Call me / Ojek Katolik

Versi Bahasa Indonesia di bawah.

Pak Enjon: On Driving, the Big Three, and a better life

This afternoon I stopped in my tracks when I saw this ojek – motorbike taxi. It stands out a mile from the average ojek, especially in the GRUBERJEK era – Grab, Uber, Go-Jek, the Big Three app based taxi (including motorbike taxi) and liftsharing companies that have turned public transport in Jakarta upside down in the few years.

I got chatting with its owner, Pak Enjon, who was from Maluku, which at least partly explains its styling – apparently the Catholic church in (what is now) Indonesia started there in 1534. Pak Enjon didn’t want to me to take his photo, but he was happy to talk about life as a tukang ojek. He’s only just got into the game, having worked as a driver for a private employer until the middle of 2016. He says driving an ojek is a much better gig:

“Now, life is a lot more peaceful. Before, when I was a driver, my boss could bother me at any time. He’d call any time and I had to go. If I was just sitting down to eat and he’d call – I had to walk out and leave my food. He’d call me early morning with no warning – I might be in bed, tired or feeling under the weather, but if I got the call, I had to go. If I was just about to go for a pee and the boss said “Let’s go!”, that was it – I had to hold it. So nowadays things are better – much calmer.”

I got so into this side of the conversation that I forgot to ask about the decorations on his bike, but I did ask how business was for independent ojeks these days. Pak Enjon said that some days he brings home nothing at all – “If you’re an ojek and no one calls, you get nothing, right?”. On a good day he brings in about Rp50,000, about US$4, but it’s usually less.

When I asked him why he doesn’t join one of the Big Three to boost his income he smiled, a little bit malu:

“Yeah, it’s like this… I don’t know how to use a smartphone. I’m old! But no problem – I can sit here reading the paper, waiting for a call.”

Enjoy this edition of #jakartalives? Like, share, or leave a comment – I’d love to hear from you.

Pak Enjon: Kehidupan Sopir, GRUBERJEK dan saat teduh

Tadi siang saya berhenti di jalan melihat motor ini yang cukup istimewa, berbeda sekali dari ojek rata-rata, apa lagi pada zaman GRUBERJEK sekarang ini (yaitu Grab-Uber-GoJek, tiga start-up besar yang telah menjungkirbalikkan transportasi umum di Jakarta selama tiga tahun ini) . Saya ngobrol sebentar dengan pemiliknya, tukang ojek bernama Pak Enjon, dari Maluku. Tempat asalnya Pak Enjon membuat saya lebih paham hiasan Katolik motornya – Gereja Katolik pertama di nusantara dimulai di Maluku pada tahun 1534…

Pak Enjon keluar dari pekerjaan dia sebagai sopir pribadi pada tahun 2016, dan baru satu tahun menjadi ojek. Kata Pak Enjon, lebih enak jadi ojek:

“Sekarang, jauh lebih tenang. Dulu, saya sopir, kapan saja bisa diganggu dipanggil bos. Lagi makan, dipanggil – langsung pergi, meninggalkan nasinya. Pagi-pagi, tidur masih ngantuk, capek, ngak enak badan, di panggil bos – harus berangkat, mau ngak mau. Iya, kita kebelet, tapi bos bilang ‘Yuk! Jalan!’, harus menahan. Maka sekarang saya lebih enak, lebih tenang.”

Sebenarnya, ngak banyak yang dia ceritakan mengenai hiasan ojeknya, tapi saya sempat tanya mengenai ekonomi ojek ‘mandiri’ masa kini. Kata Pak Enjon, kadang dia tidak dapat apa-apa – “Kalau tidak ada panggilan, tidak dapat, kan?”. Keuntungan paling besar dia dapat sekitar lima puluh ribu rupiah, dengan rata-rata di bawah itu. Saat ditanya mengapa dia tidak bergabung dengan salah satu dari tiga besar GRUBERJEK supaya pendapatan lebih tinggi dia jawab dengan senyum sedikit malu: 

“Ya, gini, saya tidak bisa main smartphone, ngak tahu cara memakainya. Tidak apa-apa. Saya baca koran sambil menunggu panggilan.”

Advertisement