The pedicab driver Amat has nothing to dream of

We are such stuff/ As dreams are made on, and our little life/ Is rounded with a sleep. (from The Tempest)

By Lela E. Madjiah

JAKARTA (JP): One ceases to live when one stops dreaming because to dream is to hope.

It's hard therefore to accept that at such a young age Amat, a pedicab driver, has nothing to dream of.

"How old do you think I am? You can't guess? How about 30?" he asked me when I questioned him about his age.

We agreed on the figure because it did not really matter to him.

Nothing really matters to Amat except earning a living, and scraping together around Rp 10,000 (US$4.65) a day is all that counts.

The third son of four children, his parents were too poor to send him to school. He, like nearly all of the some 100 pedicab drivers operating along Jl. Bintara Jaya, Kali Malang, Bekasi, is illiterate.

"I wanted so much to become an ABRI (Armed Forces) member," he sighed.

His late father, who was a farm laborer, had taught him how to use a hoe in a rice field back in his hometown of Karawang, West Java.

"I used to work in a rice field, but it was backbreaking labor and the money was not good, so I switched to this job," related Amat, adding that back then he earned Rp 5,000 ($2.32) daily by working from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Far removed from living out his ABRI dream, Amat now appears content. He rents a room near his workplace for Rp 15,000 a month. As he is still single, he does everything himself, including the laundry. That's why he only works from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; to allow himself time for such chores. He is able to avoid cooking because there are street warung tegal food stalls for people like him where he can buy a meal for Rp 500. Every 10 days he returns to Karawang to visit his siblings and bring them some money.

While many people consider his job inhumane - which was one reason why the Jakarta administration banned pedicabs in the capital - he does not seem to mind the work. And like most pedicab drivers, he rarely questions the amount of money people pay him for his services.

"Most of my customers live here and they decide how much to pay according to the distance," said Amat, who added that while some are generous, others are far from it.

Belongings

Not a saver by nature, after some 10 years of pedicab driving his belongings are limited to four shirts, three pairs of trousers and two pairs of shoes.

"I always wear my shoes when I return home," he said, somehow a bit embarrassed by his "lavishness."

Amat considers himself lucky because he rarely falls ill. When he does, it's usually during the rainy season, after being forced to work in the rain. His most serious illness has been a fever.

"Then I have to rest. Although I cannot make money, I don't have to pay the Rp 1,000 in daily rent," he pointed out.

How about a better future? What about saving his money for a course or something to enable him to land a better job?

"I can't think of anything. I'll just go on being a pedicab driver," he said helplessly.

But doesn't he crave a better life? Better clothes, even a car of his own?

"It's impossible. I think I'll be a pedicab driver all my life," he insisted.

What about marriage prospects? Especially since most people from his village marry in their late teens or early 20s?

"Nobody wants me," said Amat.