The wisdom of traditional workers

Profesi Wong Cilik: Spiritualisme Pekerja Tradisional di Java (The Little Man's Profession: Spiritualism of Traditional Workers in Java); By Iman Budhi Santoso; Yayasan Untuk Indonesia, Yogyakarta, 1999; 274 pages.

JAKARTA (JP): Have you ever imagined the work of a graveyard caretaker or a circumciser? How much do court servants, coconut tree climbers or turtledove baiters earn? How do jamu (herbal medicine) vendors, roadside barbers, well diggers or blacksmiths make a living?

The above jobs are traditional occupations in the Javanese community. We may not know or care about them. We may never have thought about their existence. It is logical. They can be found only in villages, or in peripheral urban areas, far from the attention and view of people leading a "modern" lifestyle. If they are visible they are often seen as part of an exotic life.

This book describes 18 traditional professions. Apart from the above-mentioned there are the traditional midwives, tea pickers, pedicab drivers, wood sawyers, market porters, slaughterhouse butchers, household servants, mountain guides and retired soldiers. Iman Budhi Santoso, the author, is known as a Yogyakarta-based poet who likes to go on roving journeys. He once worked as a plantation supervisor, moving from one area to another. His experiences since the late 1960s constitute the main part of this book. He witnessed and felt the life of traditional workers. He talked and lived with them.

Apart from knowing their world, what lesson can we learn from these traditional workers?

First, although all the activities are classified as work, it is not mere commerce and business. The greater part of it is dedication. Many among the traditional midwives are guided by the urge to help mothers give birth. Whatever time they are called away they are ready to help. Dedication to humankind is the main thing for these women. Most of them do not know work hours or holidays.

Second, the midwives, the circumcisers, the masseurs and the coconut pickers mostly have no fixed rates. It is up to the customer.

Third, these traditional workers are imbued with the principle of work distribution. A worker plowing the rice field will decline an offer to climb a coconut tree although he is unemployed and capable of doing it. They do not want to take someone else's livelihood.

Fourth, there is a kind of professional ethic in their circles. The traditional midwives, for instance, refuse abortions, be it the result of illicit love, an abundance of children or whatever.

Their work philosophy, full of the humanitarian, is the spiritual and religious meaning of their work. They see their skills not as theirs but as God-given. God makes use of them as intermediaries to light the candle of love and mutual help, not to vie with and beat one another.

It is on account of this that some among the traditional workers carry out their work as part of their spiritual conduct. There are many abstinences and preconditions they must adhere to in the context of their beliefs. A turtledove baiter releases one of his favorite turtledoves every year. It is to inform the world of turtledoves beyond that he does his work just to make a living. He does not intentionally imprison the birds to torture them their whole lives.

The same spiritualism can be found with the caretaker of a graveyard. He is not just a guardian of graves and remains, but he is a middleman for people to communicate with the souls of ancestors in the invisible world. Therefore, he must pass through several spiritual roles to arrive there. A blacksmith does not want to forge weapons. It is the task of a craftsman. A blacksmith cannot prevent arms from being used for evil purposes.

The author was apparently lucky to see, observe and talk with these traditional workers. They were often religious and had a strong sense of humanism. His descriptions are sometimes very idealistic. Readers with different experiences may detect some nostalgia in descriptions of former conditions.

Now, a great many of those professions have undergone a substantial transformation. Some have become commercial. Must the circumcisers and the midwives not have certificates? A renowned masseur may have no fixed rates, but many people know what the minimum fee is.

Barbers are increasingly marginalized by the technology of beauty parlors. This is implicitly admitted by the writer by his frequent use of the adjective "still pure" for the traditional workers.

It is also no coincidence that the majority of people in traditional professions are low-ranking workers. Although they are rich spiritually, economically they are clearly below average. This is apparently a problem too. A traditional worker is clearly a little worker, a little man. But are all little workers traditional workers in the sense that they are totally imbued with spiritual conduct? Does a retired soldier also have a profession? These are disturbing matters in this small book.

Apart from those considerations, this book is very interesting. It is a kaleidoscope of life in which old values, solidarity, tolerance and mutual consideration are pushed aside by new values full of business calculations of profit and loss. It gives a great number of illustrations and mirrors for us who continue to fight in the hectic market competition. That is if we are willing to read them and reflect on them.

-- Hairus Salim HS