How One Doll Maker Is Staying Afloat in These Troubled Times

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/how-one-doll-maker-is-staying-afloat-in-these-troubled-times/360257

Apart from the occasional tiny batik dress and lacy traditional blouse, there is no sign that the 50-centimeter-tall dolls with colorful wool hair, lanky limbs and intricate outfits are locally made. They look like high-quality classical European dolls.

Endah Tedjaningrum, owner and creator of the Dollea brand, said the idea for the design stemmed from seeing such dolls in Portugal a few years back. At the time she was studying for her MBA in Nuremberg, Germany.

But it was not until the end of 2007 that the Bandung native began to create her own line of dolls. When she started in the doll-making industry, she was largely driven by the desire to leave behind her boring 9-to-5 job.

“A friend back in Germany had a children’s clothing shop and she asked me to make classical dolls, which she thought would be cheaper to make in Indonesia,” Endah said.

With no background in sewing or design, Endah developed a pattern and chose materials through a process of trial and error.
“Some materials are bought here in Bandung, but other materials are sent from Germany,” the 34 year-old said. She added that the dolls were all handmade, created from cotton, silicone and wool.

Endah started the business with about Rp 20 million ($2,150) in capital to buy four sewing machines and hire employees. She began producing the dolls in her house, located in southern Bandung.

Things went surprisingly well, given her lack of experience, and within a year she had broken even.

But in 2008 the global economic crisis hit. The German store that imported the Dollea dolls asked for a contract review and wanted to change to a consignment system.

“I thought it would be too difficult to organize and monitor. It also increased the cost, so I stopped sending the dolls to Germany,” Endah said.

She then focused on finding local buyers. The upscale Alun-Alun Indonesia store in the Grand Indonesia shopping center responded, and Dollea dolls are now sold there for about Rp 250,000 each. Sogo department store in Bali came next. Then the SMESCO building in South Jakarta agreed to sell Endah’s dolls in a space provided for such businesses by the State Ministry for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises.

At the moment Endah has four employees, all of them young female graduates from vocational high schools.

“They know different sewing techniques and are very creative. They have given me a lot of ideas to improve the dolls,” she said. For large orders, she often outsources work to artisans in Bandung.

Endah said she would like to own her own store in Bali, but has found it difficult to get a bank loan. “They always ask for collateral but I don’t have any,” she said.

The Bandung administration and the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry have provided support by including Dollea dolls in exhibitions and presentations involving foreign investors.

Endah, however, said working with government officials was sometimes uncomfortable because they could be flirtatious and condescending.

“The annoying things aside,” she said, “I hope the government can provide more support for SMEs. I have tons of ideas, like inserting short stories into the packaging. But it’s difficult to realize my ideas because I don’t have much capital. I think more support would not only benefit my business, but also related ones.”

Posted by hera at 7:44 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Closing Up Shop in Bandung's Toytown

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/closing-up-shop-in-bandungs-toytown/360103

If you take the main exit to Bandung, via the Pasteur tollgate, you will see a shabby panda statue on the left side of the road, just a few hundred meters after the gate.

The statue marks the location of kampung boneka (doll-makers district), in the Sukamulya neighborhood. But these days even locals have only a vague idea of where the once-famous doll makers are to be found, which can lead to frustrating searches and confusing phone calls.

And once kampung boneka is finally located, the experience can be, well, disappointing. Instead of rows of shops filled with dolls and craftspeople hard at work, there are just a handful of small shops scattered through the cramped alleyways. And the lack of signs makes it impossible for outsiders to navigate the area without a guide.

Despite all of this, in the middle of the neighborhood hangs a banner stating that Bandung’s mayor, Dada Rosada, had declared the area a tourism site in July 2009.

Shop-owner Andri Andriansyah implied the tourism sign came a decade too late, recalling how much livelier the area was in the late 1990s.

“Back in the heyday of 1997, there were 57 doll producers with hundreds of workers. But now there are only 17 producers left,” Andri said.

He said the shops had once provided employment for local women, allowing them to work from home while looking after their children.

Andri’s small shop, Ivy, has a display of dolls in the front room, while two rooms in the back make up the workshop. There are three employees and three sewing machines.

After establishing Ivy in 1998 with only Rp 10 million ($1,000) in capital, Andri said that he initially earned up to Rp 100 million a month selling dolls as far away as Kalimantan and Aceh. He even made it overseas on one occasion, filling an order from Singapore for 1,000 dolls.

“Now the turnover is about Rp 3 million a week, which thankfully is still enough to cover the expenses and pay my employees, although not much is left for profit,” Andri said.

But his shop has done well to survive at all. Since 2002, many doll makers have gone bankrupt and closed down. One such shop owner is Dede Suhana, who once ran one of the area’s first doll shops.

Dede established his business in 1986. The business slowly grew and at its peak he had 20 employees.

“But the materials [for the dolls], which are imported from Korea, are getting more expensive and more difficult to find. There are locally made materials, but not as good as the Korean ones. They are also expensive. Cheaper material is available, but the quality is bad, obviously,” he said.

