“vagrants cannot have success”
street youth as cultural agents in yogyakarta, java
Ingvild Solvang
Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the Cand.polit degree
Department of Social Anthropology
University of Oslo
2002
I
Til mine tantebarn
to my nieces and nephews
II
Acknowledgements
Many people have contributed to the various phases of this study.
First and foremost, I owe this thesis to the street children and youth of Yogyakarta. Without
your friendship this thesis would not have been made. Terima kasih!
I would like to thank my supervisor Signe Howell for her invaluable encouragement and
insightful guidance. I am also indepted to the Norwegian Research Council for funding
through the project “Migrants and Entrepreneurs in Insular Southeast Asia” administered by
the Department of Social Anthropology at University of Bergen. I am also greatful for help
given by Harald Beyer Broch at the Department of Social Anthropology at University of Oslo
and Cynthia Chou at the Asian Institute of University of Copenhagen at an early stage of my
project. I am also greatful for the valuable inputs offered by Yosuf and Lani, Leuven,
Belgium.
I owe great respects to many people in Yogyakarta for helping me during my fieldwork. I will
never forget all the wonderful people who made Yogya feel like home to me. Thanks to all
my friends who made my year in Indonesia unforgettable! I especially want to mention Ebby
and the staff at YLPS Humana for sharing their knowledge with me, and Joan for offering
invaluable help, especially at the last stage of my project. Furthermore, I want to thank bu
Ningsih, pak Unang and all my gurus at Puri Bahasa Indonesia.
To all my study mates at the university of Oslo, who are a source of inspiration and
empowerment: Tusen takk for ei kjempearti tid! I also want to thank my family, friends, and
housemates Helle and Guri for reminding me of the “real” world outside the university.
Finally, to Mie for making the cover of this thesis, and going out of her way to help and
support me: Thank you very much…
Oslo, November 02
Ingvild Solvang
III
Abstract
“Vagrants Cannot Have Success” is a social anthropological study of street youth in
Yogyakarta, Java. The aim of the study is to describe how street youth are cultural and social
agents, who actively participate in the construction of their worlds through social
engagements and activities. To grasp the complexities of their experiences, I show how they
maneuver through different social fields and cultural landscapes, and orient themselves
towards different sources to give meaning to their life situation and actions. With these
observations as a framework, I hope to challenge the notions that children and youth are
passive recipients of socialization, and mere victims of oppression, but to focus on street
youth are not insignificant in processes of cultural (re)production.
A central topic of this thesis is street youth agency, and how they struggle to maintain
and expand their social and cultural space. At times the street youth will engage in activities,
such as crime and drug abuse, which feed negative stereotypes. Nevertheless, I argue that
such acts have to be understood in light of power relations and oppression, and the street
youth’s attempts to control their life situation, and maintain dignity and respect. I further
show how the street youth’s identities and self-concepts are constructed through social
engagements and in relation to marginalization and stigmatization. The processes of
construction of identity and self become important aspects of street youth agency.
Finally, I show how different ideals of progress (kemajuan) are negotiated and
articulate with each other and through the street youth’s constructions of dreams and goals
for the future. I argue that social, economical and political oppression, which leave them with
limited possibilities within mainstream society, create ambivalence and conflicting attitudes
towards their life situation and prospects for the future. I argue that what I call “on the street”
vs. “off the street” ambivalence is expressed in different situations. At times the street youth
foreground street values, at other times they wish to be “normal”.
IV
Language and Glossary
The following is a list of some central Indonesian and Javanese terms that are used
throughout this thesis. I have chosen to present the local terms in the text to give the readers,
who are familiar with the region and the language, an additional dimension to the empirical
material. To those who do not speak Bahasa Indonesia, the English translations throughout
the text should make it easy to follow.
(J) – Javanese. Unmarked words are in Bahasa Indonesia
alun-alun – city square
akrab – close, intimate
membo’ol – sodomize
berani– brave
anak – child
anak baru – new kid
bule – white foreigner
anak bebas – free child
bukan manusia – not human
anak jalanan – street child
cewek materi – material girl
asyik – cool
cita-cita anak Indonesia – ideal Indonesian
bahasa Indonesia – The national language of
child
the Indonesian Republic
cuek – don’t give a damn (slang)
baik hati – good hearted
dadi wong (J) – to become a human
banci – transvestite
being
bapak, pak – father, Mister
desa – village
bapak tiri – step father
diajak teman – invited by friends
bebas – free
Dua Anak Cukup – Two Children are
biarin – leave it! let them!
Enough
biasa – normal
durung djawa (J) – not yet Javanese
bibit, bebet, bobot – ancestral characteristics
durung ngerti (J) – do not yet
bingun – confused, dizzy
understand
bodoh -- stupid
during wong (J)– not yet human
bo’ol – anal sex (slang)
enak – nice
dibo’ol – sodomized
enak di jalan – it is nice on the street
V
era globalisasi – the globalized era
lonte (J)– prostitute
frustrasi – frustration
lucu – cute
garukan – police operation
mabuk – drunk
gembel/ bukan gembel – tramp/ not a tramp
maju – progressive
halus – refined
malas – lazy
hebat – cool
malu – embarrassed
homo – homosexual
mandiri – independent
hoyen – scraps (food)
merantau – to wander
Ibu, bu – mother.
miskin – poor
Ibuism – ideology womanhood
nakal - naughty
Ibu tiri – stepmother
ngamen – to play music on the street
ikut-ikutan – to follow
nyemir – shoe shine
jalan-jalan – to walk (around)
nyopet – pick-pocket
joget – to dance
pacar – boyfriend/ girlfriend
kakak – big brother
pacaran – date, be a couple
kasar – rough
pak – sir
kampung – neighborhood
Pancasila – the national philosophy of the
kabur – to flee
Indonesian Republic
kagét – upset, startled
pembangunan – development
kaya – rich
pengalaman – experience
kebule-bulean -- Westernization
pengamen – a street musician
kebebasan – freedom
preman – thug, hoodlum
keluarga – family
priyayi (J)– upper class, ke-an – status of
kemajuan – progress
being upper class
kere – vagrant
pulang – go home
kodrat wanita – inherent nature of a woman
pusaka – powerful object
Kraton (J)– the sultan’s palace
pusing – confused, headache
lampu merah – traffic lights
rukun – harmony
lebaran – religious holiday
ramai – friendly
lesehan – street restaurant
remaja – teenager
VI
sampah masyarakat – garbage of society
santai – relaxed
santri – strict adherent of Islam
senang – happy
sex bebas – free sex
stres – stess, worries
surat lahir – birth certificate
tekyan (sithik ning lumayan) (J) – street
boy
teman – friend
Toilet Umum – public toilet
warung – food stall
wong cilik (J) – the little people, common
VII
Maps
Source: http://www.lonleyplanet.com
VII
Map of Yogyakarta
VIII
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ________________________________________________________________ III
Abstract _________________________________________________________________________ IV
Language and Glossary _____________________________________________________________ V
Maps___________________________________________________________________________ VII
Table of Contents _________________________________________________________________ IX
Introduction _______________________________________________________________________ 1
Background of study and outline of thesis ___________________________________________________ 2
Who are the street children and youth? _____________________________________________________ 5
Notes on gender________________________________________________________________________________ 9
Street communities and social anthropology ________________________________________________ 10
Case studies from Indonesia _____________________________________________________________________ 14
Methodological and ethical considerations _________________________________________________ 18
Some methodological challenges _________________________________________________________________ 20
Collecting data _______________________________________________________________________________ 22
A note on language ____________________________________________________________________________ 23
Historical, Ethnographic and Theoretical Background ___________________________________ 25
Short historical outline _________________________________________________________________ 26
Ethnographic context ___________________________________________________________________ 30
The Javanese syncretism: abangan, santri and priyayi _________________________________________________ 31
Javanism (Kejawen) ___________________________________________________________________________ 32
Javanese youth and anthropology ________________________________________________________ 34
“Static values” and Javanese youth ________________________________________________________________ 34
Young “muted” groups _________________________________________________________________________ 36
IX
Social stratification ____________________________________________________________________________ 39
A theoretical framework ________________________________________________________________ 41
Complex practices within social fields _____________________________________________________________ 42
The street social field __________________________________________________________________________ 44
The dominant social field _______________________________________________________________________ 45
Ideals of the “educated person” ___________________________________________________________________ 46
Different fields and consistent notions of self ________________________________________________________ 47
Children Outside State and Family ___________________________________________________ 51
Yogyakarta – berhati nyaman ___________________________________________________________ 52
Malioboro Street ______________________________________________________________________________ 54
The street community of Yogyakarta ______________________________________________________ 55
The history of Girli – the large family _____________________________________________________________ 57
State power and surveillance_____________________________________________________________ 58
The ideal family ______________________________________________________________________________ 61
The ideal child ________________________________________________________________________________ 62
Leaving home _________________________________________________________________________ 63
Negotiated values _____________________________________________________________________________ 67
The Alternative Reality on the Street __________________________________________________ 71
Socialization and initiation into the street community ________________________________________ 73
Initiation of the new kid ________________________________________________________________________ 73
The free child – an alternative to state ideology _____________________________________________ 77
Being happy _________________________________________________________________________________ 80
Cuek – not giving a damn _______________________________________________________________________ 81
Searching for experience ________________________________________________________________________ 82
Spending money ______________________________________________________________________________ 83
The street hierarchy ____________________________________________________________________ 84
Machismo values ______________________________________________________________________________ 84
Street girls ___________________________________________________________________________________ 88
X
Friendships, solidarity and violence _______________________________________________________ 90
Conflicts, violence and stability __________________________________________________________________ 96
Cultural Exclusion and Resistance of Oppression ______________________________________ 102
Personal encounters with “the other” ____________________________________________________ 103
The problem of growing old ____________________________________________________________________ 104
“The Other” seen from street perspective __________________________________________________________ 105
Street youth vs other Javanese youth _____________________________________________________________ 111
Returning home – a culture clash ________________________________________________________________ 113
Contested space and performance of identity ______________________________________________ 116
Street youth style and resistance _________________________________________________________ 119
Subversive behavior __________________________________________________________________________ 122
Redefining the Javanese hierarchy _______________________________________________________ 124
Oppression, pride and consistent self-concept ______________________________________________ 126
In Search of Progress _____________________________________________________________ 128
What is progress? _____________________________________________________________________ 130
Progress on the street __________________________________________________________________ 133
Coming of age on the sidewalk __________________________________________________________________ 134
The ambivalence of progress ____________________________________________________________________ 136
Progress on the street _________________________________________________________________________ 138
Progress for the street community as a group ______________________________________________ 141
Heroes versus role models______________________________________________________________________ 142
Strategies to progress __________________________________________________________________ 144
Education __________________________________________________________________________________ 144
Love and Relationships ________________________________________________________________________ 146
Working with NGOs __________________________________________________________________________ 149
When progress fails – alternative strategies _______________________________________________ 152
Crime ______________________________________________________________________________________ 153
XI
Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Crime _________________________________________________________________ 155
Working One’s Way Up _______________________________________________________________________ 158
A Lost Son Returns to Homelessness _____________________________________________________________ 159
Some Concluding Remarks_________________________________________________________ 162
Bibliography ____________________________________________________________________ 165
Lecture _____________________________________________________________________________ 173
Newspapers and Journals ______________________________________________________________ 173
World Wide Web _____________________________________________________________________ 173
Film and documentary _________________________________________________________________ 174
XII
Chapter One
Introduction
jalanan bukan sadaran
the street is not a support
jalanan bukan pelarian
the street is not an exile
jalanan adalah kehidupan
the street is life
jalanan bukan impian
the street is not a dream
jalanan bukan khayalan
the street is not an imagination
jalanan adalah kenyataan
the street is reality
(Suara Jalanan, 200
I first became aware of street children and youth in Indonesia while attending an
international film festival in London in 1999, where the movie Daun di Atas Bantal (Leaf on
My Pillow) was shown. The movie is based on true stories in the lives of three street boys
in Yogyakarta who all die under tragic circumstances, one in an accident and two who are
knifed to death. The movie illustrates an existence of uncertainty, the comings and goings
of lives, the rapid shifts on the street, and the indifference street children and youth
experience from dominant society. The movie is an important reminder that street
children are human beings. Although they are seen by the authorities and dominant
society as a problem to be solved, they are precious to their friends. One of the boys killed,
was in real life known as Dodo. January 27th 1992, he was stabbed to death by a group of
youth who mistook him for someone else. His friends witnessed that no one came to claim
the dead body. When his relatives were contacted they did not want to know about
Dodo’s destiny, as they did not consider him their child anymore. Racing against time,
knowing that according to Javanese tradition unless the body is buried within three days,
the spirit will restlessly roam around, the street children brought the body to the office of a
local non-governmental organization, YLPS Humana, asking for help. The Humana
1
workers negotiated with local officials and the local mosques, who all refused to take care
of Dodo’s body, and give him a proper funeral because Dodo lacked official registration
papers, and did not belong within the neighborhood administration. Several days of
negotiations passed, and finally the women in the neighborhood got involved by
criticizing their husbands’ inhumane treatment of the street children. Furthermore, the
press followed the case, all which in the end caused the local officials and religious leaders
to agree to arrange a funeral for Dodo1.
