E

ven when life is over in Jakarta, death can be such a drag. In the city where money runs everything, dying can
be a costly affair.

Relatives of the departed have to spend a hefty amount of money not only for the mortician, but even for finding land to bury the dead.

Ammank Syamsu had to go through the costly experience three years ago when he had to bury his father-in-law who died of colon cancer.

“Back then I spent up to Rp 6.5 million [US$724] for a tent, a plot of land for his grave and grave diggers at Tanah Kusir Cemetery in South Jakarta,” Ammank told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The sum excluded a Rp 100,000 rental fee for the grave charged by the Jakarta Cemetery and Parks Agency.

Ammank said he did not have enough time to think through the amount he had to spend, as he was preoccupied with tending to his grieving family members and ensuring the funeral was held quickly.

“A friend of mine buried one of his family members at Karet Tengsin Cemetery in Central Jakarta and he paid only Rp 2 million in total,” he said.

But even in the Karet cemetery, where the fee is less exorbitant, there has never been a short supply of people to take advantage of people’s mourning.

When the Post, which did not initially reveal itself, arrived at the cemetery management office, a worker provided details about the undertaker service fee, saying it depended on the location of the grave. “Generally it will cost you between Rp 1.3 million to Rp 1.5 million with a rental fee of between Rp 130,000 and Rp 180,000 paid once every three years,” said the man who introduced himself as Rahmat.

He said that the highest rental fee was for plots in Block A1, located next to the cemetery gate.

When the Post asked about the rental fee for low-income families, which is supposed to be free, Rahmat said there was no such thing as free rent in the cemetery.

“Poor families need Rp 800,000 for the grave digging service, and they need to pay a rental fee of Rp 130,000 once every three years,” he said.

Since they paid less for the service, he said, the graves locations were at the cemetery’s outer quarter, which is prone to flooding.

When the Post revealed itself, Rahmat soon retracted his statement and said that the rental fee was Rp 100,000 and the cost for digging graves could be less than Rp 800,000. “It depends on how much they can pay us,” he said.

He also said that if families failed to pay the rental fee, they would likely lose the remains of their loved ones as once an arrear was made, the cemetery agency would use the plot for others, burying new bodies on top of the old grave.

Joni, a grave digger who had provided his service to the cemetery since 1994, said that often he had to create new graves on top of old ones because Karet Tengsin Cemetery had run out of land.

Earlier this week, the cemetery and parks agency said it would earmark Rp 944.2 million to buy more land for burials of the poor.