Ramadan & Idul Fitri

Last week marked the end of Ramadan and the start of Lebaran, or the Idul Fitri celebrations. For those whose ignorance of Muslim culture equals mine, Ramadan is the month of fasting, where devout muslims fast while the sun is up - or as we explained it to Eamon, when some people don't eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset. In Indonesia, where 90% of the population is Muslim, this is "a big deal". Lebaran, or Idul Fitri, is the party at the end of the month of fasting, sort of like Christmas and New Years rolled into one.

Being such an important event in the calendar (albeit one that moves around every year, since it's not based on our calendar but rather on sightings of the moon) I was curious to see what happens. Surprisingly, the answer was mostly "not much". Outwardly, life remained pretty much the same as normal, at least for an expat! The most obvious sign of change was the disappearance of street food stalls and the appearance of curtains or screens over the windows in food outlets and/or restaurants. The first day of Ramadan, the streets felt very empty, as the wooden carts, stalls and random purveyors of all manner of mysterious fried or boiled goodies had vanished. In fact, I'm sure the traffic flowed that much smoother as each street had an extra lane's space to drive on! Apparently these carts don't actually close shop for the month, but congregate in special areas that are then invaded by the masses each night at sunset (or buka puasa - literally "break fast"). Given there are plenty of Chinese, Hindu, Balinese and Christian folk in Jakarta, food is still easily obtainable during the day although I did notice that the price of evening meals in restaurants had increased. At the end of each day, streams of workers would head outside the shopping malls carrying little bags of goodies with which to break their fast. These are usually some small, sweet treat - apparently having too much to start with isn't such a good idea, as all the bending over during prayers makes for an uncomfortable stomach!

As the month progressed, I was warned that tempers would grow short and people would become tired and irritable (fairly reasonably I guess as they spend a good chunk of each night eating or preparing food). However, I have to say I didn't really notice this either. My concerns about the boys eating in the car, spreading delicious aromas around a poor, fasting driver were dashed when he made it known that while Muslim, he didn't really bother fasting (every religion has more and less devout members I guess!) and since our pembantu (helper) is Christian, that didn't seem to be an issue either.

Lebaran, or Idul Fitri provided a few changes. This is traditionally the time when everyone returns home to their village or kampung. Since the majority of people living in Jakarta are from somewhere else, this results in a mass exodus from the city. Apparently trying to go anywhere at this time is next to impossible, with trips to the airport reportedly taking anywhere up to 5 hours! Certainly almost all the flights out of Jakarta were solidly booked. Our pembantu, Yanti, was heading home to Surabaya and expecting the 12hr bus trip to take upwards of 16hrs - not something I'd want to be doing in an un-airconditioned bus full of people! The up-side of everyone leaving, is that during the week of Lebaran, Jakarta is practically empty, the roads traffic-free, the remaining cars generally driven by foreigners enjoying the novelty of re-connecting with their vehicle's front seat. The down-side is that everything pretty much stops. Government offices, many shops and most service-related businesses are closed. Getting anything done in the week of, and quite often the week after, Lebaran is generally considered futile. Again, like the week between Christmas and New Year.

As with Christmas in Australia, Ramadan also seemed to provide a good excuse for shopping, with plenty of sales and special deals available. Gift giving is very traditional at this time, and children usually receive new clothes and shoes at Idul Fitri. Staff also receive a Lebaran bonus of a month's salary which is often used for travel home. Personally I'm waiting to see if the post-Christmas sales have an equal over here!

Making a living

I really wish sometimes that I was quicker with a camera or had the opportunity to stop and take photos whenever I see something cool, strange or just plain interesting! Unfortunately I rarely have that chance, so will try to describe some of them instead.

Something I hadn't expected about Jakarta is the entrepreneurial spirit that pervades the city. I guess it makes sense that, in a place where the official average income is about the same as a couple of coffees per day back home, people will find any way they can to make a living. The jobs I've seen people do range from the novel, funny or bizarre to the truly awful.

Many legitimate jobs seem to consist mostly of people spending a lot of time doing not much - our driver gets paid to sit and chat to other drivers for at least 80% of his days. Most shops seem to employ at least two staff members per aisle of products, to prevent theft or assist shoppers I'm not sure. I think there are two so they don't get too bored when customers are scarce. Similarly, at petrol stations there is one attendant per pump, something I'm sure my mum would completely approve of! Even the police find ways to supplement their income (I've been told that the police are only publicly funded 60%, the rest needs to be found from external sources - sounds familiar!). Many provide security at hotels or shopping complexes, others find more inventive ways of generating revenue, such as providing police escort to those who want a fast trip home (approx. $50/day gets you two motorcycle outriders), or even closing the main road for a few hours to allow a resident to enjoy the full performance of his lamborghini!

There are other jobs that fulfil cliches - I have seen gardeners cutting grass around the edges of paths with small pairs of scissors, a particularly pointless exercise although I am sure the results look good. There are also the guys who perform security checks on your car as you enter hotels or malls - the ones with the mirror on the pole to look under the car, a job they often do while smiling at you the whole way around (wouldn't be much point actually looking at the mirror right?). Or those that you couldn't find in any Australian (or other western) city, but are frankly kinda cool, like the chap riding his bike with a helium tank on the back selling balloons and other party decorations, the guy walking around with baskets of baby chicks dyed bright orange, green or blue (why, I have no idea!) or the man with a handcart full of ladies underwear. In fact, you can buy most things from carts or pushbikes - fruit and veg, buckets, mops or brooms, goldfish, beach balls...whatever you fancy!

Then there are those who make their living in slightly more ad-hoc fashion, like jockeys, who for a small fee, will ride with you to ensure you have the 3 people required to use the high occupancy vehicle roads (if you're driving yourself, you can get one with a baby to make up the numbers!). Or the traffic directors who assist drivers onto roads or through intersections by standing in the road to force a gap in the traffic (for a small gratuity). There are bus buskers who will sing for you at your seat until you get off or pay them to stop! At the less savoury end of the spectrum there are the jobs no one would want by choice - people who wade through the canals sorting the waste and rubbish for anything that might have further use.

Probably the most amazing thing I've noticed is that no matter what their means of survival, the people here seem to be happy with their lot. They're almost invariably ready to greet you with a cheery hello and a smile.