Dreaming of a better life

While many post-Idul Fitri returnees are residents of Jakarta, a large number of new arrivals were hitching a ride to the metropolis in the hope of finding a better life.

Two of those were Ela and Santi, natives of the small town of Pekalongan in Central Java, who traveled for the first time to Jakarta to look for a decent job.

“I want to try my luck in Jakarta,” 17-year-old Ela told The Jakarta Post soon after alighting from her intercity bus in Kampung Rambutan terminal in South Jakarta on Monday.

She was accompanied by four other teenagers — all of whom were girls — on her trip to the city.

“Two of them are my cousins while the other two are friends from my home village,” she said.

She added that all of her companions had found work as domestic helpers in Jakarta and it was their success stories that persuaded her to come to Jakarta. Even with its myriad problems, Jakarta remains the primary destination for working-class people from all over the country looking to get a better life.

This year, the Jakarta administration expects more than 50,000 new arrivals to flood Jakarta. Last year, 60,000 newcomers arrived in the post-Idul Fitri influx.

Jakarta has seen a decreasing number of newcomers each year over the past four years. Agency data shows that 109,617 newcomers arrived in 2007, 88,473 in 2008 and 69,554 in 2009.

Most of these arrivals were lured by the hope of success in Jakarta and sharing their wealth with their poverty-stricken family back home. Such was Santi’s reason for coming.

“I want to help my parents by working [in Jakarta] and sending some of my income back home,” the 18-year-old native of Cianjur, West Java, told the Post.

In her company were two older cousins, who introduced themselves as Nur and Nunun.

Nunun said that she and Nur were both housemaids working in Pecenongan, Central Jakarta.

“My employer told me to bring someone from my hometown, because she needs an extra hand at her house,” she said.

Santi, who just graduated from a junior high school last year, said her cousins had asked her to come with them to Jakarta many times over the years.

At first, she felt intimidated by the idea of working in a big city like Jakarta, but relented only after being reassured by her cousins. “Nunun often told me it doesn’t matter what my skills are. I can always find work in Jakarta,” she added.

Taken from The Jakarta Post:06/09/2011