The death of Dodo was an event, which entered the collective memory of the street
children. For the street children it is evidence of their worthlessness not only while alive,
but even after their death. At the same time, it is a story that expresses hope and victory,
and underlines the importance of standing together and sticking up for your friends. This
is the key to survival on the street. It also gives the street children confidence, in a fight
that seems like David versus Goliath. It demonstrates that the street community is strong
and can stand up to oppression from mainstream society and the Indonesian State, which
at the time of Dodo’s death was the authoritarian Suharto regime (c.f. Chapter Three). At
the time of my fieldwork from April 2000 to June 2001, two years had passed since
Suharto’s downfall, and political reformations (reformasi) had brought on some positive
changes in the lives of the street children and youth. The attacks from the police and the
military were rare, and it had become easier for non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
to provide help for the disadvantaged. Despite these changes, the street children and
youth of Indonesia form a vulnerable group who is met with indifference and ignorance
from dominant society. And still, there is a need for the group to fight back.
Background of study and outline of thesis
This thesis will be my attempt to describe and understand the complexity and diversity of
lives of a group of about 30 street youth and young adults who are involved with a
community of street children and street adults in Yogyakarta on South Central Java. The
study is based on a 12 month long fieldwork among street boys and youth between 13 and
25, although their exact ages are unknown both to themselves and me. Mostly all, with a
few exceptions have lived on the street since childhood, have little or no formal education,
and they are rarely or never in contact with their families.
1
For more about Dodo see Did/ Girli (1993), Mundayat (1997) and Ertanto (1995).
2
This age group particularly caught my interest because they go through the
changes from childhood to adulthood. Whereas many studies have been conducted
amongst street children, especially in Latin America, not many have focused on what
happens to them once they grow older. This is an attempt to describe social and cultural
mechanisms which influence how the street youth in this study look upon their future,
and construction of self in relation to, what I may call, an “on the street” vs. “off the street”
ambivalence. In other words, I may say that the street youth negotiate different models of
how to become a good person or an “educated person2” within society (Holland and
Levinson, 1996).
As the street children reach puberty they experience a shift in how they are seen by
members of mainstream society. When the children are small, they are seen as cute (lucu)
and are pitied by the general public. As cute children, it is easier to make a living playing
music for money, begging or polishing shoes than once they reach puberty and are met
with condemnation and fear. The change leads to a shift in self-(re)presentation of the
street youth and attitudes towards their life situation and the street. This thesis will
explore how the street youth maneuver between different social field and cultural
landscapes, and how they are active social and cultural agents who apply meaning to their
life situation and actions.
A central aspect of the thesis is to show how the street youth struggle to gain
control of their lives, and to increase their possibilities for agency in a society where they
are marginalized and stigmatized. Although they at times engage in activities that cement
negative stereotypes, I argue that this has to be understood in light of their search of
dignity and respect. The street youth are not given many opportunities within mainstream
society, and alternatives are offered within the street community. Street youth’s room for
agency of as to be explored empirically. Street children and youth all over the world face
different realities. This is an empirical study of one street reality on Java. I want to clarify
that there are many realities, and that this study may contribute to the understanding of
some general social and cultural mechanisms, but can not account for the multiple
experiences of street youth everywhere. Further throughout this chapter I will give a
theoretical framework of how to approach the issues of street children and youth
anthropologically, where a main argument is that street children and youth are not
2
This term will be further discussed in Chapter Two.
3
passive recipients of socialization, but are actively involved in their social and cultural
worlds.
Youth have been underrepresented in anthropological studies of Java. Furthermore,
the few references made towards youth tend to see them as culturally marginal, whose
activities and creativeness have been portrayed as a threat to the traditional Javanese
culture (Siegel, 1986:210; Mulder, 1992:18; Geertz, 1960:308). In Chapter Two I argue that a
study of street youth contributes to the understanding of the multiple experiences of the
Javanese, and opens up a rigid understanding of Javanese Culture as a static and closed
system. In the same chapter, I also give a theoretical framework on how to grasp the
complexity of and changes within the Javanese society.
To understand the street children and youth it is important to see them in relation
to the city they live in and political system. In Chapter Three I explore the reasons why the
street children leave home which a focus on how the children are active agents who
interpret and negotiate conflicting ideals which are given to them through social
engagements. One aspect of this is to see how the ideals of the State are challenged in the
everyday lives of the Javanese. This is particularly interesting in the study of youth on
Java, because the young generation of Indonesian’s today, are the first to be born within
an authoritarian regime of former President Suharto (1965-1998) (c.f. Chapter Two). There
has not been many studies made, which critically explore to what extent the ideology of
the post-colonial authoritarian regime becomes incorporated into Javanese ways of life.
In Chapter Four, I describe the street community and how the street offers an
alternative to State ideology and mainstream worldview, and how social interactions
among street children and youth are guided by what I call street values and attitudes.
Through an analysis of socialization mechanisms and hierarchies on the street, I explore
the models of how to become a good or “educated” person on the street.
As the street children and youth live in public space and are dependent on social
interactions with members of mainstream society, the “educated” street person is
constantly challenged by dominant ideology. In Chapter Five, I describe the meetings
between the street youth and mainstream society, and how the street youth are socialized
into the Javanese society. In the same chapter I show how the street youth are able to carve
out space for themselves within society, and establish alternative sources of dignity
through processes of contextual construction of self-concept.
4
The social and cultural processes that the street youth are involved with as they
move between the street community and mainstream society become underlying forces in
how they construct their dreams and goals for the future. In Chapter Six, I look at how the
street youth orient themselves within a national discourse of progress (kemajuan) and
modernity (modernisasi). I explore the alternatives offered to the street youth by
mainstream society and the street community in constructing a life towards the future. In
this chapter the ambivalence between “on the street” and “off the street” values, and the
question of whether to stay on the street or become “normal” become clear. I further
describe how the different models of the “educated person” articulate with each other
through the practice of the street youth. Furthermore in the chapter, I look at how the
marginal position on the street at times make the street youth choose alternative strategies,
which lead to further stigmatization in their strive towards success.
Finally, in Chapter Seven, I make a few concluding remarks hoping to have shown
that what might be called cultural agency, where street youth turn to different sources to
construct meaning to their life situation and actions, becomes underlying mechanisms to
the construction of self. Hopefully this will nuance the common notion that street youth
are culturally barren delinquents and passive victims of oppression.
Who are the street children and youth?
Media reports of street children, predominantly from Latin America, flared across the TV
screens and newspapers in the 1980s and 90s. To the West, the pictures and heartbreaking
accounts of homeless and destitute, abandoned or orphaned children digging through
garbage in the search for food and escaping violence and abuse on the street became proof
of the cruelty of poverty. They were seen as nobody’s children. Without denying the
distress and pain that children feel when they are separated from their families, and the
hardship of street life, it is essential to avoid making biased analysis based on a
contemporary Western notion of childhood. This is important in order to gain
understanding of the street children within their own context, so that they can be offered
the protection, assistance and care they need.
The teenagers and young adults on the street often refer to themselves as street
children (anak jalanan), although some of them are over the age of 18 and according to the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) are considered adults. They
5
rarely refer to themselves as “street youth”, hence that is a constructed term used
throughout this thesis to underline that I am talking about a specific age group which
ranges from teens to young adults. In Indonesia it is common to refer to unmarried adults
as children (anak-anak), and also to call members, employees or students of a group,
workplace or school anak, e.g. anak UGM refers to the students of Universitas Gajah Mada,
anak Via Via to the employees of Via Via Café. The street youth clearly make distinctions
between themselves and the younger street children, and express dissatisfaction if they are
treated like children by non-governmental organizations or others. Furthermore, the street
youth distance themselves from their own childhood, and are aware that their life
situation and concerns about the future are different now that they are older.
It has proved to be difficult to know exactly how many street children and youth
there are in Indonesia. The Suharto regime failed to acknowledge the existence of street
children. Government official Soepardjo Rustam reported in 1991 that there were no
homeless street children in Indonesia, and that the children on the streets were telling lies
to earn money (Pikiran Rakyat, 1991 in Beazley, 1999:9). Surveys have given varying
numbers from 50 000 to three million (Berman, 1994:18; Miller, 1996:1; Beazley, 1999).
The most recent survey conducted by the Social Department of Yogyakarta
estimates that there were 1378 street children in Yogyakarta in 20003, this was an increase
of 300% since the economic crisis that struck Asia in 1997-98. This indicates a correlation
between economy and children leaving home. At the same time it is difficult to find
simple co-relations because the street children are a highly mobile group, who often move
to different cities, and the cause may be found within the street community alone. The
number was reduced to an estimated 900 by year 2002. The reduction may be due to the
work of NGOs, a more stable economy, and that many street children of the generation
pass the age of 18.
The street children of this recent study are divided into three categories:
Those who live on the streets with their families.
3
Survey conducted by Drs Syinto in Departemen Sosial Propinsi Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta in
collaboration with the non-governmental organization Humana YLPS, Title of study: KSN (Kesetiakawanan
Sosial Nasional), Permasalahan Kesejahteraan Sosial dan Penangannya di DIY 1999-2000:13. In this study
street child is defined as between 6 and 18 years old. Spending at least 4 hours on the street every day either
to work or play, living on the street or at home.
6
Those who work on the streets, and live at home.
Those who live and work on the street and who are rarely or never in contact with their
families.
The last category makes up 10% of the total population of street children. My study is
conducted among street youth who belong in the third group. It is common to make a
distinction of street children based on their relation to home. Glauser (1990:138) informs
that grassroots social workers, non-governmental organizations, international agencies,
e.g. UNICEF, and social researchers separate ‘children of the street’, who live on the street,
from ‘children on the street’, who return home after work. Locally in Indonesia, similar
categories are called gembel (tramp) and bukan gembel (not a tramp), the bukan gembel go
home at night. These categories have been seen as “dated”, because they obscure the wide
ranges of realities in the street children’s lives. As in noted by Veale et. al (2000) the street
children do not only occupy the street, but are also involved in a variety of different
domains every day such as non-governmental organizations, family homes and
institutions, within which they engage in many different social relationships. Furthermore,
Hecht (2000) argues that the move away from home is a gradual process, which makes it
difficult to see children within a home – street dichotomy. The majority of street children
still lives at home, but has to work on the street during the day, or live with their families
on the street. Once these children get involved in the already established street
community, some of them will gradually become “real” street children.
