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Weekly 5: What's missing during Idul Fitri
JP/AwoIdul Fitri in Jakarta means vacant streets and quiet neighborhoods as millions travel to their hometowns for mudik (the annual exodus)
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JP/Awo
Idul Fitri in Jakarta means vacant streets and quiet neighborhoods as millions travel to their hometowns for mudik (the annual exodus). However, it also means most of the business activities that support the daily needs of the city's residents are shut down. Those who are forced or prefer to stay in the capital city usually need to rely on supermarkets and convenience stores to fulfill their needs. Here are five things that are usually gone during the Idul Fitri holiday.
Street vendors
Unlike office workers who have limited days off, these traders can decide how long they will take for holidays and they usually take a long one. Many of them go home for a month or more as their families live in kampung.
Thasia Rayinda, a 27-year-old worker whose office is on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, said she had to walk farther and spend more money than usual as the food vendors near her office were not operating yet.
'I will also try to bring food from home or order food delivery,' she said, adding that she was sometimes forced to eat at restaurants in shopping malls.
Basic supplies
Daily supplies that are usually easy to find and can even be delivered right to a customer's house are also hard to find as the vendors and their couriers are nowhere to be found during the Idul Fitri vacation.
Thasia said her family had stocked up on mineral water, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canisters and groceries before Idul Fitri.
'On Idul Fitri eve, the streets will be crowded and it will be very hard to order deliveries, so the best way is buying extra supplies beforehand,' she said.
Most LPG and mineral water agents and convenience stores reopen soon after Idul Fitri. However, they operate with a minimum number of employees.
Domestic assistants
Taking care of children and cleaning the house, domestic assistants are a helping hand for most families in Jakarta, particularly working parents.
These families usually hire maids who come from many regions outside Jakarta, such as Pekalongan in Central Java, Bogor in West Java and Wonosari in Yogyakarta, and ask them to stay in their homes.
However, when Idul Fitri comes, the maids usually join the mass exodus.
Thus, the families have to deal with all the tasks on their own or seek help from someone else.
Kristoforus Aryo Bagaskoro, or Bagas, thanked his mother, who came from Yogyakarta, for helping him with chores while he was taking care of his 2-year-old daughter.
'I usually share the house tasks with Mbak [domestic helper]. I bathe my daughter and Mbak prepares the hot water,' he said.
Bagas, who employed two maids to assist his family and his sister's family, said he was worried that his teenage maids might not come back to Jakarta because their parents had planned to marry the girls off.
Regular sellers
Many residents who shop at traditional markets have sellers from whom they regularly buy groceries.
Nevertheless, along with many residents in the city, most of these sellers celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns, which usually are in other parts of the country, such as Padang in West Sumatra, Banyuwangi in East Java and Indramayu in West Java.
As a result, some shoppers have difficulty in getting groceries at lower prices. Moreover, they cannot get the fruits or vegetables that they need.
Bani, a juice seller in South Jakarta, said that he was currently not selling certain kinds of juice because his regular fruit seller was not in the city.
'Currently, I don't sell Sunkist orange, mango or kiwi juice as I cannot find the fruits anywhere,' said the 33-year-old Tebet resident.
Sanitation workers
Sanitation is one annoying matter during Idul Fitri because most garbage collectors also enjoy the holiday, making the garbage in most housing complexes pile up.
Although many Jakartans leave the capital, those who stay still produce a lot of trash.
Garbage trucks that usually remove garbage every day in front of Palmerah Market, Central Jakarta, did not come as usual during the holiday, leaving a mountain of trash.
Meanwhile, residents of Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta were annoyed by trash piles only on Idul Fitri day as garbage collectors in the area were off work only on that day.