A little less than a year ago, Dede gave up on his dolls, turning his hand to a motorcycle-washing business.

Rising expenses are not the only obstacles faced by Sukamulya’s doll makers. They are also facing growing competition and a shrinking market.

Wulan Atriani, another shop owner, said: “Vendors in Bekasi and Cikampek [in West Java] used to come here to buy our products. But now they make their own. They also have the advantage of proximity to the material producers in Bekasi.”

Wulan started her business in 1993 with 50 employees, but now only employ 10 people.

In Bandung particularly there is fierce competition, so what left are orders from other cities like Surabaya and Kediri in East Java, as well as from cities in Kalimantan and Aceh.

The Bandung administration and some state-owned companies have tried to assist struggling producers with loans and other forms of support, but their efforts have not been able to turn things around.

Wulan said she received a low-interest loan from state-owned fertilizer company Pupuk Kujang. Bank Negara Indonesia, Biofarma pharmaceutical company and Jasa Raharja insurance company — all of them run by the West Java administration — have also provided loans to producers. The local Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) also organizes occasional training programs for the doll makers.

Despite these efforts, some producers say not enough is being done to help them.

“The mayor has declared the area a tourist site, but that’s it. It seems that the administration only makes symbolic efforts,” said Endah Tedjaningrum, a producer who often uses artisans in Sukamulya to fill large orders.

Andri said there was no lack of skill in Sukamulya.

“Give me any design and we’ll make it. Our shop can produce up to 100 kinds of toys,” he said, pointing to the stuffed animals, action figures, sandals and dolls that fill his shop.

Many producers see the problem as one of marketing, and believe assistance with this would be the best way to boost the flagging industry.

“We’re having difficulties in marketing our products. Shops only want to buy on a consignment system. But if we do this, the dolls will get dirty and will go to waste if nobody buys them,” Andri said.

Andri’s wife, Asri Zulaika, said the best way for the government to help would be to provide a showroom in a busy area where doll makers could display and sell their products.

This, she said, would benefit not only the shop owners, but also their employees.

Posted by hera at 7:40 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Indonesia Mourns the Passing of a Beloved Leader

http://ipsnews.net/text/news.asp?idnews=49862

JAKARTA, Dec 31 (IPS) - The news about fourth Indonesian president and cleric Abdurrahman Wahid being admitted to the hospital last week merited only a passing mention in the national media. It was overshadowed by reports on the country's tumultuous political situation, such as allegations that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was involved in a banking scandal and the controversies hounding the country's corruption eradication agency.

Wahid, affectionately called Gus Dur, had survived a number of strokes and had been suffering from diabetes, near blindness and kidney problem for years. Thus, many people thought it was just a minor medical problem, from which he would soon bounce back to dispense his usual dose of wit and wisdom on the latest events.

On Wednesday news broke that Wahid had passed away after undergoing a dental operation. The 69-year-old former president is survived by wife Shinta Nuriyah and four daughters.

The entire nation received the news of his death with a mixture of shock and grief. No sooner than word spread that one of the most respected and colorful figures in Indonesia had died than legions of mourners began to flock to his residence in South Jakarta. Impromptu prayer gatherings among citizens of varied faiths, not just Muslims, were held across the country.

"He was a Muslim, but he became a blessing to all faiths," Jakarta Archbishop Julius Darmaatmadja, S.J., was quoted by the local press as saying, referring to the man who had symbolised Indonesian’s tradition of religious tolerance and political reform.

Wahid ruled Indonesia, between October 1999 and July 2001, at a time when the Muslim-dominated country had just emerged from three decades of dictatorship.

In Surabaya, East Java, people from all walks of life lit candles and put flowers on the downtown street in a spontaneous show of grief for their beloved leader.

"He had opened up freedom of speech for us (citizens of) Chinese descent and eliminated the differences (based on) religion, ethnicity, race," said Liem Tiong Soek, in between sobs, who described him further "as a great thinker, president and cleric. "He’s such a big loss."

Eulogies, prayers and expressions of gratitude also inundated social network sites Facebook and Twitter. Religious and ethnic minorities thanked him for being their "strongest defender." Journalists reminisced his quirky ways, informal leadership, incredible humor and open-mindedness -- which had often sparked anger among less-than-moderate Muslims.

Abdurrahman Wahid was born to a prominent and politically active cleric family. Paternal grandfather Hasyim Asy’ari was the founder of Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which Wahid later chaired and reformed. His father Wahid Hasyim was the country's first minister of religious affairs.

He studied in a Muslim school in hometown Jombang in East Java before receiving a scholarship to study at al-Azhar University in Cairo, after which he continued his study in Baghdad. Returning home, he worked as a journalist, social commentator and academic. He was widely perceived as a man of deep knowledge, not just about religion and politics, but also about culture, film, music and sports.

Wahid had his initiation into politics when he campaigned for the Islamic-based United Development Party. As a leader of the 30 million-strong NU, he consistently maintained that government should be secular and that faith was a personal matter.