The street youth in this study come from cities and villages all over Indonesia, but
the great majority are ethnic Javanese. Travelling from place to place is an important
aspect of the street child and youth’s lifestyle, and they may be called urban nomads. The
move away from home is, as discussed, a gradual process, also in relation to geographical
distance. A child who works on the street may at first spend the nights in his home city,
before he later moves to a different city. Throughout a career on the street, the youth may
have lived in various places for short and lengthy periods of time. When it becomes
difficult to live in one city for economical or safety reasons, they move on to the next.
Other times, they will move because they are bored and hungry for new experiences, or
just because they are invited to go with a friend. The means of transport are mostly
inexpensive or free inter city or cargo trains, and a person may come and leave without
much ceremony and commotion. The result of this nomadic lifestyle may be seen in the
7
extensive networks of social relations, which stretches all across Java, and to a smaller
extent, to other islands. To use Hannerz’ (1980) words, the street community may be
understood as a “network of networks” (ibid.:200). The established networks and their
interconnectedness, makes it possible and safe for the street youth to move around, as
friends and acquaintances serves as a pass into the street community in a new city.
Despite all the moving around, Yogyakarta is known all over the country for being
a nice (enak), friendly (ramai) and safe (aman) place to be a street kid. Yogyakarta is,
together with the neighboring city Solo, seen as a cradle of Javanese culture, and has
housed a complex civilization for centuries. The study of street youth, in such a complex
and rich cultural and historical place, gives a fascinating entrance point to the Javanese.
To understand the lives of the street children and youth it is important to
investigate their relationship with their families. The life stories I collected always started
with the narrative before and around the move away from home. It is evident that the
experience has been defining and central in the street child and street youth identity. The
street children and youth are not a homogenous group, and they all have their own
reasons why they left home.
As already mentioned the statistics indicates a connection between the economic
crisis that struck Asia in 1998 and an increase in the number of street children. This
supports a common notion that poverty is the main cause of the phenomena. Contrary to
this belief, however, I found that not all poor children become street children, and not all
street children come from poor families. Clearly there are other sociocultural factors at
play. One study of street children in Indonesia concluded that they are “orphaned or
abandoned by their families and live full time on the street, and [they are] children who
are organized or pressed by adults to commit crime” (Ghalib et al. 1994:16 in Beazley,
1999:8). In line with the observations of Beazley (1999) my empirical findings do not
support this statement. The majority of the children living on the streets of Yogyakarta
were not orphaned, abandoned or forced into crime. On the contrary many children and
youth stated that they left home on their own initiative, and for some it was an active
choice. I will return to these questions in Chapter Four.
The street youth that I first got to know spend time at a youth center “open house”
project of handicrafts run by a local non-governmental organization, which is partially
supported with European funds. This is a place where the children and youth can come to
8
play, work and learn. They make books and folders out of their own handmade recycled
paper, beadwork, batik, key chains, bamboo incense holders, greeting cards and paintings
among other things. The environment is creative and the ones with new ideas are
welcomed to experiment. The children and youth are given food and paid an average of
10 000 Rupiahs4 per day, and the house is open three days a week. The rest of the week
some of the children have private handicraft production that they sell to tourists and
students. Others play music and sing at the street corners, on buses and in the small street
restaurants of Malioboro, the main street in the city (c.f. Chapter Three) for money. Some
of the youth will at times be involved in criminal activities like pick pocketing, burglary
and drug dealing. Other work is more situational like attending paid political campaigns.
As Yogyakarta is a student and tourist city, some of the street youth can live well with
foreign girlfriends, and in some cases the street youth become “professional” boyfriends.
Notes on gender
The focus of this study is as mentioned on male street youth. There are street girls in
Yogyakarta, although they are a minority and by far less visible than the street boys. The
girls are in a state of double oppression being both street children and female and living
on the street. They suffer stigmatization from the dominant society and are marginalized
by the street boys. This makes them especially vulnerable to violence and abuse. Women
in Indonesia are tied closer to the home and family than men. They are “born to marry”
and trained from an early age how to behave properly and how to become a good wife,
housekeeper and mother (Geertz, 1961:42).
As increased education rates for women indicate, Indonesian women are carving
out space for themselves in society. Yet, the sentiments around women’s rights are
ambivalent. The are concerns that more freedom for women will cause decay of traditional
and religious values. For a girl to live outside the home domain, and inhabit the public
street are obvious violations of the ideal woman and Indonesian gender ideology
constructed by the State, referred to as State Ibuism (c.f. Chapter Three). This is a source of
the stigmatization that street girls face not only from mainstream society and the state, but
also from the street boys (c.f. Chapter Four).
Studying the special situation of women would require a different methodological
4
At the time of my fieldwork Rp 1000 equaled approximately 1 Norwegian Krone.
9
approach, as they operate within different areas of the city, have to some extent different
means of income, and different modes of expression. Hence, I have decided to focus on the
street boys, although an in depth study of the lives of street girls would be an important
contribution to the understanding of Javanese culture.5
Street communities and social anthropology
I have found the historical and theoretical framework of ‘urban anthropology’ (Hannerz,
1980) to be useful for an understanding of street children and youth in Yogyakarta. Street
children have a special position within a city as they infiltrate areas, which are made for
the wealthy, e.g. shopping streets and the outskirts of malls. This is where the street
children and youth make a living, and enjoy life, while they at the same time represent a
threat to the ideals of modernity and development strongly promoted by governments
(Scheper-Hughes & Hoffman, 1998). Despite stigmatization and oppression from
governments and members of dominant society, the street youth are powerful enough
within their powerlessness to carve out space for themselves in public space. The “living
arrangements” of street children and youth in public space have methodological and
theoretical implications for social studies in cities. In the first half of the 20th century, the
so-called Chicago ethnographers, from the sociology department of University of
Chicago6, developed the early analytical tools and models to understand the urban
landscape and the city. The Chicago sociologists typically focused on the studies of
specific groups, gangs or ghettoes within the city, and performed, what has later been
called, “anthropology in the city”. Critics claim that the Chicago ethnographers attempted
to create exotic savage villages within an urban context as a substitute for the more
common anthropological studies out in the wilderness (Fox 1973:20 in Hannertz, 1980:2).
This approach is to be seen in contrast to so-called studies “of the city”, where specific
groups are not isolated and treated like urban villages, but are seen in the light of social
interactions cutting across geographical and socio-economic boundaries. To isolate the
street children and youth in Yogyakarta, as well as in many other cities of the world (e.g.
Scheper-Hughes & Hoffman, 1998; Márquez, 1999; Granborg, 1999), from mainstream
5
For more on street girls in Yogyakarta see Beazley (1999).
6
The University of Chicago was the first American university to establish a sociology department in 1892
(Hannerz, 1980:20-21).
10
society would do violence on the multiple and complex realities of their lives.
Nevertheless, the most important lesson inherited from the works of the Chicago
ethnographers is the importance of studies of urban diversity, and to search for the
perspectives of the insiders. Whyte’s ([1943], 1993) influential Street Corner Society is a
study of the internal organization of Cornerville, an “Italian slum district” (ibid.:xv). Good
intentioned, Whyte challenges the negative stereotypes about the poor, that ruled in the
United States in the 40s and still does today. Whyte writes:
The middle-class person looks upon the slum as a formidable mass of confusion, a social chaos. The
insider finds in Cornerville a highly organized and integrated social system. (Whyte, [1943] 1993:
xvi)
In more recent studies of urban poor we find Bourgois’ In Search of Respect (1995)
which is an account of Puerto Rican crack dealers in Harlem, New York. He makes an
insightful account of the parallel system of respect and dignity of the ‘inner city streets’.
Bourgois skillfully shows the relationships between el barrio and dominant society, and
may in this respect be said to do a “study of the city”. He argues that the inner-city
community offers alternative sources of dignity and respect, framed by structural racism
and classism. It is interesting to keep in mind the empirical difference between Bourgois
study of el barrio, and this study of the street youth, whose “home” in public space is not a
place that members of dominant society can avoid. This may create differences in
mechanisms of socialization of the “sub-group” into dominant ideology.
A study of street youth in Yogyakarta calls for a theoretical approach of the city
because of the way they move within the public space and are dependent on relations
with non-street Javanese. The dynamic relationship with members of dominant society is
crucial to the understanding of the lives of the street youth. Holding this as a main focus in
the study of street children and youth, is a relatively “new trend” (c.f. Veale, et al, 2000).
Early studies focused on the psychological development and health issues of street
children (ibid.: 2000:137). One branch of these studies leaned towards the Freudian
inspired Culture and Personality school of the 1950s, which concluded that the children of
poor families enter a spiral of maladaptation conceptualized within the term “the culture
of poverty” (Lewis, 1966). Critics of this perspective (c.f. Bourgois, 1995) argue that this
11
theoretical framework offers an overly simplistic take on poverty7, which ignores how
historical, cultural and political-economic factors constrain the lives of the individual
(ibid.:16-18, 62).
Other studies of street children and youth have applied so-called rational choice
theories. The main focus of these studies have been to map how the children and youth
seek to satisfy their needs (Veale, et al.,2000:139-141). Typically, within such studies the
move away from home is seen as a solution to a problem at home, and hence a rational
move. The same analytical frame is used to understand deviant strategies, such are crime
and drug abuse. ‘Rationality’ may be defined as
“‘Rationality’ is a quality of behavior contributing to the satisfaction of ‘needs’: following Simon’s
(1978) concept of rationality, an action or behavior is rational in so far as it contributes to meeting the
needs or goals of the individual. Bounded by cognitive limitations and imperfect knowledge,
individuals do not necessarily seek out the set of conditions that will maximally satisfy needs but
seek a set of conditions that is at least sufficient ” (Veale, et.al, 2000:140).
This definition implies that the rational choices of the street children may not satisfy all his
or her needs, and may have unforeseen consequences. Nevertheless, the choices made are
perceived to be the best alternatives.
Rational choice theory has been criticized because it reduces the children’s
interactions with his or her environments to the satisfaction of needs. The use of this
perspective tends to undermine how the street children and youth engage is reciprocal
interactions through which the self-concept of the child is formed (ibid.:141) . Veale et al.
(2000) suggest a social constructivist approach. Through studies of the daily activities and
practices of the street children and youth, it is possible to grasp the complexities of their
lives. The street children and youth may be seen as actors within different “social fields”
(c.f. Grønhaug, 1978; Chapter Two). This approach also addresses the problems with
defining street children as “on the street” vs. “of the street”, discussed above, as it
acknowledges the multiple arenas on which the street children are involved, apart from
the home – street dichotomy. In fact, the theory may even question whether “street
children” actually exist at all. Hecht (2000) and Glauser (1990) note that in the case of the
7
The underlying notion of poverty in this thesis will be in line with Wikan (1976). She argues that poverty is
a relative size constructed through social and cultural processes.
12
word “street” in conjunction with the word “children”, the children are defined in relation
to where they are. Where they are becomes defining of who they are. In comparison,
children who play in the attic are not “attic children” (Hecht, 2000:151), nor are children
who are accompanied by adults called street children. This, according to Hecht, reflects a
cultural conception of the street, as a place unsuited for unguarded children. It reflects
discourses within society of who has the right to be where in public space.
