Entering Tegal Alur Cemetery on a Saturday night, visitors are welcomed by a peculiar yet interesting ambience: a night bazaar with mounds and gravestones in the background.

The night bazaar, which is open every Saturday night starting from 5 p.m. until midnight, is held at the entrance gate of the Muslim graveyard at the cemetery, which is located in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

With more than 120 merchants, the night bazaar offers various goods including stuffed animals, street food, clothes and even lingerie.

Hundreds of people including children, couples and families flock into the brightly illuminated graveyard, which is enlivened with loud dangdut music.

Parni, 40, a resident of Tegal Alur, said that she took her 4-year-old son to play in the children’s playground at the graveyard bazaar almost every weekend.

According to her, even though the night bazaar is held at a cemetery, the crowds and merry ambience are the main reasons why she likes to come.

“For low-income people like us, this night bazaar is entertaining enough. It’s located very near to my house and all the goods here are cheap,” said the wife of a construction worker.

Night bazaars or pasar malam are a common market tradition in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

They are usually held in residential neighborhoods, and attract merchants who sell inexpensive goods the prices of which can be negotiated. In Jakarta, people usually use streets and vacant plots to hold night markets.

One of the organizers of the night market in Tegal Alur, Datuk Bandaro, said that he and his friends had been running the bazaar business at Tegal Alur Cemetery since 2007.

“Our considerations for starting a bazaar here was the fact that nobody would come to visit a graveyard at night, and there is this spacious unused area at the entrance gate. And then we thought that we could use this area for a night bazaar,” Datuk told The Jakarta Post.

According to Datuk, as an organizer, he took care of the permit to use the cemetery from the local community unit, and provided mobile generators for the electricity.

“We charge the merchants Rp 4,000 [41 US cents] for every lamp they use. The cemetery administration also collects security and cleaning-service fees from the merchants,” he said.

Datuk was reluctant to say how much they earned for a night, saying that revenues varied.

One of the merchants at the night bazaar, Tega, 31, said that he had been selling cell phone cases at Tegal Alur cemetery for two years, and he kept doing the business because it was profitable.

“Why should I be afraid to do my business here at the cemetery? As you can see, there are lights and people everywhere. I have no reason to be afraid,” said the Tegal Alur resident, smiling,

Tega said that he worked in a factory during the day and he sold cell phone cases to make additional income during the weekend.

According to him he paid Rp 15,000 in total for both the space and the electricity he used at the cemetery.

“It is quite a good deal, because I can earn up to Rp 200,000 per night by selling phone cases,” he said.

Dani, 25, a children’s playground owner, said that he could earn up to Rp 500,000 per night, with a charge of Rp 5,000 per child who wanted to play in his castle-shaped inflatable playground.

“As long as it is profitable, I don’t mind doing business side by side with gravestones,” Dani said. (nad)

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