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Squid assault in Muara Angke
Shift work: The men prefer working from the evening to the wee hours more than the daytime because of the cool night air
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Shift work: The men prefer working from the evening to the wee hours more than the daytime because of the cool night air.
Maskuri, a cook in the fishing village of Muara Angke, North Jakarta, was soaked with sweat as he prepared salted squid one afternoon.
Despite the heat from the wood-powered furnace and the midday sun, Maskuri and his fellow workers occasionally danced to Cirebon music from a tape recorder.
The dance number was unusual, as the men, employees of a small salted-squid business, typically work from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.
'Salting squid is actually a night job, to avoid direct drying in the sun for better results,' Maskuri said, wiping the sweat from his face. 'But when customers want quick delivery, we resort to daytime processing.'
'Even during the day we keep salted squid away from direct sunlight so that they just dry in the breeze,' he adds.
Rising demand has seen Muara Angke sprout the furnaces and chimneys used to salt squid, which must be boiled, as opposed to fish, which only needs to be dried on bamboo frames.
The quid were immersed in salt water for two hours before they were boiled in a bowl-shaped pan under Maskuri's watchful eye. He scattered salt into the water every time he dropped a squid into the pan.
After preparing about 50 kilograms of squid, residual water in the pan was discarded and replaced by fresh water and salt, while firewood was fed into the furnace.
'Work increases during the rainy season, when fishermen catch large quantities of squid,' Maskuri said while resting before starting his routine shift at 7 p.m.
'We enjoy working from the evening to the wee hours more than the daytime job because of the cool night air,' said Maskuri, who like his other workmates, comes from Indramayu, West Java.
For his nighttime work, Maskuri, a master cook, processes around 4 tons of squid and earns Rp 150,000 (US$12.45), while his helpers are paid Rp 60,000 ($4.9). Work during the day means overtime.
Maskuri and the other workers also receive allowances for cigarettes and instant noodles worth Rp 20,000 ($1.66) per person, as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner.
' Words and photos by JP/P.J. Leo
