Connections in East Java

good day for uploads.  all done.

We've made contact with a few people whose images I stole photographically those 28 or so years ago.

Formerly at Hotel Indah, Madiun we found
Sri - still working at Hotel Indah,
Martono - taught me Indonesian, now selling snack food via bicycle,
Mamat - now at Hotel Indah, Sarangan
and Rakimin - at Hotel Imelda, Magetan.

Now, it might be interesting to note that Sri and Martono who worked in Hotel Indah for at least 28 years have seen no apparent advancement in their positions.  And similarly for Mamat and Rakimin, although at different hotels seem not to have advanced.  Why is that?  In economic schools labor costs are said to be sticky, they move more slowly than other prices.  I'll say so!  And Martono with the most potential, with the additional language skill, survives on his snack food sales.  So what happens if they want to retire?  Here's the deal on Indonesian Social Security.  None of these people are eligible because the hotel had less than 10 employees.  Old age benefits are paid in periodic payments if the total fund accrued is greater than approx $5000 USD.  Not sure if there are any real benefits here, looks like nothing I'd want, for sure.  One of the owners of the Hotel Sarangan, a retired physician, explained that the SS benefit is too small to live on.



Rakimin, Sri, Juni, Kim, Martono 1983

??, Sri, Martono, Kim 2012

laptop image - Rakimin 3rd from left

In Magetan we found

the grandmother of Okti,

Karsini's mother,

and Sukarman and Augustri, father and son, just as they were but a bit older now.

Pak Sukarman and anak Augustri '83 

 Sukarman and Augustri at home (inside their store), Magetan 2012

Pak Sukarman at his store front, Magetan 2012

In Sarangan we found Pak (Mr.) Sukiman working at Hotel Sarangan, same as he did 45 years ago.  Now 69, and not quite as robust, he cleans the front office.  He told he how when the Japanese were here, just how savagely they treated Indonesians.  running hard labor camps, kicking those who could not keep up the pace of work and denying them any clothing.  The Dutch came back after the war and were welcomed by many, given the harsh treatment by the Japanese.

Pak Sukiman, Hotel Sarangan, Sarangan '83  

Pak Sukiman, Hotel Sarangan, Sarangan 2012 

We met Risky, her parents (Mr. Suwandi), and siblings, living in the house I once did, with the aid of Anik. We met Anik on the street a half block from my house, and told her we were looking for my old house in Magetan.  Amazingly Anik (I had no photo of her) had remembered me, thought I was Dutch, but remembered the house where I lived.  She was 15 at the time.  She lived, and still does just a few doors east from Jl Diponogoro 21A, Kota Magetan, where Risky and family now live.  Risky's father, Mr. Suwandi is in the leather finishing business.  Magetan is known as the leather capital in these parts, and you can find numerous websites displaying their products.

kim and Anik, Magetan 2012

Suwandi and family (Risky - rightmost), at home, Magetan 2012 

Mamat, from Hotel Indah, Madiun, was 18 at the time of the original photo ('83).  He married in '87 just like me, and like me he has a step child.  At the time, '83, I thought he was much younger.  It has been said that Indonesians are naive, childlike.  That really was the case then.

Sri, Juni, Kim, Rakimin, Mamat, Hotel Indah, Madiun '83

Mamat, Hotel Indah, Sarangan 2012

Karsini is now 53 with two sons Dani 14 and Arif 19.  Arif was quick to connect with Pat on Facebook.  Her mother was caught on film with an expression of a mixture of anger, fear, and surprise.  I hope it was mostly surprise.  Maybe Karsini can tell us.

Dani, Karsini, Arif, at their shop, Magetan 2012   

Karikem Ibu Karsini, Magetan '83 

Okti and her husband run a small photo shop on Jl. Diponogoro, Magetan. We were getting photo's printed for Risky and Anik, and group of men with whom we shared the old photos on my laptop.  So we had time to kill.  There's always time to kill when in Indonesia.  People are the warmest, open hearted of any on earth; part of that naivete, I suppose.  So, we shared the laptop photos with Okti while Sonny did the printing and quick touch-ups.  You can tell he's skilled at this, he knows just what contrast and color intensities usually work for nice skin tones and beautiful scenery.  He does portraits in his shop, and along with selling what you would expect in a photo shop, there's bottled water, flashlights, and a lot more.  Okti was quite surprised to find my photo of her nenek (grandmother).  Wow, just the kind of thing I'd hoped for.  It may be only the second photo of her.

nenek Okti, Mageta '83

Sonny Okti and son, their shop, Magetan '2012

Okti recognized her friend Aline Isadhora who was 5 or 6 in this picture.  Now she's 35, living near Magetan, with a 9 year old daughter.  She has not mentioned anything about a husband.  Aline and I are back and forth with email so we may learn more later.

Aline Isadhora (left) and friend, Magetan '83  

So what has happened in nearly 30 years?

Refrigeration, clothes washers and dryers, bottled water, shopping malls, packaged snack food, multinational chain restaurants, inexpensive motor scooters, cellphones and towers, ATM's, Facebook, ice cubes with purified Refrigeration, clothes washers and dryers, bottled water, shopping malls, packaged snack food, multinational chain restaurants, inexpensive motorscooters, cellphones and towers, ATM's, Facebook, ice cubes with purified water, toilet paper, covered sewers, western toilets, less deisel exhaust, less crazy bus drivers (haven't seen a one), window screen (sometimes), increased emphasis on Islam, stainless steel railings are very popular.

What's missing now?
becak are not so many, traditional Javanese sarong, bihun goreng (still exists, but with less vegetables), shrimp (I think the export price must be better than domestic prices), quiet nights in Sarangan are not so many, view of valley unobstructed by cell towers, slow Javanese pace.

I guess the sum total of the changes is better, but for me the feeling in the air is less, and I attribute it to the increased emphasis on Islam, and the resulting political conflict, and the faster life pace.  Does this sound familiar to anyone living in the US?  Just substitute Christianity for Islam?  I am wondering if Rupert Murdoch is running an Indonesian news outlet, maybe he's got a chain of mosques?  In the past the outward gestures were more humanistic, without the Muslim religiosity.  There were certainly mosques, and imams on loudspeakers, and there were a few Islamic schools, and some women and men wearing conservative Muslim dress, easily less than 10%, even in rather remote areas like Sarangan.  Today we see conservative dress everywhere on nearly 50% of the women usually with scarfs, and mosques have increased at least 5-fold.  The odd part of that is the men are not wearing traditional sarongs rather, Western pants and t-shirts.  Maybe not so odd, huh.