Following the downfall of Indonesian dictator Soeharto and the establishment of Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB), Wahid announced he was running for presidency in 1999. Megawati's Indonesian Democratic of Party emerged as the winner of the South-east Asian country's parliamentary elections in June 1999. However, politicians, particularly conservative Muslims unwilling to have a woman president, joined together and formed 'Central Axis', urging the People's Consultative Assembly to elect Wahid. He then picked Megawati Sukarnoputri as his deputy.

When he assumed office, he dissolve two ineffective ministries that had long been the vehicle of the New Order (a term that had come to be associated with the Suharto regime). He curbed military influence in the government; revoked discriminative laws against Chinese Indonesians, enabling them to practice their culture and religion; he allowed publications to flourish on previously taboo subjects such as Marxism, communism and socialism; and released political prisoners.

His controversial political maneuvers - sacking military officers and ordering investigations into their alleged involvements in human rights violations - as well as erratic and unfocused leadership, which included excessive traveling abroad and lack of emphasis on economic recovery, however, earned him widespread criticisms from his enemies, particularly in the military.

When his own coalition parties began to turn against him, and amid allegations of corruption, his presidency finally collapsed. He was impeached by the parliament in July 2001 and replaced by Megawati.

In the following years he was in political isolation, and his party PKB was marred by internal disputes. But he remained an influential figure in politics. Considered his most important legacy was his advocacy for secular politics and religious tolerance/moderate Islam in an otherwise heterogeneous society.

This is especially important at this time, when many parties worry that the country has veered too much toward religious conservatism. There are also moves to limit freedom of speech and expression as well as intellectual freedom. The banning of several books this week by the Attorney General's Office, particularly those dealing with issues of communism and religion, has raised deep concerns among rights groups, calling it a violation of the Constitution.

This is a step backward from Wahid's vision of a country that recognises and celebrates diversity and prides itself on religious tolerance.

Indonesia has more reasons to mourn his passing.

Posted by hera at 10:26 PM | Permalinks | Comments

DEVELOPMENT: Indonesia Still Struggling with Disaster Management

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49557

JAKARTA, Dec 6, 2009 (IPS) - Despite being hit by powerful earthquakes this year, Indonesia is still reeling from the lack of an effective disaster management system that could prevent extensive loss of life and damage to property.

At least this is the view of certain individuals and groups who are struggling to cope with the impacts of the earthquakes that have jolted Indonesia this year and claimed the lives of scores of people besides causing millions worth of damage to property.

Irfantoni Herlambang gets anxious at the slightest vibration in his office, located on the 17th floor of a 31-story building in central Jakarta business district. There is hardly any mitigation scheme that would secure the people should another quake hit the country, he rued. During this year’s earthquakes, for instance, many people appeared dazed and confused, not knowing what to do or where to go.

"Some said that we should hide under the table, others thought we should go downstairs while a few were running around like a headless chicken," said a staff of an American donor agency, who declined to be named.

"In many cases, the casualties (from earthquakes) were caused not so much by earthquakes as by buildings not being sturdy enough, causing them to collapse," said Cecep Subarya, noted earthquake expert from the National Coordination Agency for Surveys and Mapping (BAKOSURTANAL), which studies and collects geographical data, sees the need for the provincial administrations to include disaster risk into their urban planning. "In areas that are prone to earthquake, the buildings should be constructed differently to be able to withstand earthquakes."

This yea, a series earthquakes have rattled the country—a 7.5-magnitude quake on Sept. 2 in Tasikmalaya, West Java, and a 7.9-magnitude quake in Padang capital and Padang Pariaman regency on Sept. 30. The former resulted in some 79 casualties and displaced 285,808 people; the West Sumatra quake killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. On Oct. 16 another earthquake shook the Indonesian capital.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire that is prone to frequent seismic activity. In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake jolted Aceh in northern Indonesia, triggering a huge tsunami that killed about 125,000 people and affected at least ten countries, including Indonesia.

Stronger-magnitude earthquakes are expected in the South-east Asian country of an estimated 230 million people, seismologists have warned. The worst is yet to come, they say.

Herlambang is not alone in his predicament. Many Indonesians are scared of the prospects of another earthquake. His American colleague, Bryony Jones, said she was quite appalled that the management of the building where their office was located had not given its occupants orientation on the building’s security measures. There were no earthquake drills either.

This became evident when she saw people huddled together just outside the building, seemingly unaware that falling shards of glass from broken windows could hurt them severely, it not fatally, "especially during aftershocks," which can be more dangerous, according to Jones, who is no stranger to earthquakes, being a native of quake-prone California.

"Lots of people re-entered the building shortly after (an earthquake) to continue working, without any announcement (or precautionary warnings) regarding their safety from the building (management). Had this happened in San Francisco, most definitely people would not be allowed to enter the building immediately," she said. "I think most Indonesians are used to this sort of natural disaster," Jones added.

Despite Indonesia being prone to disaster, particularly earthquakes, there appear to be no systematic and carefully thought out efforts toward disaster prevention education for the people.