To summarize this overview of studies of the city and of street youth, I will argue
that a study of street youth has to be conducted through participatory observations of
their daily activities on various social arenas. Furthermore, it is important to conduct a
“thick” (Geertz, 1973a) analysis of their social and cultural universe to grasp the “natives’
points of views” (Barth, 1994a; Wikan, 1990) and the multiple experiences of the street
children and youth. This is a step away from seeing street children and youth as mere
problems to be solved (Hecht, 2000). This problem orientation, reflects the tendency to
present street children from the perspectives of the privileged (Panter-Brick, 2000).
The social constructivist approach has also been criticized. Prout (2000) argues that
the approach “excludes (or de-emphasize) the possibility that social life has a material as
well as a discursive (or representational) components (ibid.:1-2). The critics have especially
focused on the body as a carrier of meaning both to the observer and the individual, and
frames social interaction, experience and actions. (Broch, 2000). I will argue that the street
youth’s realities must be understood in relation to the State and society’s claims of their
bodies (Focault, 1980). Furthermore, their bodies become markers of identity both in terms
of self-presentation (who I am to others) and self-representation (who I am to myself)
(Broch,2000:223). At the same time, bodily experiences will be treated as a central aspect of
learning, building of the street child identity and memory (Rudie, 1994; Bourdieu, 1977).
A final point to make in relation to the study of street children and youth is the
important recognition of their agency. This involves understanding children and youth as
social agents, rather than mere products of society. As noted by Alanen (1997 cited in
Prout, 2000:7)
Children are treated as speaking, knowing and experiencing subjects, as social actors actively
involved in the social world they live in, and as interactive agents who engage with people,
ideologies and institutions and through this engagement forge a place for themselves in their own
social worlds.
13
This theoretical perspective on children fosters the idea that children and youth are not
just passive recipients of socialization. On the contrary, children negotiate and interpret
the world they are a part of. A central, but at times underlying, topic of this thesis is the
street youth’s increased agency of the street youth of Yogya, through action, social
interactions, bodily practice and identity construction. I understand ‘agency’ in line with
Ortner (1999), to be both aspects of power and meaning. In relation to (sense of) power,
agency “is located in the actor’s subjective sense of authorization, control and effectiveness
in the world” (ibid.:147). In relation to meaning, ‘agency’ refers to how the actor engaged
in a project not only has a “point of view” but “a more active projection of the self toward
some desired end” (ibid.). A central topic of this thesis is to show how the street youth
through actions and activities, as well as construction of self and identity strive to widen
the room of their agency in order to gain control in their lives.
Case studies from Indonesia
The interest in street children has increased both in the media, public and in academia the
last twenty years. But as the studies of street children in South America, Africa, South Asia
and the United States has increased there are not many studies in English available on
street children in Indonesia.
The employees of the NGO YLPS Humana in Yogyakarta, are a prime source of
research and gathering of information on street children. Members of their staff and
associates have conducted important research on how the street children are placed within
the Javanese hierarchy and their political identity (Ertanto, 1995) and the relationship
between the street children and the state (Mundayat, 1997; Adidananta, 1997). As thought
provoking as these works are, they are written in Indonesian and remain unpublished,
which limits their accessibility. Nevertheless, the ideas and thoughts of the Humana
workers are present in this thesis through personal conversations and guidance.
Of the English language studies on street children in Indonesia, Berman (1999) has
paid attention to the bulletin Jejal, published by street boys involved in the local nongovernmental Girli (c.f. Chapter Three). Jejal is an acronym of JErit JALanan, “Screams
from the Street”. The journal was founded in Yogyakarta in order to challenge the
negative stereotyping of street children and youth by mainstream media (Eranto, 1995;
Miller, 1996; Beazley, 1999). Jejal has become a medium where the voices of the street boys
are heard through poetry, short stories, articles and drawings. Berman (1999) writes about
14
identity construction through the street children’s own narratives. She explores how the
cultural norms of the street children are formed within power relations on the street, and
examines morals, roles and obligations the children adhere to. She gives special attention
to the children’s accounts of violence, and how they “cope with their fates by constructing
a world that places survival above the horrors of victimization” (ibid.: 8). Miller (1996) has
also paid respect to the narratives in Jejal, as shown in her unpublished Master thesis.
Without doubt, Jejal and the children’s narratives give important information about the
lives on the street and the children’s cognitive strategies for survival. Nevertheless, this
approach has its limits in relation to understanding how they operate in their everyday
lives.
Several studies have been conducted by various NGOs and scholars, but the
definitions of who the street children are have often been unclear, incomplete or
ethnocentric. In addition, most studies have been conducted in Jakarta (c.f. studies by
Pusat Penelitian Pranata Pembangunan, (1989/1990), Badan Koordinasi Kegiatan
Kesejahteraan Sosial (1989), Soedijar, (1989). In line with the discussion above, the
difference between children who work on the street, and the children who live on the
street has often been unclear, and the definitions have failed to grasp the full range of
activities conducted by the children and the complexity of their lives. Soedijar (1989)
whose intention is to get an “objective picture of the lives and activities of the street
children” and to get material for policy recommendations to address the “problem”
defines street children as
“the children of 7-15 years old who work on the street and in other public places who create
conditions which disturb the orderly state and safety of other people and hazard for themselves (in
Putranto et al., 1990: 6).
Another limitation of these studies is of methodological concern. Standardized
questionnaires have been the measuring instrument, and the researcher may not had the
time to gain the trust of the street children and youth, something which is essential in
order to get accurate information. The street children are taught to be skeptical of
strangers in order to survive, and their skepticism is increased in meeting with authorities.
15
A questionnaire is likely to have been answered by made up lies (Putranto et al., 1990).
Putranto et al. (1990) represents a study conducted for NGOs where the aim of the
study is to present an action plan of how to approach the problem of street children. The
study was done qualitatively and lasted for three months, which can be said to be of
significant duration compared to “hit and run” research projects, or research conducted
based on conversations with NGO workers only. Puranto et al. succeeds in their search for
a definition of street children based on the children’s own categories, and is operational
for NGOs in order to make development programs suited to the needs of the different
categories of children. According to the study not all the children engage in criminal acts,
which usually assumed to be the case, and there is some focus on the structural oppression
and violence the children meet from police officials and security guards. Finally, the study
also includes street hierarchy and internal relationships on the street.
The most complete study in English is Beazley’s A little but enough (1999), which
will be referred to further throughout this thesis. Her solid work is based on long
fieldwork where she has been a participant observer and a volunteer with the NGO Girli.
She collected a solid empirical material from the streets of Yogyakarta, and to ensure the
voices of the children she conducted several aspects of Participatory Action Research8
including focus group discussions and children’s drawings and representations of mental
maps. The purpose of her study is to look at the identities and spatial utilization of the
street children in an environment of oppression. She explores how the street children
construct their world in resistance to violence and oppression from society. She conducts a
study of the city, where she brilliantly shows how the street children are perceived and
perceive themselves in relation to dominant society. She shows how the street children are
both socially and spatially marginalized. Furthermore, she includes a chapter about street
girls, which she characterized as a ‘muted group’ (Ardener, 1975) in the street community
and the ethnography. Her conclusions are that the relationship between the street children
sub-culture (Tikyan) and dominant culture is dynamic, and that the street children are
oppressed, but have ways to resist oppression and claim space for themselves and reclaim
their selves and bodies.
Building on Beazley’s thorough study has been challenging and exciting because of
8
One rich source of information on Participatory Action Research (PAR) is
http://www.goshen.edu/soan/soan96p.htm
16
the richness in detail and depth of her study. I have found it rewarding to expand and
change focus. Most apparently, whereas Beazley’s main focus is on the street children, this
thesis is more directed towards the shift towards adulthood. Furthermore, I find it
interesting to look at the cultural process of how the street youth construct meaning to
their life situations and their actions. As they maneuver through different cultural
landscapes, I look at street culture and the lives of street youth not merely as in resistance
to dominant culture, but as a system of symbols that offer meaning. I will identify cultural
and social mechanisms, which frames how the street youth construct dreams and
strategies for their future. This involves and analysis of the street youths’ notions about
what it means to be an adult, and their perception of progress, which is also seen in
relation to a national ideal of modernity and progress conveyed by the New Order regime.
Furthermore, I hope to contribute by this study to a more general discussion about
Javanese Culture defined in relation to the Javanese elité (c.f. Chapter Two). In this way I
hope to break open the distinctions made between street culture and dominant culture,
and look at the street youth as cultural agents which operate within different sociocultural fields (c.f. Chapter Two), and how they move in and out of the sub-culture
category.
17
Methodological and ethical considerations
Vagrants for study
I am definitely a Tikyan9
I am definitely a street kid
I am definitely a vagrant.
But I don’t want to be made into a dissertation
by those who go to school. Why is it us,
who must be researched? We are not trees or animals.
I am a human being. So don’t you write a dissertation
just as you wish about street kids
You research us and you ask how did you become a street
kid? What is it like to live in the street? You seem like a
good person. But it just stays the same, you are happy and
we stay in the streets as vagrants. There are
no changes.
With respect, as all the street kids, we request that you
don’t:
1. Make us seem vile
2. Criticize us
3. Scapegoat us
(IthEM. Jejal, March, 1997: 1210)
When I first made friends among the street youth in Yogyakarta, they warned me against
conducting my mission as a field worker on the search for information for a thesis. I was
told that the kids are fed up with foreign and local students, journalists, social workers
and officials who come to the street for information. They are used to being befriended
and bribed for information with food and cigarettes, and when the thesis, article or report
9
Tikyan is an abbreviation of Sithik ning Lumayan, which means a little but enough. It is a term used with
pride in the children’s own language, and forms a resistance through self naming as opposed to the use
more derogatory terms like gembel given to them by society (Beazley, 1999:3).
10
Translation Beazley, 1999: 1.
18
is written the street children are forgotten and left feeling betrayed. Worse yet, writings
about them are often seen as critical and false. I soon realized that my mission felt to them
like another infringement conducted by the privileged.
Their concern was that whereas I write about them and move on to a prosperous
career, their lives will stay the same. On my attempts to argue that social change and a
better world may come out of knowledge and an awareness of their situation, they just
gave me looks and comments indicating that they have stopped believing in this utopian
world that has been promised to them one to many times. I am able to understand their
arguments, and will even admit that they are right in many ways. Nevertheless, I decided
to conduct the study, as I personally strongly believe that knowledge is important. I also
gave my informants the choice of participation, something that is easier ethically when
dealing with youth and young adults rather than children.
With a history of being blamed by mainstream society, the media and government
for crimes they did not commit, the street youth fear that scholars will “criticize”,
“scapegoat” or “make them seem vile”. With a lifestyle often deemed as “unacceptable”
by society, the differences that exist between the traditional Javanese and alternative street
youth often feed this negative stereotype about children and street youth. The dilemma of
social scholars, is how our presentation may contribute to rather than diminish negative
stereotypes. But as Bourgois notes:
Out of a righteous, or a “politically sensitive”, fear of giving the poor a bad image, I refuse to ignore
or minimize the social misery I witnessed, because that would make me complicitous with
oppression. (Bourgois, 1995: 12)
By placing the street in a Javanese setting, and also focus on how the street community is
rooted in a bigger society, I hope to give a nuanced picture of street youth without
overemphasizing the ways in which they are different. I also hope to show the
interrelation between oppression and individual actions. Their agency is limited, and their
life situation extreme. Nevertheless, the street youth fight a continuos battle to gain more
control of their lives. At times this struggle will lead them onto a path of “unacceptable”
practices, which in turns strengthen the claims of society.
