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A humble tailor for the people's president
Ganug Nugroho Adi It was 1990 when Suparto, a tailor from Surakarta (also known as Solo), Central Java, sent a letter to Soeharto, offering to make a suit for the then president
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Ganug Nugroho Adi
It was 1990 when Suparto, a tailor from Surakarta (also known as Solo), Central Java, sent a letter to Soeharto, offering to make a suit for the then president.
"I can make clothes and customers are satisfied with my work. I hope Pak Harto would care to place an order, even if only for one jacket',' Suparto, now 53, recalls writing. 'The letter was never answered.'
Twenty-four years later, his executive aspirations came true. After winning the presidential election in August, Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo asked Suparto to make him five suits.
Jokowi even visited Suparto's tailor shop in Gilingan in Solo in October, ordering 10 white shirts and black trousers, Suparto said.
'Pak Jokowi wasn't yet inaugurated, but his orders for clothes already made me feel proud. My wish to work as the president's custom tailor has now finally become a reality,' he says.
Jokowi has been a customer of Arjuna Tailor ' the name of Suparto's shop ' since 2005, after he was elected mayor of Surakarta.
'I was invited to City Hall,' Suparto said. 'I was even trembling as I took the measurements of Pak Jokowi, because I still didn't believe I'd been asked to make a mayor's clothes.'
'Pak Jokowi has never sought 'hip' styles for his shirts and trousers,' Suparto said. 'The fabrics chosen aren't pricey either, just standard materials, usually cotton. He says it's comfortable for blusukan [impromptu visits].'
When Jokowi became Jakarta's governor, he continued to order clothes from Suparto, including his civil service uniform, even though the provincial government already had its own tailor.
Suparto was also entrusted with making Jokowi's signature piece ' the checkered shirt that he and his supporters wore on the gubernatorial campaign trail. In six months, Arjuna Tailor produced around 14,000.
'It was the biggest job I've ever done in my 30-year tailoring business. It was incredible because the whole lot of clothing was made by hand.'
Suparto was born into a poor family of farmers. His parents could only afford to send him to elementary school, which he finished in 1974, when he was apprenticed to a family friend, Saiman, a tailor in Ngawi, East Java.
'I was doing daily chores while apprenticing with Pak Saiman. That's when I started learning to do sewing work,' said the father of four. 'I only got lunch without pay. It was a sad experience to have to work while my friends went to school. But I simply had no choice.'
Eventually, Suparto moved to Surakarta, where he worked for an Indian-Indonesian tailor.
'I was determined to open a tailor shop of my own at the age of 20. It was my first dream,' said Suparto. He realized it 1980, opening Arjuna Tailor in tiny kiosk rented from a market trader in Nusukan, before moving to a larger spot in Gilingan, near the Tirtonadi bus terminal, that he now owns.
Arjuna Tailor now frequently receives orders from various institutions, private as well as governmental.
Suparto is indeed known for his neat work. Long before Jokowi came on the scene, Suparto could count several top officials among his customers, including a regent, a city council speaker, a prosecutor and the local police chief. 'After Pak Jokowi's orders, a lot more officials have followed suit.'
Despite his many VIP customers, Suparto says he never ignores his more humble customers. He hasn't raised prices either.
'Our fees are the same as other tailors: Rp 50,000 for a shirt and Rp 60,000 for trousers. If the clothes are made with our material, the price depends on the quality of textile. For a jacket, the fee is Rp 400,000 with the buyer's own material,' Suparto said.
'My business has flourished thanks to ordinary people. I don't want to abandon them. All buyers get the same prices,' he adds.
Today Suparto has his own production house and showroom with 50 employees and 30 sewing machines.
Suparto allows vocational school (SMK) students to apprentice with him. 'The SMK students need this opportunity because not all of them can continue their studies, so that they can readily work as soon as they graduate.'
He also employs the disabled.
'Their limitations should in no way prompt us to limit their opportunity to do the job. That's why I give them the chance to work and they turn out to be able to perform their duties properly.'