West Java, for example, is prone to landslides, since the area is porous and fragile, said Subarya. Yet, modest houses were built below the hills and around the landslide-prone area. "The construction of buildings should consider disaster risks. It does not have to be expensive. It just needs sturdier frame," he said, adding that this should form part of a disaster management scheme. Criticisms are also rife over the quality of disaster response and rehabilitation as well as reconstruction programmes, given numerous reports of uneven aid distribution, lack of cooperation and coordination among responsible government agencies.

Sunaryo Adhiatmoko of Al-Azhar Foundation, a non-governmental organisation focusing on education and charity, said there seems to be confusion in relief distribution and what kind of aid should be given to disaster victims.

"The food distributed, for example, has always been instant noodles. First, there’s usually hardly any clean water to cook it. Secondly, it is not healthy. Poor people are often not reached either, and in some cases, aids pile up in rich people’s houses," he said.

The government, he said, must identify first what the people actually need. Government data must also be verified at the grassroots level, added Adhiatmoko, whose foundation is building 300 quake-proof houses in West Sumatra.

"Dealing with earthquake is not the same as dealing with tsunami and floods. During earthquake, people lose houses, not their jobs, so the important thing is rebuilding their homes and giving them motivation and helping them find a way out (of their situation)," he said.

Two months after the West Java was hit by an earthquake, he said there were still inadequate facilities to house the affected individuals. Houses had yet to be built while some people were still living inside tents or with relatives or friends, and school children were still holding classes inside makeshift tents.

Syamsul Maarif, head of the National Agency for Disaster Management, explained that houses of affected people had yet to be built because the House of Representatives had just approved the budget to rebuild houses and infrastructure. This allocation came up to a total of 1.7 trillion rupiahs (180 million U.S. dollars) for West Java and seven trillion rupiahs (744 million U.S. dollars) for West Sumatra.

"Please be patient. It is not an easy job," he pleaded. "We also need people’s cooperation in this (effort) instead of expecting the government to do all the job." The government, he said, has employed teams of experts in West Java and West Sumatra to educate people on disaster risk and response as well as teach them how to build sturdier houses.

Hening Parlan, executive director of Humanitarian Forum Indonesia, which is made up of NGOs dealing with disaster management, said if the government was still struggling with a viable disaster management and recovery programme, it was only because it had never been a priority.

She pointed out that Indonesia did not have a disaster management law until 2007, three years after the Asian tsunami hit. Prior to that, the disaster management programme was being handled by the National Coordination Board for Disaster Management, whose tasks were limited to emergency response. Under its programme, there was no urgency to conduct risk reduction activities.

"Given that it was only in 2007 that we had the law, it is understandable that a good disaster management programme has yet to be in place. But organisationally and regulation-wise, there has actually been an improvement," Parlan said.

BAKOSURTANAL’s Subarya said that since the 2004 tsunami, the government has built a sophisticated early warning system for earthquake and tsunami throughout the country. "The system can decide the depth and magnitude of an earthquake in less than three minutes, as well as observe a tidal wave in ports nationwide," he said.

Yet some of the disaster equipment acquired after the law was passed have either been stolen or are not working, he said. He blamed this on "poverty (and) "lack of experts available to operate them," respectively.

Lack of disaster information among the people can only be attributed to the lack of an effective disaster management programme. "When the siren wails warnings about an earthquake or tsunami, many people still do not know what to do," he said.

Posted by hera at 8:10 PM | Permalinks | Comments

Future Looks Bleak for Laid-Off Indonesian Workers

http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=49329

WEST JAVA, Indonesia - Ida Farida, 33, never imagined she would lose the job that she had held for 10 years.

In November 2008, she felt as if a bomb dropped when her company, Omedata Electronics, in Bandung, West Java, announced that it was closing down its computer parts factory, where she had worked as a machine operator. Having been hit by the global financial crisis, the firm had to let go of 1,301 employees, including Farida.

"It was really shocking, especially because my husband had no stable job," she said.

Although Farida's salary was just slightly above the monthly minimum wage of 939,000 rupiah (US$ 100), it was quite enough to take care of her family's needs, since they did not have to pay rent for their house - a tiny tenement owned by her in-laws and located in a crowded alley in southern Bandung, close to the factory.

Farida's job had provided a safety net for her family - her three-year-old daughter and husband Rudi - who has been out of a permanent job since 1998, when the textile factory he was working for closed down as a result of the 1997 financial crisis that affected the Asian region. Unable to land another permanent employment, Rudi has been taking on odd jobs that pay little and are for the most part unstable. On worse days, he comes home with nothing in his pockets.

A year since the layoff, Farida has yet to find another job. Her severance pay of 26 million rupiah (US$ 2,773) is steadily running out. The computer rental shop in which she invested a portion of her severance pay has turned out to be losing venture.

"People rarely come to play video games anymore," she said, sighing. "People around here are also affected by the layoff, as most of them are factory workers."

Many of her former colleagues are also finding it extremely difficult to get another job. "Maybe because most of us are over 30 years old and only high school graduates," Farida explained.

The global financial recession that struck last year following the collapse of the US's financial giant Lehman Brothers triggered a chain of reaction that included depressed demand for Asian goods and services from the developed world.

