Satay sellers hardly have time to whine about life

Text and photos by Imanuddin

JAKARTA (JP): Dear Mom, I'm settling down in Jakarta. During the day I sit and swivel my feet and at night I sit and enjoy the fan. I couldn't ask for more ...

This is a well-known joke among people from West Sumatra about a young man who migrated to Jakarta to make ends meet. He sounds like he's having the time of his life. But the young man was describing his profession as a tailor (swivel the feet to get the sewing machine going) and a sate seller (fanning the charcoal).

But 24-year old Syafrinal from Pasaman, West Sumatra, will tell you immediately that you cannot hold both jobs at the same time. Selling satay is a chore that takes a lot of your time, almost the entire day.

There are two different kinds of satay -- meat grilled on a thin skewer -- that are peddled in Jakarta's streets. One is satay Padang, which uses tongue or liver as the meat and is eaten with a thick yellow turmeric-based sauce. This is the kind Syafrinal makes.

The other is satay Madura, which uses chicken meat and is eaten with brown peanut sauce.

In most parts of Jakarta you can still see these satays being peddled in the streets in the evening. The satay Madura you can hardly miss noticing because of the loud, often shrieking, whine the seller makes. "eeee ......" which is short for satay.

Satay sellers, either the Padang or the Madura kind, however hardly have time to whine about life.

Hosen, who hails from Sampang in Madura and peddles his satay in the Utan Kayu area in eastern Jakarta, will also tell you that a satay seller hardly has time to whine other than when they work.

Luck

Both Syafrinal and Hosen are two typical satay sellers who are trying to make it in this jungle of a city. Both men decided to leave their home villages and try their luck in Indonesia's largest metropolitan, Jakarta.

Hosen is 16 years old and the youngest of five children. Both his parents died when he was still at junior high school. Left an orphan, he was forced to quit school for lack of money. He began helping his older brothers with the family rice field but found the job too tedious. Besides, the money was simply enough to get by but nothing else.

On the advice of his friends in the village, he decided to come to Jakarta seven months ago. "I didn't think that I needed to remain a farmer. I let my brothers take care of the paddy."

He came armed only with courage. The primary school diploma hardly counts in Jakarta.

He found himself a three-bedroom house in Utan Kayu which is shared by people from Madura. All the other tenants have the same profession -- selling satay. Naturally Hosen got the chance to learn the ropes in selling satay Madura from them.

One month later he was working on his own.

Syafrinal, 24 years old, in contrast is the more responsible type. He is the oldest of five children.

He quit school after high school because he knew that his father's income as a low ranking civil servant in Pasaman could not support the education of all five children.

Someone had to give in and, being the eldest son, he decided to help with the family farm. After five years on the farm he decided that farming did not suit him.

"I've got to stand on my own two feet," Syafrinal said.

At the suggestion of his relatives he came to Jakarta, almost at the same time as Hosen moved here.

He rented a house in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, with two relatives. Together they pay Rp 100,000 ($45) a month in rent.

Syafrinal already knew how to prepare satay Padang before he came. Yet he needed to know Jakarta first, so in the first month he accompanied a relative peddling satay in a housing complex in East Jakarta before deciding to branch out on his own.

He learned quickly.

Syafrinal found himself a convenient and strategic spot near a movie theater in Rawamangun. He settled there and did not have to walk the streets like others.

Both men borrowed from friends and relatives to raise the necessary capital. Syafrinal's start up capital was Rp 200,000 while Hosen began with Rp 150,000.

While it did not take long for either Hosen or Syafrinal to settle in, their work is very demanding day in and day out. There is hardly any time to relax, they say.

Hosen says he does his rounds between seven and 11.30 at night. In the morning he wakes up at around 6 o'clock to buy supplies for the day and cut and marinate the meat. He also has to cook the lontong (rice cake). This he completes by 11 a.m. Then he takes a nap until 3 p.m. before getting ready for another night.

It is almost the same routine for Syafrinal. Making the preparations in the morning, taking a short rest in the afternoon and selling in the evening. Syafrinal however makes a point of taking one day off every 15 days.

Hosen said on average he makes a net profit of around Rp 12,000 ($5.50) a day from a turnover of around Rp 25,000.

Syafrinal says his turnover averages Rp 90,000 a day and, after deducting costs, his profit comes to Rp 50,000 ($24). With that sum he can afford to send Rp 150,000 each month to his parents back home and help support the schooling of his younger brothers and sisters. "I notice that they have more opportunity to go to university."

Hosen says he does not feel any need to send money home. "All of my brothers have their own income, I don't need to support them."

Both men say they have not thought of any other profession.

"Selling satay is the only thing I can do," Hosen said.

And they've been so busy trying to settle in that they have hardly had time to think about girlfriends.

"No girls would like a satay seller for a boyfriend," Hosen said pathetically.

"I am already occupied with my business," Syafrinal said when the question about a girlfriend was posed to him.