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man Sulaiman, 46, an accountant with state-owned electricity company PT PLN, was about to leave a mosque near his office after afternoon prayer when he realized that his car key had broken.

"I put the key in my trousers' back pocket, maybe I broke it when sitting in the mosque," he recently told The Jakarta Post.

Having no spare key, the father of five, who lives in Kampung Makassar, East Jakarta, said he had to open the door of his 20-year-old Mazda sedan by inserting an iron wire through its window.

"I did it just like MacGyver," he said, smiling, referring to the titular fictional resourceful secret agent in the popular 1980s' TV series.

The next day, Eman visited a small duplicate key-making booth near his house to replicate the key.

For just Rp 20,000 (US$2), he was able to get his problem fixed within 30 minutes.

"Instead of spending Rp 150,000 to get another car key from the auto dealer, I would prefer to order a duplicate key in the street.

"It's cheaper and we can even bargain about the price."

With many security devices in cars, houses, offices and other properties having to rely on the lock-and-unlock system, it is common to see people who feel annoyed, or even terrified, when losing their keys or finding that their locking system is not working properly.

Those who work in the duplicate key-making business see such anxiety as a guarantee that their businesses will continue to thrive.

"I don't think this business will ever die," said Suratman, 41, who runs a duplicate key-making booth in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

In the duplicate key-making business since 1996, the father-of-two said his view on the business' future was supported by strong evidence.

"During the economic crisis, like today or the previous *1998* crisis, I didn't see the demand for our service declining," he said.

"It maybe happened because, whether they are aware of it or not, people categorize security, especially domestic security, as one of their basic needs."

Working from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. everyday, Suratman said he could earn at least Rp 3 million per month, much higher than Jakarta's provincial minimum wage (UMP), which currently stands at Rp 1.1 million per month.

He charges his customers Rp 5,000 for duplicating a door key, Rp 20,000 for a motorcycle key and at least Rp 50,000 for a car key.

For an in-house order, he can almost double the rates.

Udin, 38, another duplicate key-maker in Cililitan, East Jakarta, shared a similar story on how his business had successfully survived several tough times in the past 20 years.

"Even in times of economic crisis, like these days, I didn't consider changing jobs," said Udin, who earns between Rp 2 and 3 million per month.

Udin, who started his business when he was 18, said he had observed that Indonesian people's preference for imitation or lower-quality and cheaper products had helped the duplicate key-making business to survive.

"Honestly, most Indonesians would rather spend Rp 75,000 on a China-made door key set rather than Rp 350,000 on a high-quality Italy-made key set, right?"

"It actually helps us a lot to get more jobs since the opportunities for keys to break is higher," he said, smiling.

Both Udin and Suratman agreed that all forms of keys could be replicated as long as a duplicate key maker had the necessary "raw materials".

A "material" refers to a small and plain metal plate with a holder, usually made from rubber, which has a certain brand name or company logo.

Duplicating a key means looking for a material that has similar lengths, thickness and shapes to the original one and filing its edges to create an identical carving pattern.

"The more complicated the carving is, the more expensive the service charge," Udin said.

Metrionis, 30, a duplicate key-maker in Pasar Minggu, agreed, saying that investing money to buy more advanced filling machine would help a duplicate key maker expand their business.

"Keys for luxurious cars, like Mercedes or BMW, have more intricate designs compared to keys for other cars," said Metrionis, who has been running his booth for five years.

"So, we either need to buy a special machine or spend days carving the duplicate key manually."

Two years ago, Metrionis took a risk and spent Rp 7 million on such a machine.

His bet has paid off, with more and more costumers coming to ask for his services.

His clients range from employees to high-ranking government officials.