice stocked. "We eat rice with whatever vegetable is available in the yard, or with fish we catch on our own," she said.

But this was an option only for those with larger plots of land. Tenant farmers actually face the same hardships as urban dwellers.

"Well, those who have rice here always help those who don't," Umar said. "However, we do have problems from crop failures and we don't know how long our stocks will last."

Some villagers find it difficult to keep food on their table every day. In some Central Java towns, not only more cases of rice theft have been reported, but also theft of cooked rice or yams and cassava from various households and foodstalls.

In the regencies of Banyumas, Banjarnegara, Purbalingga and Cilacap, farmers are camping out in their fields following a series of crop thefts committed during the night.

Known as rojeng in the local language, the looting is usually committed by a group of about 20 people.

Suparno, a 49-year-old farmer from Kemangkon village in Purbalingga, has been victim of several night-time rice thefts.

"I didn't lose a great deal because the thefts were done in a traditional way of cutting, but I know that many of the thieves were my own neighbors," he said. "This time, it's OK. I know how poor they are and how difficult it is for them to find something to eat."

Purbalingga Police chief Lt. Col. Robby Kaligis confirmed the cases of cooked rice and cassava thefts. "They show how difficult it is now for people to eat. Not that I condone theft," he said.

Separately, Purbalingga Regent Soelarno said there are 87,567 poor families in his regency. He promised to conduct market operations, starting Monday, and sell rice at a subsidized price of Rp 1,000 per kilogram.

"Each family will get 10 kgs per month, for the next nine months," he said.