But unlike other countries, Indonesia was relatively unscathed by the crisis, since its economy relies mostly on the domestic market instead of exports. Still, the crisis has trimmed demand and slumped prices of Indonesia's export products, including textiles, coal, palm oil, rubber and fabricated goods, which push companies to make adjustments by reducing the size of their workforce.

According to the Indonesian Employers Association at least 222,500 workers were dismissed as of March 2009. Those in the garment, plantations and forestry industries have been the hardest hit, since Indonesia is the world's biggest palm oil producer and the world's second biggest rubber maker.

The Indonesian Labor Union Confederation has warned that some 300,000 migrant workers would return to Indonesia after their contracts run out this year, as host countries are still feeling the pinch of the crisis.

To help industries particularly hit by the economic slowdown and prevent them from resorting to massive layoffs, the government has set aside a 73.3-trillion rupiah (7.8 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package. This is on top of other mitigating measures such as the conduct of vocational and entrepreneurial skills training as well as efforts to provide green jobs, which refer to those types of work that contribute substantially to protecting or restoring the environment, including those in agriculture.

The Labor Union Confederation said that the stimulus program could more effectively help cushion the impact of the financial crisis if applied in the rural areas to create the needed infrastructure and boost their economies.


Amid the growing wave of employee dismissals, seeming dissatisfaction with existing measures to ensure workers keep their jobs has prompted some sectors to question even the International Labor Organization (ILO), specifically on the extent to which it is helping workers. The manpower and transmigration ministry said ILO's role could be improved.

ILO country representative in Indonesia, Alan Boulton, played down the criticism, saying that the country needed to improve its social security system to protect workers from layoffs.

"Companies need to find alternative ways to reduce labor costs without losing their skilled workforce. This can be done through shorter working hours, giving more training to workers and instituting a coordinated disbursement of the government's fiscal stimulus," he said.

Until more effective solutions are in place, or the state of the economy improves significantly, many laid-off workers may not expect to get new jobs or get their old ones back.

Asep Suryana, 38, is hopeful, though, that the company that sacked him and tens of other workers four months ago would give restore to them their jobs. "The union is still approaching the management so that we can rejoin the company," said Suryana, who worked for nine years as a mechanic at Metro Parcel Service, a transportation firm in Bandung.

Today, he works as a construction worker just to make end meet. He fears that chances are slim that he will be able to go back to his old company, but he remains hopeful.

"I need to get my job back," declared Suryana, whose only son is entering junior high school soon. "We need a lot of money for his education. I don’t want him to end up like me, working menial jobs," Suryana said.

Farida wants another job, but not so much for her as for her husband, saying she prefers to stay home and look after their daughter.

"Do you know any job opening for him?" she asked in a desperate tone.

Posted by hera at 4:14 AM | Permalinks | Comments

For Indonesian Pilgrims, the Path to Mecca is Paved With Problems

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/for-indonesian-pilgrims-the-path-to-mecca-is-paved-with-problems/341553

The heat was excruciating as the first batch of hajj pilgrims entered the transit dormitory in East Jakarta a day before their flight to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 23. But the pilgrims, mostly of retirement age, welcomed the heat, joking that it would prepare them for the harsh desert climate in Mecca.

They were generally joyful, some having waited decades for their turn to go on the hajj, whose participants are limited by both money and a yearly quota from the Saudi Arabian government.

“We have saved up our money for years, and our four children also chipped in. We signed up for the pilgrimage in 2007 and finally got our turn to go this year,” said Ratna Farida, 61, a retired teacher from Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta. Together with her husband Asri Munir, 70, they purchased the regular hajj package for Rp 35 million ($3,675) each.

A total of 207,000 Indonesians will do the hajj pilgrimage this year, around the same as in 2008. They are divided into 470 groups bound for Jeddah, where most spend a month performing the hajj ritual, with the last group expected home in late November.

First-timers Ratna and Asri said they were content with the organization and service as they prepared to embark, but others who were going for a second time said they were confused by the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ management of the pilgrimage.

Yani Yahya, 61, said new regulations requiring pilgrims to have an official international passport, rather than a one-time-only special hajj passport, had forced her to make repeated trips to her local immigration office to process paperwork.

“There is no information available either, unless you’re very proactive. Back in 2003, all we had to do was sit at home and wait for the instructions and passport to arrive,” said Yani, a widow traveling by herself.

Another veteran pilgrim, Ahmad Golyobi, 58, was also upset, saying that procedures such as the registration process were lengthy and bureaucratic.

“Also, the ministry organizers distributed the book of prayers, which is not available freely, only after we finished the manasik (hajj rehearsal). There were 14 meetings for the manasik and they only gave us [the book] when it was already finished,” he said.

“How can we memorize all the prayers if there is no book? The government cannot even manage a very simple thing like that,” Ahmad said.

But both Yani and Ahmad, as with many pilgrims, accept the flaws as a test from God, saying that the spiritual journey is a lesson in shedding one’s ego.

Others are not so forgiving.