19
Some methodological challenges
Doing fieldwork is a personal matter where I as a researcher become the measuring
instrument. At all times of the study, it has been important for me to reflect on which roles
I have been given by the street youth (Wadel, 1991). Since my role as a student researcher
was seen as something negative (c.f. discussion above), it became important to develop
other aspects of my relationships with the street youth, to be able to conduct the study.
These alternative roles, in turn, had to be balanced with my role as an anthropology
student, in order to be clear to my informants about why I was there, and to give the
individual the opportunity to refuse to participate in the study. The process of developing
different roles in the field, however, is long and difficult. Most of the time it is impossible
to control how one is seen by others, and personal traits, i.e. gender, ethnicity, age,
economic status etc, become important factors (Delany,1988).
The street youth had several different expectations of how I, as a young foreign
(bule) woman, would act. Some of the roles available to me were friend, tourist, social
worker, rich benefactress, business partner, English teacher, sexual partner, girl friend and
potential wife. Whereas, I actively sought some of these roles, others I tried to avoid. As
already mentioned my first contact with the street youth were at an “Open house”. Here
they would come three times a day, and I would often join them in making handicrafts
and just “hang out”. The youth were very friendly, and they welcomed me into their
world, and soon became my teachers of language and culture. In return I taught them
English. The English lessons proved to be a good “ice breaker” as it gave me a setting to
explore different topics of conversation. Soon I was invited to come with them to other
arenas in their lives, and mutual friendships developed. The distrust I had experienced
initially was exchanged with their willingness to help me as a friend with my schoolwork.
In return I helped them when they needed something.
Becoming a friend in the field, where the social world I am there to study becomes
my social world, has different sets of methodological implications. I was incorporated into
their world, and became a person they would turn to for help and guidance. I became a
resource in their social network, and a potential solution to problems. In that way, I did
not have the chance to observe how they “normally”, i.e. without me being there, would
overcome various problems in their daily life. In certain situations I found it necessary to
give concrete advice and moral pep talks, rather than having the “social drama” evolve
20
before my eyes. I often came to the simple, but important conclusion that sometimes my
role as a field worker was subordinate to being a human being and a friend. For example,
once a male street youth asked me why we have kidneys, upon which I explained to the
best of my knowledge, and asked him why he wanted to know. He told me that he had
been offered money for one of his. In this situation, I told him to hold on to his kidneys,
and that no amount of money in the world would be enough to cover the potential
problem of such a procedure. In many other situations I was asked advice about drugs,
and I made an effort to discourage abuse. In some situations I may have changed the
course of things, while in others I believe that I told them exactly what they expected me
to say. Sometimes, I was told that they wanted someone to care for them, and my advice
or moral judgement was in fact an expression of appreciation and concern. This was
especially true for the young boys who would ask me whether they are allowed to smoke
and drink, I believe just to hear me say “No!” (“Jangan!”). They would, of course, still
smoke in front of me, as my words did not have absolute authority, but my attempt to set
boundaries for them was appreciated. Sometimes I could be used as an excuse not to
smoke in a situation where the social hierarchy on the street required them to act like the
older boys, when they did not really want to.
A continuos challenge was my economical advantage position in relation to those
whom I interacted with in the field. I found in general that money is the main source of
conflicts among friends on the street, and my relationships were no different. This issue
required work, thought and studies of how much I am expected to give in specific
situations according to local standards. Refusing to give at all times would be socially
unacceptable and may have isolated me from the group. I tried and failed miserably at
many stages during my fieldwork, but believe in the end that some balance was
established. My closest friends would direct me according to local standards of how much
to contribute, and make sure that I was not taken advantage of. The issue with money was
principally ethical, by giving too much I feared it would create dependency, and
undermine their struggle to be independent, and the works of NGOs to establish
alternative ways of income, such as making of handicrafts.
At times, I found in necessary to distance myself from NGOs partly to escape the
social worker role. The role was uncomfortable because it called for a certain pattern of
behavior both on my side and that of the street youth, and also a responsibility that was
21
difficult to combine with doing research. In addition, my interest was in the street youth’s
relationship with the NGOs, and I feared that it would be difficult to have access to some
information if I was associated with one, so I tried to stay “neutral”. At times I also
distanced myself from other foreigners working with street youth, as they set different
standards for how a foreigner should act.
Collecting data
The research was done qualitatively with the ideal of participant observation as a guiding
principle. Inspired by Ingold, Barth (2000:25) emphasizes the importance of “becoming
immersed in joint action” as a part of anthropological research. I tried to participate in
their activities on different arenas. In the nighttime I joined them in Malioboro Street
drinking tea or whisky while singing songs, dancing and chatting. During the day, we
would meet at work, either at the “open house” or the street corner where they play for
music. Some of the older youth rented rooms in boarding houses and I would visit them
there. People would drop by my house and spend hours on my floor hanging around
drinking coffee, playing the guitar, and talking. I joined them at concerts and art events,
and I was invited to some of their family homes. I also went with some of them to official
offices to arrange official papers, and I visited some street youth, who had been arrested.
We would go to the beach and spend the night often just falling asleep in the sand after
hours of singing, talking and gazing at the stars. I was also fortunate to accompany a
group of street youth and adults to a music festival in Jakarta.
Participation versus observation was a difficult balance to maintain. When seeing
them at work I could join them in the making of handicrafts. We could also have a good
time together singing and dancing. Nevertheless, there were certain aspects of their lives,
which I was not able to share. For example, I rented a house and did not sleep on the
street, with a few exceptions. My house was close to the “open house”, and became a place
were some of the street youth felt at home. Living in a neighborhood, however, was an
advantage as it gave me the opportunity to talk to different people about different issues.
In this way, I was able to compare street youth lifestyle to that of other Javanese.
The street youth move around from place to place, as discussed above. At times this
made it difficult to keep continuos relationships. Some of the youth in this study stayed in
Yogyakarta the whole time I was there, whereas others would come and go. At the same
time, the networks established within the street community, which after a while became
22
my networks, often brought me in contact with new street children and youth.
The skeptisism that met me in the field made it clear that use of questionnaires and
other standardized research methods would not be appropriate. That would have
emphasized my association with dominant culture in the eyes of the street boys. Instead I
found that informal conversation worked best, where they chose the topics of
conversation, and we would chat through trains of thought. On some occasions I made
informal interviews where I had an idea of where I wanted to conversation to proceed.
However, this was mostly the case at the end of my fieldwork, when I knew more about
their world and could ask the right questions. I also collected some life stories, which were
told without any interruptions from me. I also interviewed social workers and
professionals.
I only once used a tape recorder, on the request of a youth who wanted us to play
journalist and interviewee. Other than that I found that it made the street youths
uncomfortable. The same was the case with notepads and pens while having a
conversation. Instead, I learned to remember conversations and situations and wrote it
down at night when at home.
As additional material, the journal Jejal is a valuable source of information about
how the street children and youth view their lives. Jejal consists of stories from everyday
life on the street, accounts of dreams and desires, song lyrics, drawings, poetry and
informal interviews all written by the children. There is assistance to transcribe the spoken
word of those youth who do not have good writing skills. Nevertheless, as noted by
Beazley (1999: 23) not all of the children and youth feel comfortable with written
expressions. Jejal is therefor used more as a cross-reference for the material collected
through conversation, observation and participation.
A note on language
I studied, and in the end mastered bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia.
However, the local language in Yogyakarta is Javanese, and although I acquired some
passive understanding of it and picked up a number of words and phrases, I was
dependent on the use of bahasa Indonesia for conversation in most settings. The majority of
the street youth I was in contact with prefer to use low Javanese (Ngoko) in informal
settings, and indeed sometimes when I was with the group they would speak Ngoko. In
those situations I would have someone translate for me. However, bahasa Indonesia worked
23
well, also because some street children and youth do not master Javanese. This makes
bahasa Indonesia a lingua franca.
24
Chapter Two
Historical, Ethnographic and Theoretical
Background
Since, I assume, neither “Javanese culture” nor “the average Javanese” have the capacity to
experience – only particular human beings can – it is questionable whether the all-embracing claims
of the literature ever move beyond the level of cultural models. This is not at base a question of
asking “how typical” a given Javanese is and then correct for his or her possible “deviances”, it
pertains to the fact that human experience simply cannot be averaged! (Bråten, 1995: 224)
Fascinated by the cultural diversity and complexity, anthropologists have been well
represented on Java. Early anthropological work on the island has been criticized for
aiming at presenting Javanese Culture as a holistic, logical and integrated cultural
universe. The above-cited quote from Eldar Bråten (1995) refers to the tendency to present
the cultural elite around the royal courts as the normative Javanese, and Javanese Culture
has been described in relation to the values and ideas of these preferred informants.
“What does not fit with the overall models is either left untreated […] or regarded as
deviances from the general pattern” (ibid.: 231). Youth has been such an untreated group,
and as this chapter will show, has been portrayed as if in conflict with the “real” Javanese
(Siegel, 1986). There has also been a tendency to see youth as passive recipients of
socialization, and that cultural mechanisms automatically transfer cultural knowledge
from one generation to the next (Geertz, H., 1961). Street youth in particular have not been
accounted for in English language social anthropological literature. A study of street
youth breaks open a too rigid and homogenous construct of Javanese culture. In this
25
chapter, I will place this study in a wider historical, ethnographical and theoretical
context.
Short historical outline
The cultural complexity and variations of Indonesia are vast. There are 583 languages and
dialects divided into a population of around 20011 million, spread out on half of the 13,667
islands of the archipelago (Smedal, 1994). There are five recognized religions: Islam,
Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism. A population of 90% Muslim
makes Indonesia the most populated Muslim country in the world. This complexity is a
product of historical processes. Java is seen to be Central Indonesia. With one third of the
size of Norway and more than a 100 million people, the island has a higher population
density than Japan (ibid.).
One of the things which make Java unique, is the long presence of great and
advanced civilizations. Beginning in the 6th century AD, a series of Hindu kingdoms
emerged from Central and East Java, Mataram being the first. Mataram was followed by a
Buddhist kingdom, which built the magnificent Borobodur temples in the early 800s AD
(Ricklefs 1993:31). After a short period of Buddhist rule, Mataram and the Buddhist
become allies and Hinduism was once again dominant. The Hindu temples of Prambanan
were built around 850 AD. Both temples rise out of the beautiful lush rice fields in the
vicinity of Yogyakarta, witnessing the refinement and wealth of these ancient civilizations.
The series of Hindu kingdoms were strongest during the rule of the Majapahit kingdom,
in the 14th century, which governed large parts of what is now known as Indonesia.
Majapahit fell in the early 1500s (ibid:47). By the end of the same century, Mataram
reappeared, but this time with a stronger Muslim influence. This kingdom was strongest
under the rule of Sultan Agung (1613-1646). Internal conflicts of succession and power on
Java divided Mataram in 1749, into the Yogyakarta and Surakarta courts.
Hamengkubuwana I founded Yogyakarta as a Sultanate in 1755 (ibid.:92-93), and the
Sultan of Yogyakarta today is his successor Hamengkubuwana X. Internal conflicts within
Mataram occurred at the same time the Dutch fought to gain control of Java. The Dutch
took advantage of the situation by offering military assistance to the sides of the local war.
11
The Indonesian Official Handbook 1999. Directorate of Foreign Information Services,
Department of Information, Republic of Indonesia.
26
In return Javanese sultanates gave up economical control (ibid.:25, 68).
