Home away from home: Ethnic groups staying in touch

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 07/15/2009 11:23 AM | Headlines

As a capital city with a population of around 12 million, Jakarta is the melting pot of Indonesia's more than 500 ethnic groups.

Far from home, most of Jakarta's ethnic population regroup and get involved in various social activities.

One such group gathers members from Sarik village in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.

"The street markets in Menteng have been dominated by Sarik folk since the 1960s," said Masrihal Jamaris, a souvenir vendor.

The Sarik vendors have long been known for selling their wares along Jl. Surabaya, popularly known for a row of small kiosks selling antiques and souvenirs. The one way street has been a haven for collectors looking for rare items such as brasswares.

Later, the Sarik community emerged in the 1970s in Ciputat, South Jakarta, Mashirhal said.

Currently, there are more than 200 Sarik traders in Menteng and Ciputat, he said.

In 1968, the people set up a group called the Sarik Natives Community.

This group is known for having successful vendors and is a living example of a group who have survived and prospered away from their village.

The group arranges social gathering activities, such as arisan (a regular social gathering whose members contribute to and take turns at winning an aggregate sum of money) and Koran reciting activities.

It is also involved in charity-based activities, such as helping victims of natural disasters.

More than 70 Sarik traders in Ciputat worked to help victims of the collapsed Situ Gintung dam disaster, not far from their business area, by opening up a post to providing aid money and food.

Situ Gintung, a dam in Ciputat, South Jakarta, burst in the morning of March 27, killing 100 people, injuring 135 and displacing hundreds of residents who lived in the area below.

"We have been living and making money here for more than 30 years. Helping others is part of our social responsibility," a Sarik trader in Ciputat, Ahmad Diar, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Get-togethers among ethnic groups in Jakarta does not only happen through trade.

Using the Internet, people from Magetan, East Java, have created an online group using the Facebook social networking site.

The Community of Magetan Folk (Kompag), a Facebook group, was set up five months ago. The group now has 400 members across Indonesia. However, more than 100 of them are based in Jakarta.

Nanang Sedayu, a Facebook administrator of Kompag, set up the internet community to continue the activities of the existing Community of Magetan Folk's Extended Family in Jakarta, which was established more than a decade ago.

The community conducts many activities, including pulang kampung or returning to their hometown in Magetan together to celebrate Idul Fitri festivities, the annual Muslim celebrations.

The community also regularly arranges annual meetings. The meetings are usually held in the East Java Pavilion at the Indonesia in Miniature Park (TMII) in East Jakarta.

"Through this social network, we meet many people from the same region sharing similar interests," Nanang said.

Jakartan's use of the Internet has pushed many ethnic groups to consider using online social networking forums to regroup people away from home.

Jakarta accounts for around 35 percent of Internet users across the country.

According to a recent report by checkfacebook.com Indonesia is known has 6,864,800 Facebook users, the seventh largest total in the world, following Italy, France, Canada, Turkey, the UK and the US. (nia)