Complaints, Complaints
For years, the hajj management has been a lightning rod for criticism, mostly that it’s unprofessional, not transparent and prone to corruption. Every year, Indonesia sends hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, and problems invariably arise, mostly relating to housing, transportation and catering.

Many pilgrims are placed in lodgings far away from places of worship, and often waste hours waiting around for transportation. The catering also leaves a lot to be desired. One pilgrim said that when she went in 2005, the meals were the same every day: rice and string beans.

During the hajj between December 2006 and January 2007, the pilgrims’ rituals were disrupted when a local caterer stopped delivering meals after officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs tried to bargain down the catering bill. More than 3,000 pilgrims were forced to live off dates and instant noodles for several days. Some of them fainted due to inadequate food intake.

Dissatisfied customers compare the treatment of Indonesian pilgrims to those from Malaysia, who pay a similar amount for the hajj package but receive much better service. They are placed in better lodgings close to worship sites, receive better meals and transportation and even get a refund if the cost of the hajj ends up being cheaper than what they initially paid.

New problems for pilgrims have emerged this year, including delays in passports, being forced to pay for free-of-charge vaccines and luggage and more housing issues.

It has been discovered that around 260 out of 407 lodging sites booked for pilgrims have, as of Nov. 1, been unable to pass a new Saudi Arabian safety audit concerning the lack of emergency stairwells. As a result, 6,000 pilgrims risk being forced to lodge in houses even further away from places of worship.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs down plays the problems.

“Don’t worry, we’ll sort this out. Every pilgrim will be placed in decent housing. If the places are far away and cheaper, we will return the margin,” said Abdul Ghafur Djawahir, director of administration for the hajj.

Legislator Said Abdullah, a member of the House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs, said the new Saudi housing regulation was announced in June 2008, but the Ministry of Religious Affairs failed to react.

“The government doesn’t plan well. They never think of a Plan B,” said Said, a harsh critic of hajj management.

Then there’s the allegations of corruption. In July, Indonesia Corruption Watch released a report saying the ministry may have inflated the actual cost of the 2009 pilgrimage by around $700 per person. It submitted the report to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which in early November sent a three-person team to Saudi Arabia to monitor hajj management.

The KPK has already identified a number of irregularities, including unexpected fees and higher lodging costs.

The ministry denies the accusations by ICW, saying its calculations are different than theirs.

“Besides, people aren’t aware of the many indirect costs for the hajj, such as airport tax, the salaries of staff serving the pilgrims, and so on,” Ghafur claimed.

“And while flights are cheaper … [closer and higher quality] accommodation means that the costs for each pilgrim had to be increased.”

Nonetheless, there’s no denying that the ministry has been beset by irregularities. In 2006, former Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Hussein Al Munawar and hajj director general Taufiq Kamil were convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms for embezzling more than Rp 75 billion in pilgrimage funds between 2001 and 2004. Both have since been paroled.

Also in 2006, ICW reported the Religious Affairs Ministry to the KPK for allegedly misusing money from a hajj fund, including for travel allowances for members of House Commission VIII for law and legislation, and transport allowances for a House working committee. The group had previously reported the ministry to the KPK for discrepancies involving payments to then-minister Maftuh Basyuni.

Ade Irawan of ICW said the allegations against Basyuni were similar to those that landed Munawar in prison, and that the KPK was still investigating its reports.

What Needs to Be Fixed?
Ghafur said it was not easy organizing 200,000 pilgrims every year, sorting out lodging and transportation and competing with other countries to get the most convenient housing.

“Although we are the largest pilgrim group in the world, we don’t get any privileges. If we did, then other countries would also ask for them,” he said.

He went on to blame the Saudi government for frequently changing hajj regulations, such as airport service fees, the new passport requirement and most recently housing safety regulations.

Lawmaker Abdul Kadir Karding, the head of House Commission VIII, said the government seemed to lack diplomatic skills in lobbying the Saudi government about hajj-related problems, despite seemingly to have a strong bargaining position.

“Why isn’t there more permanent housing, like renting for 10 years, for example, which should decrease the housing problems pilgrims experience almost every year?” Karding said.

Then there was the transparency issue. Abdullah said the handling of hajj payments was unfair, such as the requirement that pilgrims pay a Rp 20 million deposit to be placed on the waiting list. This money can sit in an interest-bearing bank account for up to five years while the pilgrim awaits his turn.

“There are trillions of rupiah, and 80 percent of the interest earned is used to pay government staff who handle the pilgrimage, to pay for their uniforms, salary and so on. Why should the pilgrims also pay for those costs?” Abdullah said. “When we ask the ministry about this, they never give us a clear answer,” he said, adding that the House was not given sufficient access to monitor the hajj management.

Firdaus Ilyas, ICW’s coordinator for central data and analysis, said the Religious Affairs Ministry leaves itself at the mercy of its business partners for the hajj, such as Garuda Indonesia Airlines, which is the sole carrier of Indonesian pilgrims.

“In terms of accommodation and catering, the chain of business that needs to be dealt with is long, making the whole process expensive. The ministry lacks professionalism and a good system,” he said.

He added that the Law on Hajj Pilgrimage Management was too technical and did not clearly outline pilgrims’ rights.