The sultanate of Yogyakarta lost political power under colonization but remained a center
of art, literature and ceremonies (Pemberton, 1994:64). Still, today, Yogyakarta and the
neighboring city Solo are seen as the cradles of Javanese traditions. The cities are
especially known for the Javanese puppet-theater (wayang kulit), Javanese dancing, batik,
and gamelan music, and the language and population of Yogyakara is considered
especially refined (halus). Pemberton (1994) argues that the consciousness of the Javanese
was raised with the meeting between Java and the Dutch (ibid.:23). I will not discuss the
period of Dutch rule further here, but just mention that we may argue that the Dutch
administration of the East Indies created Indonesia as an “imagined community”
(Anderson, 1983).
Ricklefs (1981) argues that modern Indonesia was formed during the first three
decades of the 20th century (ibid.: 143). While still under Dutch colonial rule, a nationalistic
consciousness gradually emerged centered mainly in Java and Sumatra, lead by educated,
wealthy civil servants (Ibid.: 13). In 1928, this nationalistic sentiment was expressed at a
Youth Congress in Batavia. The youth pledge (sumpah pemuda) declaring loyalty to one
fatherland, Indonesia; one nation, Indonesia; and one language, Bahasa Indonesia. This
pledge has been given great importance in the national history of Indonesia, and has
fostered an ideal of the youth as nationalistic and politically active, which is an image that
lingers through style, movies and literature (Frederick, 1997:199).
During World War II, Indonesia was occupied by the Japanese (1942-45). This was
the beginning of the end for the Dutch colonial rule, who were forced to retreat. The
nationalistic masses were politicised in this periode, and the Europeans who attempted to
restore the colonial power at the end of the war were faced by the revolutionary War of
Independence (Ricklefs, 1981:199).
August 17, 1945 Sukarno and Hatta signed a Declaration of Independence. The
following revolution had its focal point in Yogyakarta, which functioned as the capital at
this time from 1946 to 1949. The Sultan of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono IX, played a
central part, which later has given Yogykarta a special place within Javanese and
Indonesian history. The revolutionaries won the independence of Indonesia in 1950, and
after independence, Yogyakarta was made a special district (Daerah Istimewa).
Sukarno was appointed the first President of the Republic, and together with his
27
Vice president Hatta, their biggest task was to unite the nation. Five guiding principals
subsumed in the state ideology, Pancasila, form the pillars of the multiethnic Indonesian
Republic:
Belief in one supreme God.
Just and civilized humanitarianism
Indonesian unity.
Popular sovereignty governed by wise policies arrived at through deliberation and representation.
Social justice for the entire Indonesian people.
The vagueness in the formulations was a strategy to create unity among hundreds of
ethnic groups and different political opinions (Vatikiotis, 1993: 95). Nevertheless, the new
inexperienced government of Soekarno soon faced problems. The wars had left Indonesia
in turmoil, and in 1957, the social and political chaos urged President Soekarno to reduce
the number of political parties and present the concept of ‘Guided Democracy’ (Ricklefs,
1981: 245). This gave more power to the military and the President, and was an attempt to
unite the ideological discourses of the time, i.e. nationalism, communism, and Islam (ibid.:
255). Economic and social problems peaked in the early 1960s, and Indonesia was torn
between the communist world and the capitalist world (Ricklefs, 1981:265).
The opposition grew, and in 1965, Indonesian Army General Suharto and his
government came to power after a claimed coup. They declared war on communism, and
in the following months, an estimated half a million socialists and potential opposition to
the new regime were executed, and tens of thousands (maybe as many as a million) were
arrested and interrogated, often under torture (Ricklefs, 1981:274; Tanter et al, 1981:284).
The former President Suharto established his rule under the name of New Order (Orde
Baru), as opposed to “old disorder”. The Orde Baru regime was based on a new set of class
interests. Economic, political and military power was centered around a small elite in
Jakarta. The political takeover of Suharto was celebrated in the United States and Europe,
as Suharto welcomed Western capitalist investments (Ricklefs, 1981:292; BBC, 2001).
During the authoritarian regime of Suharto, the Indonesian economy in general
improved steadily. The industries of oil, gas, steel and aluminum were developed
(ibid.:276). Although an opposition emerged early in the Suharto era the internal political
situation was stabilized by the end of the 1960s (ibid.:275). This is when the Suharto
administration turnes to other non-communist neighboring countries. In 1967, the
28
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded to ensure economic
development in the region. From 1969 five-year development plans supported by
international loans ensured gradual economic growth. The State became more
authoritarian, and in the early 70s, it became mandatory for civil servants to support the
governing political party, Golkar, and the remaining parties were forced to fuse into two
parties, a Muslim party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, PPP) and a non-Muslim party
(Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, PDI) (ibid.:276).
The Suharto regime was criticized internally and internationally for corruption and
a lack of basic human rights. Nevertheless, the regime proved remarkably stable due to
lack of alternatives within the opposition (ibid.:278). However, in 1997, Indonesia was
badly struck by the Asian economical crisis. This triggered mass demonstrations and
violence, which in the end forced Suharto to resign in 1998. Again the Sultan of
Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono X, played an important role, as he pleaded for Suharto to
step down. This further increased the popularity of the Sultan, and following in 1998, he
was elected Governor of Yogyakarta.
The demonstrations in 1997-98 demanded reforms (Reformasi). Some of the
demands were free elections, a democratically chosen parliament, freedom of speech, and
the withdrawal of the military from politics and the civil service. Economic reforms were
demanded, aiming at more equal distribution of wealth, and solutions to the problems of
private foreign loans run up during the New Order era by private investors. These loans
were quadrupled or more during the economic crisis (Hill, 1998: 93-104). The slogan of
Reformasi was "End all collusion, corruption and nepotism!" In 1998 Habibi, the Vice
President of Suharto, was appointed President. The pressure on him was immense as the
public saw him as a representative of the Suharto regime. Thus he served only a short time
of interim presidency and led the way to free elections. Meanwhile, the economic crisis
paralyzed the country and according to the UN by the end of 1998, about 100 million
Indonesian people had difficulties obtaining food. Moreover, per capita income had
dropped from 1,200 US$ to 300 US$12.
Democratic elections were held in 1999, which were won by PDI-P (Partai Demokrasi
Indonesia Perjuangan) of Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia’s first president, Soekarno.
Yet, the Assembly chose Abdurachman Wahid, popularly called Gus Dur, from the PKB
12
Source: http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/indonesa/social.htm
29
party (Partai Kebangitan Bangsa), to be the first elected president in the country. The
confusion around the elections left many disillusioned and confused, and it triggered new
rounds of rallies in support of Megawati, who was appointed vise president by Wahid13.
The Gus Dur government seemed to be without much power. The economical
reforms faced a dead end. Communal violence increased in all parts of the archipelago,
and political tension grew between President Wahid and the Assembly. Some observers,
including President Wahid, accused associates of former President Suharto of encouraging
the continuing violence in order to discredit and destabilize the central government 14. In
2001, Wahid had to leave office due to corruption allegations, and, this time, Megawati
Soekarnoputri, came to power.
The recent political changes in Indonesia have in many ways been superficial.
Neither former President Wahid nor President Megawati has been able to create deep
structural change. The country is now struggling with organized crime, mob rule and a
continuing distrust of the people in official institutions (Lindsey, 2001). In addition the
scattering of the state controlled central power on Java, has led to increasing conflicts and
claims of independence from outlying provinces.
Ethnographic context
The first anthropological studies in Indonesia came from of the Dutch colonial
administration’s need for operational knowledge in order to control the East Indies. The
first ethnographers came from the University of Leiden, and they studied in various parts
of the archipelago. Intrigued by social organization of Indonesian villages, the
ethnographers, such as Josselin de Jong and Rasser in the early 1920s, investigated the
relations between classification and social organization. New theories by Durkheim and
Mauss offered a theoretical explanation to the remarkable systems of classifications found
in Indonesia. For example on Java they “discovered” 4 systems of categorization, based on
respectively 2, 3, 5 and 9 categories. All concepts in the universe fit into these systems of
categories. The successful maneuvering of the 4 systems is an art form managed by skillful
artists, healers, puppet masters (dalang) and composers (Smedal, 1994:447). The theoretical
orientations of these early ethnographers have been referred to as Dutch structuralism.
13
Source: http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/d98207.htm
14
Source: http://www.gimonca.com/sejarah/sejarah11.html
30
The Leiden anthropologists, including Duyvendak’s (1926) studies of marriage and
alliances in the Malukus, later inspired Lévi-Strauss. The works of the Dutch were early on
translated into English, and have had much influence on later studies.
Conditions for ethnographers changed after World War II. Until 1949, the British
assisted the Dutch in reclaiming Indonesia by bombing Javanese cities, which banned
Dutch and British ethnographers from entering the country (Smedal, 1994:449). In the 50s,
North American scholars arrived to Java. Clifford Geertz’ The Religion of Java (1960) and
Hildred Geertz’ The Javanese Family (1961), came out of an MIT15-project, whose object was
to map the cultural and social formations of the city Modjokuto, East-Java. These
influential works will be discussed further throughout this chapter.
The Javanese syncretism: abangan, santri and priyayi
A brief discussion of Clifford Geertz’ Religions of Java (1960) will necessarily do violence on
his rich empirical material. Influenced by the Dutch structuralists, Geertz made attempts
to systematize the complexity that faced him on Java. He categorized the Javanese into
what he called “three main cultural types”, abangan, santri, and priyayi. These types are set
in relation to what he called “three social-structural nuclei”: the village, the market, and
the government bureaucracy. He argued that the types form the group’s “behavior at all
times”(ibid.:5), and constitute three vertically separated social subtraditions. The religious
fields within the subtraditions offer most substantial insight into Javanese cultural
variations.
The Javanese village dates back to the immigration of the Malayo-Polonesian
settlers around 400 A.D. Today villagers are mostly peasants, and they are related to the
abangan religious tradition, which Geertz argued to be a “balanced integration of animistic,
Hinduistic, and Islamic elements”. This is according to Geertz the true folk tradition of
Java (Ibid.: 5), centered around beliefs in spirits, healing, magic and sorcery. Evil spirits are
a constant threat to the community. The spiritual wellbeing of the community is central,
which is demonstrated through the anthropologically “famous” ritual slametan. Slamet is a
wished for state of absence from all emotionally disturbing elements (ibid.:14).
The market, which includes the whole network of domestic trade on the island, is
associated with the santri cultural type. The tradition represents a purer form of Islam, and
15
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
31
centers around the Muslim community (ummat) and the five pillars of Islam (ibid.:6).
Historically, santri dates back to the introduction of Mid-Eastern religions through trade.
The followers of this tradition are not exclusively connected to the market sphere, as there
is an overlap between traders and peasants in both the santri and abangan cultural type.
The priyayi referred in pre-colonial times to the hereditary aristocracy, which was
later made into civil servants by the Dutch colonizers. Their religious traditions are rooted
in the Hindu-Javanese courts, and stress refined etiquette, and Hindu-Buddhist mysticism.
The aristocracy has been out-numbered by white collar, educated commoners, and the
cultural and political elite in Indonesia has in modern days become more secularized and
“Westernized”, and the courts have weakened. Still, Geertz argues that the priyayi
worldview has an important influence, and in many ways sets standard for the lives of the
entire society (Ibid.: 6).
The Religion of Java has been an influencial sociological and phenomenological study
pointing towards some general tendencies of Javanese cultural distribution. Nevertheless
the model of Geertz has been criticized for being too static, and hence unsuited to capture
the cultural complexity of Java (Koentjaraningrat, 1985: 318). There is no simple
correlation between political orientation, economical position and religion (Bråthen,
1988:4, cited in Gjelstad, 1999:6). Furthermore, Geertz seems to confuse analytical and
indigenous terms, and is unclear about which are the anthropologist’s models, and what is
the reality of the Javanese. It has been pointed out that the Javanese themselves do not
refer to the three cultural types in the same way as Geertz (Hefner, 1985; Beatty, 1999).
