Madurese people are famous for their persistence and perseverance, especially in their business specialty: metals.
For them rusty metals are but unpolished diamonds, waiting to be turned into money.
In Tanjung Jati village, Kamal district, in Bangkalan regency, Madura island – which is east of Surabaya – rows of rusty ships can be found in the process of being cut into sheet metal.
Locals work hard and need around two months to deconstruct a ship into sheet metal. Each of them earns around Rp 100,000 (US$7.7) per day.
The ships can come from all around Indonesia and even neighboring countries.
Despite rumors the business is illegal, the activity continues and rows of ships can reach almost 1 kilometer in length. [yan]