Said wanted to see the central government establish an independent and professional hajj financial institution, rather than leaving it to a ministry.

“Since the Saudi government only wants to deal with governments, then the government can focus on handling the diplomacy, while everything else can be processed by the institution.”

Meanwhile, Sudaryatmo, a member of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, questioned why the central government was even involved in organizing and managing the hajj given that Indonesia isn’t an Islamic country.

“They shouldn’t be pushing the doctrine that the pilgrimage is a time to shed one’s ego and that pilgrims must be patient. It makes consumers reluctant to complain, for fear it will reduce the value of their religious service,” he said.

Posted by hera at 6:36 PM | Permalinks | Comments

Will Jakarta's MRT Arrive?

http://thejakartaglobe.com/jammedjakarta/will-jakartas-mrt-arrive/337367

Bangkok has one. So does New Delhi. Even Manila has a light rail system and Mexico City is building one, too. So why doesn't Jakarta, a Group of 20 nation and emerging global player, have a mass rapid transit (MRT) system?

With a population of 12 million residents and day workers, as well as abominable traffic problems, the city still is hobbling along with what experts call "traditional" forms of public transportation: buses, commuter trains, public minivans, swarms of motorcycle taxis and other small vehicles.

Preparations are under way for the construction of an MRT system that will run both above and below ground. Public financing appears to be in place and if all goes well, Jakarta could join other big cities in finally developing a coherent approach to transportation.

It can't happen soon enough, with the city in dire need of change. Experts estimate that traffic in Greater Jakarta causes economic losses of about $1 billion per year, nearly the price to build a new MRT system. They also say that total gridlock is possible by 2014 if nothing is done.

Past Stumbles

An attempt was made in 2004 to build a privately owned and operated monorail — it was limited in scope, but at least it was something. But when the financing failed to materialize it ground to a halt and the venture is now mired in a conflict between the city and the private company behind the proposal. The dormant pillars left behind in Central Jakarta are lasting monuments to its failure.

Sutanto Soehodo, a Jakarta deputy governor on transportation issues, said the idea of building an MRT system has been under discussion for the past 25 years. In the early 1990s, he said, the Jakarta administration and stakeholders such as the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology and the Ministry of Transportation included an MRT system as a future planning priority.

But once central government officials were told about the estimated cost, enthusiasm faded quickly.

"It was considered too expensive and the return would have been too small, because it was a public service obligation," Sutanto said.

The central government tried to find foreign loans at the time, Sutanto said, but donors considered the cost for a subway system or skytrain to be too high.

Even worse, transportation experts suspected that something sinister was behind the country's inability to secure loans. "This country is a huge market for automotive producers, like Japan. So, I'm guessing they have been reluctant to give us loans to build an MRT system because they don't want to lose the market,” Sutanto said.

Milatia Kusuma Mu'min, country director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, said the country has long been a dumping ground for vehicle producers. "The Dutch colonial [administration] did good by establishing a rail-based transportation system in Jakarta and other major cities," Milatia said. “But then as the Indonesian government looked for infrastructure grants in the 1970s, the system was turned into a road-based one, as requested by rich countries who gave the loans.”

A number of railroads were paved over, she said, and there hasn't been much development or many improvements to rail infrastructure for decades.

Demand for more effective and efficient public transportation has increased over the past several years, however, prompting both the central and Jakarta governments to start thinking more seriously about what to do.

"However, there have only been piecemeal projects and studies. Only five years ago, a master plan was made," said Bambang Susantono, deputy minister for infrastructure and regional development at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy.

"It’s not just a financial problem — it also has to do with the absence of political will. The economic losses [from traffic] are intangible, so the transportation issue does not become a priority," said Bambang, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Transportation Society.

Better Late Than Never?

With respect to the analogy about closing the barn door after the horses escape, the current Jakarta administration finally seems determined to begin construction of an MRT system, going both above and below ground, in 2011, with plans to have it operational by 2016.

M Akbar, head of road traffic engineering at the Jakarta Transportation Agency, said the MRT system would be based on the Macro Transportation Pattern plan, which was first created in 1994.

"It is a set of strategic guidelines to improve public transportation, restrict private vehicles and build roads," Akbar said.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, which released a baseline study on an Integrated Transportation Master Plan (SITRAMP) in 2004, has also provided loans for the MRT project.

Negotiations, however, have been tough and became deadlocked in 2007, due to the absence of laws authorizing the construction of an MRT system and because the Japanese government wanted 75 percent of construction materials and components for the project to come from Japan.

The problems were finally resolved last year, enabling the Jakarta administration to set up PT Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta, a city-owned company that will oversee the planning, development and operation of the MRT system.

Eddi Santosa, corporate planning director at MRT Jakarta, said that JICA has agreed to provide about 120 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in loans, to be disbursed in four phases between 2008 and 2014. The loans have only 0.2 percent interest, with a 10-year grace period for payments and a 30-year payback timetable. "The central and Jakarta governments will share the burden of paying back the loans," Eddi said.