Whereas the priyayi is a reference to a social class or status group, Santri and abangan are
often seen as mere categories, and not groups (Beatty, 1999: 29). The term abangan is not
often used (Bråten, 1988; Hefner, 1985), whereas santri is a name for students at a religious
boarding school (Bråten, 1995).
Another paradox is that whereas the Javanese population in the 60s, due to
initiatives of the Suharto regime, increasingly oriented themselves towards Jakarta and
aspirations of national development, the Geertz and his followers, have turned to the royal
courts. Through this orientation, Geertz gained an understanding of Javanese culture as
static and a closed system (Gjelstad, 1999:6).
Javanism (Kejawen)
Despite its shortcomings, Geertz’ groundbreaking analysis continues to influence
32
anthropology on Java, although his models have been moderated. I may argue that the
original three cultural types of Geertz have been replaced with a dichotomy based on the
degree of participation in Islam (Beatty, 1999: 29; Bråten, 1995: 182; Koentjaraningrat, 1985:
317; Hefner, 1985: 3). The Indonesian anthropologist Koentjaraningrat (1985) divided
religious pattern on Java into, what he calls the Javanese religion (agama jawi) and an
orthodox form of Islam (agama islam santri). Mulder (1992) and Beatty (1999) prefer the
term kejawen, Javanism, instead of agama jawi. They argue that kejawen is more than a
religious orientation as it also includes the Javanese cosmology with its social implications
(Mulder, 1992). In short, the high culture, which Geertz referred to as priyayi, and the
native peasant tradition, abangan, are subsumed into the term kejawen (Beatty, 1999:29).
The Javanese society is fundamentally hierarchic, and social rank is, according to
Geertz (1960), connected to cultural refinement. Geertz wrote that the terms refined (halus)
and rough (kasar) are the priyayi’s metaphysical and social ‘measuring rod’ (Geertz, 1960:
232). This also becomes the scale for the society at large in accordance with the idea,
presented above, that the priyayi way of life sets the standard for the whole society. To the
semantic meaning of the words Geertz explains:
[H]alus means pure, refined, polished, polite, exquisite, ethereal, subtle, civilized, smooth. A man
who speaks flawless high-Javanese is [h]alus, as is the high-Javanese itself. […] one’s behavior and
actions are [h]alus insofar as they are regulated by the delicate intricacies of the complex courtderived etiquette. Kasar is merely the opposite: impolite, rough, uncivilized; a badly played piece of
music, a stupid joke, a cheap piece of cloth. Between these poles the prijaji [priyayi] arranges
everyone from peasant to king (Ibid.:232).
In order to be refined (halus), according to Geertz, there has to be accordance between
inner and outer self, emotions and behavior. Geertz is described this by the Javanese
concepts lair and batin. Lair refers to “the outer realm of human behavior”, whereas batin
means “the inner realm of human experience” (ibid.: 232). The distinction should not be
mistaken for an equivalent to a Western body and soul dichotomy, as batin, the Javanese ’s
emotions, are undetachable from the body. “A cultivated man” strives to put the inner and
outer realm of person into proper order. Performance is choreographed into politeness
and pleasantness. Then the Javanese turns to the ordering of inner life and a refinement of
subjective experience, the private feelings (ibid.: 232-233).
33
The cultivated man needs to give form both to the naturally jagged physical gesture which make up
his external behavior and to the fluctuating states of feeling which comprise his inner experience. A
truly [h]alus man is polite all the way through (Ibid.: 232).
The desire to be cultivated is connected to the need for social harmony (rukun) in society at
large. It is the task of the family to socialize the children into cultivated human beings, and
according to Hildred Geertz (1961) the uncultivated child is seen as non-human (durung
wong) (Geertz, 1961:48).
The halus – kasar and lair – batin dichotomies have become central in symbolic
anthropological constructions of “Javanese culture”. The classical hierarchical royal courts
and “the theatrical state” are central, also in anthropological studies of contemporary
phenomenon (Bowen, 1995: 7).
Next to Dutch structuralism, a hermeneutic tradition has been dominant in South
East Asian anthropology, led by Clifford Geertz. This tradition has through Mead and
Bateson roots in Weber’s hermeneutic sociology and Boa’s holistic anthropology (ibis.:7).
‘Thick descriptions’ of cultural expressions seen in relation to its meaning context has been
a methodological key in this tradition (Geertz, 1973a). Anderson’s “Language of Power”
(1990) and Siegel’s “Solo in the New Order” (1986) are influential works within the
hermeneutic tradition.
Javanese youth and anthropology
“Static values” and Javanese youth
Throughout this thesis, the halus – kasar dichotomy will be presented as important in order
to understand the special position of the street children and youth within the Javanese
society. I will examine how the street youth’s physical appearance is in itself rough (kasar)
and their mere bodies represent an unpleasing attitude, and potential threat to the
harmony (rukun) of society. At the same time, the same dichotomies are important in the
street youth’s orientation in the world, as they strive towards being halus and achieving
balance in ones inner and outer self, which shapes the individual’s understanding of life
situation and dreams for the future. Still, I will argue, in contrary to Clifford Geertz’
suggestion that halus-kasar are priyayi values that set standard for the entire Javanese
population, the same values are adapted and negotiated when they enter the cultural
34
worlds of the street youth. One central argument is that the street youth are not passively
socialized into the Javanese, nor Indonesian16, society (c.f. Prout, 2000:7, Chapter One).
To further elaborate this argument, I return to the history of Javanese ethnography.
As mentioned above, Hildred Geertz (1961) made the first systematic study of family and
socialization on Java in her influential book The Javanese Family. Geertz’ focus was on how
the Javanese bilateral kinship plays a secondary role in the political, economical
organization and religious behavior of the society. Still, she argued that the family plays a
crucial role in the stability and continuity of the Javanese society because cultural values
are transmitted and enforced through socialization mechanisms (ibid.:2). She showed how
the fundamental kejawen values of refinement (halus), respect (hormat) and the ability to
control one’s inner desires in order to maintain harmony (rukun), meaning co-operation,
unity of efforts, minimization of conflict, are transmitted from one generation to the next
(ibid: 48). The values are specially expressed through the mastering of the Javanese
language and its different levels: low-Javanese (ngoko) and high-Javanese (kromo).
Knowing how to speak properly depends on learning the difference between familiarity
and respect. Low-Javanese may only be spoken to people of same or lower rank, whereas
high-Javanese, which is a refined language, is to be spoken in order to show respect. A
child who is not able to master the Javanese language and custom (adat), is seen as “not yet
Javanese” (durung djawa) and unable to understand (durung ngerti), which in turns make
her or him “not yet human” (durung wong) (ibid.:105). Becoming Javanese and be able to
understand may be seen as the core of Javanese socialization, and constitute an important
aspect of what I later in this thesis will call “the educated Javanese” (c.f. Holland and
Levinson, 1996).
Children and youth figured in the background of Geertz’ study, and she gave no
account as to how children themselves construct their social and cultural universes. On the
contrary, she gave the impression that Javanese values are more or less automatically
transferred from one generation to the next, and in this way constructed a rigid and static
notion of family. Furthermore, she presented the important role of the family in creating
16
Java is seen as central Indonesia, and the national government is criticized of being too Java oriented.
Furthermore, national Indonesian culture is largely Java dominated, where Javanese symbols have been
made national symbols (Hooker and Dick, 1993). Javanese society should not be confused with Indonesian
society. Neither should the ‘national culture’ be confused with the Javanese.
35
harmony (rukun), not only by preventing the individual from “deviating too far from
cultural norms” (Geertz, H., 1961: 5), but also as a social security system. She wrote:
[The nuclear family household] is the provision for those family members who can not support
themselves – the sick, the unemployed, the aged, the parentless child. All of these are absorbed into
the families of their close kinsmen and given the care they need (Geerz, 1961:4).
The existence of street youth today may suggest that Geertz did not account for the
multiple experiences and lives of the Javanese. In the attempt to create Javanese Culture as
a logical whole, individual differences are left out. In addition, the image of the family
given by Geertz coincided in many ways with State Ideology (see Chapter Three), which
gives reason to refer to Pemberton (1994) who points out the tendency of ethnography to
essentialize and authorize the cultural ideology of the New Order regime (ibid.:8). Of
course, Geertz’ study was conducted previous to the New Order regime. Nevertheless, she
constructed an ideal Javanese family, which is isolated from the national political and
economic processes centered in Jakarta. This raises interesting questions about how
Javanese traditions are changed and challenged by national and global processes.
Young “muted” groups
Some may wonder how these questions can be answered from the street level? My
Javanese neighbors in Yogyakarta, were certainly skeptical of my project. Their reaction,
when I told them that I wanted to study street youth in relation to Javanese culture, was
that the street youth would not tell me the “right things” (yang benar). Instead, they
suggested that I should talk to father (bapak17) or mother (ibu) “so-and-so”, who they
argued, were very refined (halus) and would be able to answer my inquiries “correctly”,
including questions concerning street children. They worried that the vagrants (gembel) on
the street would misinform me. Crudely, I will argue that some anthropologists may have
shared the skepticism of my neighbors, which brings me back to the quote of Bråten in the
introduction of this chapter. Anthropologists on Java have been criticized of constructing
Javanese culture as a logical and holistic system (Wikan, 1990; Barth, 1993; Bråten, 1995,
Gjelstad, 1999). “What does not fit with the overall models is either left untreated […] or
regarded as deviances from the general pattern” (Bråten, 1995: 231). Ardener (1975)
17
Bapak (father) and ibu/ bu (mother) are terms of respect used to address adult men and women.
36
argued, in line with much feminist anthropology, that women are a “muted” group in
anthropology because of the male dominance and bias within the discipline.
Anthropologists are, according to Ardener, trained to create models which enhance the
ideas and opinions of the “ruling age men” (ibid.:1). Within these models, women, and
also youth and minority groups, become objects within the universe of the powerful.
Along this line, one may argue that Java ethnographers have had a tendency to make
elderly priyayi men, who have connections to the royal courts into the “normative
Javanese”, and the worldviews of these preferred informants have been presented as
normative Javanese culture.
Searching through the ethnography on Java, youth are underrepresented, although
some references have been made here and there. Not many studies have focused on the
cultural worlds of youth, from their perspective. Already in the 50s Clifford Geertz (1960)
made a reference to an “emerging youth culture” (ibid.:307). He notes that they are
a group of restless, educated, urban young men and women possessed of a sharp dissatisfaction
with traditional custom and deeply ambivalent attitude toward the West (ibid.).”
With references to popular art, i.e. movies, orchestra, popular music and literature, which
Geertz saw as a new emerging national culture, since the expressions were in Indonesian,
not Javanese, and the youth of the 50s, according to Geertz, actively constructed new
meaning and aspired for social change. Although these are promising references to youth
as cultural agents and youth agency, Geertz further described the youth as
Painfully sensitive, easily frustrated, and passionately idealistic, this group is in many ways the
most vital element in contemporary Indonesian society. […] They are the republics hope and its
despair: its hope because their idealism is both its driving force and moral conscience; its despair
because their exposed psychological position in the avant-garde of social change may turn them
rather quickly towards the violent primitivism of other recent youth movements in Europe[.]
(ibid.:308).
Geertz and anthropological literature that emerged during the New Order regime tended
to look at youth as passive recipients of socialization into the Javanese society.
