Traders fatten up on the feast of democracy

By Ahmad Solikhan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Almost every Sunday there is traffic congestion in parts of the protocol roads in Yogyakarta, a condition that has been going on for the past three months now. On this day young people ride freely on their motorbikes in a convoy to take part in pre-campaign activities. Donned in the uniform of their political parties, they raise their hands and wave the flag of the party.

The deafening sound of blaring horns draws people's attention. In this way most of these young people show their loyalty to their party. Sometimes pre-campaign activities may degenerate into physical clashes between party supporters. In many cases, some have lost their lives and many others have been wounded. This is the manifestation of multi-party campaign activities. If party supporters are not yet ready for a democratic atmosphere, they can be easily provoked into anarchic action.

This situation, however, is a lucrative business opportunity for some people who sell attributes of a political party such as flags, hats, T-shirts, bandanas, stickers and banners.

Many people are doing it. Street vendors, street musicians and street children are also tapping into this business opportunity in their own way.

Mohammad Ali, 28, owns Persatuan shop on Jl. Ibu Ruswo. The shop sells various attributes of political parties at krismon (monetary crisis) prices. In one month his sales volume may total 360 kodi (one kodi comprises of 20 pieces) with a net profit amounting to between Rp 2 million and Rp 3 million.

The attributes of a political party are easy enough to make. Cotton cloth, a screen, paint, thread and a sewing machine are all that's needed. Ali has four assistants to help him in silk- screening, sewing and finishing, the three stages of work in making party attributes. In a day they can produce about 10 kodi of T-shirts and flags. As for embroidered items, they can produce a maximum of two kodi.

There are now 48 political parties in the country, but Ali sells attributes of 38 political parties at his shop as the other 10 are not well known to the public.

Those selling the most are the attributes of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Democratic People's Party (PRD).

"As for the attributes of PRD, the buyers on the average are university students," Ali said.

He said prices depend on the materials. A 2m x 3m flag of cotton, for example, costs Rp 40,000. The smallest one, 25cm x 30cm, is available at Rp 1,000. A T-shirt of cotton costs between Rp 5,000 and Rp 21,000, an embroidered hat Rp 12,500, a sticker Rp 1,000 apiece and an embroidered badge between Rp 3,500 and Rp 6,000.

He makes embroidered flags and also banners upon request as the prices are much higher than the other products.

Ali noted the present capacity to purchase party attributes is down 20 percent compared with the same capacity in the previous election, and one reason could be because prices have generally increased by over 100 percent. The monetary and economic crisis has made raw materials for silk-screening ad embroidery more and more expensive. While in the previous election Ali could sell between 10 and 20 kodi a day, today he can sell 3 and 4 kodi only.

"In the heyday of the New Order, Golkar placed a minimum order of 100 kodi a month. We also received orders from the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)," he said.

Today, he said, orders are generally scarce and also it is very difficult to make a bigger profit. Many people prefer to buy on a retail basis or perhaps make the attributes by themselves. The profit may currently be bigger in terms of rupiah than that made in the previous years but this increase becomes insignificant because raw materials are more expensive now and the cost of living is much higher than before. Therefore, it is too difficult to raise profits now. Most of the time you break even, which means that your income is just enough to feed your family, he said.

"Just imagine my own case. I hire five hands and I pay each of them Rp 7,500 and Rp 10,000 a day," he lamented.

Street vendors of political party attributes, however, can fare better. They can make up to a 100 percent profit. For example, Rudi, 18, is usually found selling at the crossroads of Magelang ring road, where he can sell 200 pieces of 25cm x 30cm political party flags a week.

"I get these flags from around Ngasem market at Rp 1,000 apiece and re-sell them at Rp 2,000 and Rp 2,500 apiece. Well, these flags sell well. I can earn enough to pay my school fees," said Rudi, a second grader at a local senior high school.

Hartanto, a 15-year-old street boy, also does the same. He sells political party flags along Jl. Malioboro and Jl. Solo, where he is joined by quite a few other street children. In a day he can sell an average of 10 flags.

"I may not earn Rp 10,000 a day if I continue doing shoe- shining," said Hartanto, who has never done any schooling.

He admitted that he had never sold political party flags before so he did not know which sold well and which did not. When he started business, he took 50 flags of 18 political parties. Those selling were only the flags of PDI-Perjuangan, PKB, PAN, PP and PRD. Other flags, including that of Golkar, did not sell at all.

"Well, it was a losing business when I started," he complained.

The next day he again took 25 flags of the four political parties and this time the whole lot sold out. In two months of flag selling, Hartanto has earned a handsome amount of money. He is quite generous, though, and every evening buys food for his friends who either fail to make money or are lazy.

"If you live in the street you must help one another and make a lot of friends. If I starve, only they will help me," he said again.

Both Rudi and Hartanto said, however, that with the campaign period starting May 19, their sales volume has dropped sharply. As a result, they have turned to selling posters bearing the pictures of 48 political parties. These posters are selling like hot cakes now, they said. Usually, they take the 60cm x 80cm posters from Muntilan, Central Java at Rp 600/piece. They re-sell the posters at Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,500 apiece.