The agreement requires that 35 percent of construction materials be imported from Japan. The majority of consultants and 51 percent of the contractors also must be Japanese.

Aside from the loans, financing for the MRT system will also come from the central government and the Jakarta administration. The state will put up $260 million and the city will pitch in Rp 1.5 trillion (about $159 million).

Despite public skepticism, the project is already in the preparation and design phase, the latter of which is being handled by the Ministry of Transportation.

"Basic design [planning] will start [this month], and by 2011 or earlier, the construction is projected to begin," Eddi said. "The MRT system is scheduled to open in 2016."

That will be the first phase, serving 12 stations along a 14.5km route from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta, just south of the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. The first eight stations will be elevated on 10.5-kilometers of track, while the remaining four will be underground.

Each train will have six cars, arrive at stations every 5.5 minutes and carry about 350,000 passengers daily. Fares will range from Rp 4,000 to Rp 10,000 for a one-way trip.

"We’ve learned from the MRT in New Delhi, due to the similarity in urban planning, passenger density and its success," Eddi said. "Their MRT runs on a 65km route and carries 900,000 passengers daily."

A second phase, after the first is complete, would extend the track north to Kota Tua, and another line running east-west is planned for after that.

Building the MRT will create even more traffic as it is being built. But the city Transportation Agency's Akbar said that the city government had anticipated this and planned to widen affected roads, such as Jalan Fatmawati and Jalan TB Simatupang in South Jakarta, beginning by the end of this year.

"We will also shift the traffic routes once construction begins, and operate a TransJakarta bus from Kebayoran Lama through Blok M and Sudirman, with hopes that people will transfer to this bus," Akbar said, referring to the city’s busway system.

Eddi said MRT Jakarta had considered every possible technical issue and contingency, including anticipating floods, fires and earthquakes. The company is also studying a second line that would stretch from Dukuh Atas northward to Kota. No date has been set to begin that project.

While an MRT system will make Jakarta more livable, it will not magically make traffic vanish, just as it hasn't in other major cities around the world.

"The MRT is not aimed at eliminating traffic jams, but it will increase mobility and improve the quality of life," Eddi said. "It will not have a significant impact unless it is integrated with other modes of public transportation."

Milatia from the ITDP said that the MRT system would connect to busway and commuter trains, as well short-distance transport “feeders,” such as taxis, bajajs and minivans. "The entire transportation system must be integrated and revitalized before the MRT operates," she said.

What About the Monorail?

Now that it appears the MRT project may finally see the light of day, questions still remain about the aborted monorail system, whose abandoned pillars are eyesores along roads in areas such as Senayan and Kuningan.

Sutanto, the deputy governor, said the monorail project was only given a passing mention in the Macro Transportation Pattern plan, due to overlapping routes with the MRT system and the fact that monorails by definition function more as status symbols for cities rather than serious transport solutions.

"In 2004, a privately financed initiative offered to develop it and only asked for the concession. The Jakarta administration at that time welcomed the initiative because it was in the public interest," Sutanto said, referring to former Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

In return, the operator would have received a minimum revenue guarantee, meaning that if passenger numbers were under 16'000 people per day, the central and Jakarta governments would have subsidized the difference.

But the company, PT Jakarta Monorail, failed to secure financing from Dubai Islamic Bank, and after building the pillars, it officially abandoned the project in March 2008 due to legal and financial problems. The project is now being audited by the State Development Finance Comptroller to determine how much the city government will reimburse the company. The company is asking for $60 million to cover its losses, but the state auditing agency says it should only receive one-third of that amount.

Jakarta Monorail's president director, Sukmawati Syukur, denied that the company failed to secure financing, and instead blamed the Jakarta administration for failing to purchase private land to clear space for construction.

"We’d already signed an agreement with Dubai Islamic Bank. But the city government failed to meet its obligation, which was to clear the land, so the bank refused to disburse the funds," said Sukmawati, a relative of former Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The city government, she said, also incorrectly referred to Presidential Decree No. 67/2005 on public-private partnerships, which requires tendered bids. "But we proposed the initiative in 2004, so [the decree] did not count," Sukmawati said.

She said the Jakarta administration had agreed when the contract was signed in 2004 to reimburse Jakarta Monorail if the project was not completed.

The administration denies that there ever was a reimbursement agreement, but Sutanto said the city government was trying to show goodwill by compensating some of the company's loss. "The monorail route was along roads that did not require the clearing of land. The pillars were erected, so there were no issues related to the clearing of land," he said, angrily. "We have given a shortfall ridership guarantee and we don't have any legal obligations because the project was started under their initiative. We don't even have to pay anything, but we still offered to settle the problem and continue the development. Just show some respect and don’t ask for such a large amount of money."

If the two sides eventually do reach a settlement, Sutanto said, the city will retender the project so the monorail line can still be built.

The plan is for the monorail to connect major shopping centers and buildings in Kuningan and Senayan. It would not serve commuters.

The case appears set to go before the National Arbitration Agency. Hopefully, the more ambitious MRT system won’t face similar headaches.

Posted by hera at 3:59 PM | Permalinks | Comments