Streets of Jakarta not paved in gold

Streets of Jakarta not paved in gold

Emmy Fitri and Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta stands out like a gleaming beacon to the rest of the
country, attracting a wave of migrants each year. And the largest
influx of migrants to the capital takes place each year following
Idul Fitri, when thousands of Indonesians from the rural areas
stream into Jakarta full of hopes for a better life.

But for the majority of these new arrivals, the streets of the
city are not paved with gold. They soon discover the darker side
of Jakarta, and find that their dreams of the good life have been
transformed into a nightmarish existence of constant struggle
simply to survive.

Strangely enough, the strongest warnings against coming to
Jakarta to seek a better life don't come from the city's governor
or the population agency, but from musicians and artists.

When Indonesia's economy was on the ebb in the 1970s, renowned
female musician Titiek Puspa composed Bimbi, a song about a
village girl who comes to Jakarta with high expectations but ends
up working as a prostitute. Sam Bimbo of the Bimbo Group explored
the same theme in Balada Gadis Desa (Ballad of a Village Girl).

Probably the most popular song among migrants is the satirical
Siapa Suruh Datang Jakarta? (Who Told You to Come to Jakarta?).

All of these songs are stilled played on the radio and TV, yet
their message has not dissuaded the migrants, who keep coming.
Governor Sutiyoso was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that
an estimated 250,000 people come to Jakarta each year following
Idul Fitri.

What is the fate of these migrants?

The 56-year-old Samin left his hometown of Brebes, Central
Java, to seek a new life for himself in Jakarta. He sold his
paddy field, his family's only asset, and used some of the money
to send his daughter to school in Brebes. He used the rest of the
money to travel to Jakarta and try his luck.

But when he arrived, he found that finding work was not as
easy as he had heard from neighbors in Brebes who had been to the
capital.

"This year's fasting month is my fourth Ramadhan here and I
have no savings. I am only able to earn enough for one meal a
day."

Samin spends many of his days at the Permata Hijau housing
complex, South Jakarta, where groups of men go to seek work as
manual laborers. Jobs are few and far between, and when he does
find work, Samin is paid only Rp 7,000 a day.

"That's not enough for anything except to buy some food and a
few cigarettes," Samin, who sleeps in a security post in the
housing complex, said.

When asked if he wanted to return to Brebes, Samin said: "If I
wanted, I could have gone home when I still had enough money to
buy a bus ticket. Now I am too ashamed. I can't even pay for the
bus fare, and anyway what would I do back there."

Suhardiyanto, has done better for himself and his family than
most migrants, running 14 small bakso (meatball soup) stands and
overseeing 20 employees. But he still feels that he has not
achieved the success that he dreamed of.

"What success? This is not success. A boss should work behind
a desk, not like me. I have to wake up at 4 a.m. and start
preparing bakso until it's all finished at 10 a.m.," said the 47-
year-old at his house in Cipulir, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.

The father of two said when he first came to Jakarta from
Wonogiri, Central Java, some 11 years ago, he was just hoping to
find a job that would allow him to improve his life.

"I changed jobs many times during the first five years, until
I ran out of ideas what to do as my life was not getting better.
I was already married and had a family to feed," said
Suhardiyanto.

He started selling bakso and eked by on his earnings until a
relative extended him a loan and he expanded his business.

Now with a daily income of about Rp 700,000, he is able to
bring his family to visit his hometown almost three times a year.
There, he is looked upon as a success story.

Suhardiyanto said he was often approached by relatives and
neighbors in Wonogiri looking for a job in Jakarta.

"I don't look for workers from my hometown but relatives and
neighbors who need a job come to me, and most of the time I just
can't turn them down," he said.

Of his 20 employees, all but five are from Wonogiri. When
asked what they hoped for from Jakarta, most of the employees
said they wanted to be like their boss.

Sociologist Paulus Wirutomo said migration to the capital was
caused by the large welfare gap between Jakarta and the regions.

He said if the central government and the regional authorities
did not take steps to end this welfare gap, migrants would
continue to pour into Jakarta, resulting in dangerous
overpopulation, increased unemployment and a fall in
productivity.

"The increasing number of migrants (coming to the capital) is
an indication that there is a difference in the welfare and the
opportunities in Jakarta and other regions. Migrants don't just
come to Jakarta after the (Idul Fitri) holiday, they come every
day."

And as the competition for jobs become tougher, he said it
would be difficult for people with little or no education to
succeed in the city.

But such warnings are unlikely to dissuade would-be migrants,
convinced that a better life awaits them in Jakarta. Sadly,
though, many of these people will find themselves in the same
position as Samin, having given up their dreams and simply trying
to scrape together enough money each day to eat.