Three-in-one kids help make up the number

By Prapti Widinugraheni

JAKARTA (JP): Imagine driving towards Jl. Sudirman during the morning peak hour. You have an important business meeting and you cannot afford to be even slightly late. And you're alone in the car -- without much hope of escaping the sharp eye of the policeman lurking around the corner unless you pick up one of the "three-in-one kids."

In circumstances such as this, it's undeniable that one (or two) of these kids can practically save your life when you have no choice but to use the city's "three-in-one" traffic zone.

Ade, 13, and his friend Suyud Winarno are part of the long line of "three-in-one kids" who loiter on city streets day after day from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., offering lone drivers, or cars with two occupants, an additional "passenger" or two so their cars may enter the "three-in-one" area.

Suyud, who says his age is "around 12 or 13", admits he has been doing the "job" since the zone was introduced almost two years ago by the city government which thought it a good way of reducing traffic along the city's main thoroughfares.

Ade doesn't even remember when he started doing it. "Nobody told me to do the work, some friends just took me along and that's how I began doing it, since... I don't know... a long time ago," he said.

Although things might seem easier for Ade who no longer goes to school, Suyud finds the going rough as he still has school to attend after he finishes "work" at 10 a.m., when the zone reopens to all vehicles.

Suyud, who claims his favorite subject is moral studies, or PMP, is a sixth grader at the SD Islam Al Fatah elementary school. School for him starts at noon everyday.

"I would not be able to do this if I went to morning school... if I enter junior high it will probably be a problem," Suyud said with a sigh.

He admits he practically has no time to do homework except at night -- when he is more than likely worn out.

Luckily, though, his house is in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, which is only a short walk to and from the "three-in-one" zone.

Ade, who lives with his mother and brother, has further to go because he now lives in Ciledug, Tangerang, after his house and hundreds others burned down in a recent fire in Pejompongan.

So how much do they earn a day?

"We usually end up getting Rp 3,000 to Rp 5,000, depending on how much people give us," said Ade. In such a "business" the amount of money they get completely depends on the generosity of their "lifts", which ranges between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 per lift.

"Once a lady gave me Rp 10,000 and told me to buy some clothes. She said she felt sorry for me," said Ade with a faint smile.

Foreigners however, Suyud said, are stingy. "Many of them give me only Rp 500 for a long ride," he said.

The boys claim they set aside part of their earnings for their savings, part for their own daily needs and part for their mothers.

They also have to put aside Rp 100 or Rp 200 a day to be submitted as levies to bigger boys who bully them at "work".

"They are mean. They tell us to signal for a lift and once we get a car, they take our place. They often steal what they can get their hands on while in the cars," said Ade.

Bullies, it seems, are not the only ones threatening their livelihood.

"Police often catch us, or even run after us," Suyud said when we passed a police officer, perhaps feeling safe that he was in a car and thus "untouchable," but nevertheless lowering his voice.

The policeman gave us a quick glance to check the car had enough people in it to enter the "three-in-one" zone.

Suyud claims he was caught once during a clean-up and was taken to a district police office in Cipayung, West Java.

"I was told to scrub the bathrooms there and afterwards, at 12 o'clock, they released me," he said flatly.

Doesn't that make him want to quit "work"?

"No, we have to compete," Ade said, with a nod of approval from Suyud.

Competition is a major thing for them, as more and more children can be seen joining the ranks of the "job" where all they virtually to do is sit back and enjoy a ride in a car they will, in all likelihood, never be able to afford.

Now even mothers and their babies, young girls and teenagers are getting in on the act as well.

"But they don't get as many lifts as us," Ade said, pointing out the advantage of being small, under-aged, and innocent- looking.

Although riding luxury cars is part of their everyday "job", Ade claims his humble goal in life is to become a bus driver.

He seems to know full well there isn't much chance of him going on to high school since his family's financial situation can only provide him with an elementary education.

"My relatives are stingy," he said of any other possible financial source.

A maths and science enthusiast when he was still at school, Ade in a matter-of-fact way said he used to always be in the top ten at school and even ranked first when he was in third grade.

Suyud, probably aware he has the benefit of going to school, said he wanted to be a pilot or join the navy when he was grown up.

"My family knows I am a "three-in-one kid" and they say its alright. I don't know when I'll stop... maybe I'll be doing it for as long as I live," Ade said.