Socioeconomic changes among beca drivers in Jakarta 1988-98

Abstract

The sudden economic crisis in Indonesia brought about fundamental change thoughout Indonesian society. In Jakarta in particular, a large number of jobs has been lost and unemployment is reaching a critical level. At the same time, the El Niño meteorological effect has created hidden unemployment in rural areas, pushing people from rural Java into the urban centres in search of meaningful employment. This shift in socio-economic conditions has seen beca return to Jakarta. Using primary data collected in 1988-89 and 1998, this paper investigates the extent to which external pressures have affected beca drivers' livelihood over the course of ten years. Although great changes have occured, many continuities are evident. Furthermore, the paper finds that beca drivers' remittances are crucial for feeding their families, whose living conditions have been devastated by the economic crisis and the El Niño effect. The paper concludes that beca should not be prevented from returning to urban areas. Instead, the municipal government should organise a more user friendly public transport system in the lower-class suburbs and let beca fill the niches in the urban transport system.