Furthermore, as the quote from Geertz is an example of, youth cultures are described as
alien and a threat to dominant culture
37
James Siegel (1986) treated in his book Solo in the New Order what he calls a new
social category, the teenager (remaja). His study is based on an analysis of a teenage
magazine called Topchords, and not on youth themselves. Siegel’s hypothesis is that the
magazine expresses new styles and trends through the portrayal of the “career” and
“success” of pop stars. Siegel argues that the readers of Topchords, middle class, urban
teenagers, through the stories become inspired to construct their own personal
biographies and outlooks for the future based on individual “expressiveness”. Siegel sees
the new ideals of youth to be in sharp contrast to kejawen values of the kings and nobles,
which stresses a community in harmony (rukun) and ability of the individual to “leave
one’s desires behind” (ibid.:165). Before this is mastered, the Javanese is seen as not yet
human (durung wong) and uncivilized. The teenager ‘s “expressiveness” is in contrast to
this, and hence seen as strange (aneh) by the Javanese (ibid.:210). Siegel places the youth in
opposition to the Javanese, and refers to the remaja as Indonesian, whereas their parents
are Javanese. Geertz ([1965] 1973b) makes a similar interpretation in the article “Person,
Time and Conduct in Bali” where he states that Youth culture is a threat to the Balinese
behavioral style because of a growing modernization and cultural orientation towards the
West (ibid.:410). Both the thoughts of Siegel and C. Geertz raise important questions about
continuity and change within the Javanese society, and the role of youth in the process.
This “anxiety” for change and the unfamiliar expressed by the anthropologists in
relation to the Javanese youth, is indeed interesting. Remembering that the
anthropologists turned towards the Javanese courts, whereas the Javanese population
turned towards Jakarta, questions again arise of how the “traditional” kejawen has been
influenced and changed by “new” cultural elements introduced through the Javanese
involvement in a global economy, which, we shall not forget, has lasted for centuries, and
the State’s aspirations towards development and modernity. Early anthropologists saw
kejawen values in contrast with modern, often Western, values. Peacock (1968) argues
Yogyakarta is known for her refined (halus) culture and language, whereas the political
and commercial center Surabaya is more vulgar (kasar). On the other hand, Surabaya is
seen as more progressive and modern (maju) than the royal courts of Yogyakarta, which
are seen as backwards and old-fashioned (kuno) (ibid.:17). He further states that the two
dichotomies halus-kasar and maju-kuno are central value scales in Javanese society, which
exist side by side (ibid.:46). In his analysis of an urban proletariat, he tried to show how
38
their orientation shifts from rural refinement (halus) towards urban modernity (maju).
Peacock implied that a modern ideal is replacing the traditional Javanese and gives the
impression that this development is unilinear (ibid.:218). Throughout this thesis I argue
that “tradition” and “modernity” are not necessarily experienced as contrasting and
contradicting wih the Javanese street youth, this will especially be a topic in Chapter Six.
In contrast with Siegels (1986) study, Gjelstad (1999) makes in his inspiring thesis
Globale trender & lokale helter a description of youth in Solo as active cultural agents within
family, school and peer groups. He offers a critique of Siegel and Mulder who see youth as
“strangers” (Siegel, 1986:210) and “culturally barren” (Mulder, 1996:18). Doing fieldwork
with actual youth, Gjelstad is able to present the cultural world of teenagers from their
points of view, and he shows how youth life is more complex and contradictory than
portrayed by both Mulder and Siegel. He concludes that the way youth are cultural
agents, their “cultural activities” (Gjelstad, 1999:179), are seen on the “outside” of society
and strange, but nevertheless youth are not without importance in the (re)production of
society as a whole (ibid.).
This study of street youth will follow along some of the same theoretical lines as
Gjelstad (1999). We both see youth as cultural agents in Java. Nevertheless, despite being
close both in geography and time, and also sharing some similar cultural references, the
life of middle class youth in Solo is a far cry from the lives of street youth in Yogyakarta.
The cultural, social and political exclusion that street youth experience coming from the
State and members of mainstream society, makes it necessary to include aspects of power
in relation to the social interactions of street youth. The interesting questions which arise
are how these power relations influence cultural (re)production both internally within the
street community, and with society at large.
Social stratification
To be able to understand the power relations in the lives of the street youth, it is important
to look at social stratification on Java. As mentioned, Geertz’ vertical categories do not
account for social stratification within each cultural type (Bråten, 1995: 180). Instead the
perspective undermines the importance of the global capitalist economy, which Indonesia
has been a part of for centuries. The integration of this economy has become increasingly
important to Javanese stratification (Ricklefs, 1991). Marxist class concepts are normally
not in use in Yogyakarta, as a relatively small portion of the population belongs to what
39
can be called a proletariat.
Sairin (1992) found that the Javanese traditionally separated into four social classes
in the urban areas. The ndara were the nobles of royal decent, the priyayi functioned as the
ruler’s bureaucrats. A third category is made up of traders who often were strict Muslims.
The majority of the population were called wong cilik, which is Javanese for the ‘little
people’. The wong cilik includes manual workers, peasants and petty traders. According to
Sarin this traditional system ranks people in accordance to their closeness to the ruler, who
is on top of the hierarchy (Ibid.: 11-14). These are also categories based on “the traditional”
Javanese, and do not account for the Javanese society today, at least not for the lives of the
street youth.
More common in the everyday lives of the street youth, the categories of social
stratification that seems to be most at use, are the simple distinction between the rich,
orang kaya, and the poor, orang miskin or orang yang tidak punya. The classification of people
into these terms is relative, and all people who are perceived better off than the individual
will be said to be rich, whereas the street youth is poor (c.f. Chapter Five).
A persons rank, position and economic wealth are connected in Java, as high rank
may lead to a better position, which ensures a good salary. The correlation is not one to
one, as high rank in some cases, for instance intellectuals and religious scholars do not
necessarily have a high income. People with material wealth are also not automatically
given a high rank within the Javanese power structures, as is seen with the Chinese ethnic
group and westerners.
Ertanto (1995) shows how social rank, position and wealth are inherited through
family ties. The familial characteristics important for one’s place in the Javanese hierarchy
are called the bibit, bebet and bobot kinship ties. These refer respectively to family wealth,
social rank, and ancestry, which are the basis for categorizing people in Java. The street
children and youth are seen as without these characteristics as they are separated from
their families. This places them on the outside of the hierarchy. And Ertanto argues that
they are seen as non-human (durung wong). This leads to a cultural exclusion, which in
terms is manifested politically by the lack of official registration of the street children and
youth. They are not considered citizens of the Indonesian Republic, which I will further
analyze in Chapter Three. The street children and youth are offered little possibilities of
social mobilization, from their marginal position on the fringes of society.
40
Inside a family there are also limited possibilities of social mobility in Java. A child
born in a low rank family can theoretically through education receive a good position in
the bureaucracy. Education is expensive, however, so the chances are limited.
Unemployment rates are high, also for the educated, and the importance of good
connections and money is often crucial in order to get a job in a corrupt and nepotistic
system (c.f. Chapter Three). These connections are hard to come by for a low ranking
family, the money is scarce and there is little chance of “buying” a job. Nevertheless, I
observed families take great steps either by selling property or borrowing money to invest
in the future of a child. Often poor families are taken advantage off within this system.
Not many apart from Ertanto (1993) have taken the situation of the street youth into
consideration when analyzing the Javanese hierarchy. Siegel (1986) briefly states that the
beggars, the mad and the wanderers are on the edge of Javanese society, and they are not
even acknowledged by the Javanese (ibid.:119). The street youth may be placed amongst
these, although Siegel never talks about street children (anak jalanan). The studies of Siegel
and Ertanto (1993) are made of the hierarchy seen from the perspective of the privileged.
This is indeed an important perspective, as the powerful have the power to define the
‘principles of hierarchization’ (Bourdieu 1991). This does not mean that the street youth
see themselves at the bottom of the hierarchy. Through a thick description of the lives of
the street youth I will show how they turn to alternative sources of dignity and respect,
and how they use strategies to advance socially both within and on the outside of the
Javanese power structure. In line with Jay (1969:239-240), Guinnes (1986:28) and Keeler
(1987:25-28)18 I make a distinction between the dynamic and the static aspect of the
Javanese hierarchy. Similar to Ragnhildstveit (1998:14), I use status to talk about the
dynamic and rank when I refer to the fixed aspects of hierarchy.
A theoretical framework
After presenting some arguments in relation to previous ethnography on Java it is now
time to present a theoretical framework through which the complexity of the lives of the
street youth may be understood. To sum up the discussion above, what is needed are
18
Jay (1969) uses the concepts personal and situational rank, where the situational rank is negotiable (ibid.:
239-240). Guinness (1986) talks about respectively ‘social rank’ and ‘social esteem’ (ibid.:28). Similarily Keeler
(1987) refers to ‘social status’ and ‘relative status’ (ibid.: 25-28).
41
anthropological concepts, which throw light upon how the street youth move through
different cultural landscapes in a society in flux. I will turn to theories which break down
the previous anthropological construction of Javanese culture as a static system, where
change and unfamiliar elements are ignored, or treated as deviant.
Complex practices within social fields
Mennesker deltar i mange, mer eller mindre avvikende, diskursuniverser. De konstruerer
forskjellige partielle og samtidige verdener som de beveger seg i; deres kulturelle konstruksjon av
virkeligheten springer ikke ut av én kilde og består ikke av ett stykke (Barth, 1994:116)19.
An anthropologist’s first impression of Yogyakarta, may be that there is total cultural
chaos. The mosque calls for prayer, an old woman with a basket of traditional medicine
passes by, Western pop-music comes out of a jeans and T-shirt store, and all this frames a
street youth’s performance of a Bob Marley tune. As discussed, anthropologists have been
accused of ignoring these variations, trying to create Javanese culture as one model. Barth
(1994a; 1993), amongst others, has criticized this and tries to envision that cultural
pluralism is “streams of cultural traditions”. Each of these “streams”, are according to
Barth (1994a), bundles of empirical elements that are recognizable over time, and are to a
varying degree accepted and mixed in with local populations (ibid.: 116-117). Following
this, ‘Culture’ is unequally distributed among a population, and people are positioned
(ibid.) Building on this I want to show how the street youth orient themselves towards
different cultural traditions, or streams, and use different cultural elements to construct
meaning in their actions and life situations. These cultural processes are called ‘bricolage’
(Hebdige, 1979:102), which builds on a term by Levi-Strauss (1966). Within research on
youth it has been used to “argue that objects and symbols become recorded and
recontextualized to communicate fresh meanings” (Brake, 1985:68). Furthermore, the term
is used within studies of subcultures, where the subcultural bricoleur subverts symbols of
dominant society by placing them in new contexts and new constellations (Hebdige,
1979:104). Furthermore, to conceptualize the mental process of cultural bricoleurship, I
19
“People participate in many, more or less deviant, universes of discourse. They construct and move within
different, partial and parallel worlds; their cultural constructions of reality do not emerge from one single
source and do not consist of one piece.” (My translation)
42
turn to Rudie’s (1995) understandings of “punctuation” and “contextualization”. When a
“sign” is taken out of its original context, “punctuated”, and then given new meaning in a
new context.
Postmodern theories of ‘culture’ have been accused of deconstructing the concept
to the extent that anthropologists have been hesitant to even use it analytically. For
example, in studies of ethnicity the focus shifted more towards ethnic borders rather than
an analysis of “the cultural stuff” within the borders that for example makes the Javanese
feel like Javanese (Hylland Eriksen, 200220). To account for cultural variances and change,
yet at the same time be aware of continuity, Howell (2002) suggests the use of “to
culture21”. She argues that to culture can be compared to participation in a jam session of
Jazz. Each tune will have a name and a founding structure, and the possibilities of
improvisation are vast, but always over certain “themes”. The good player has the ability
to present the already known in new and surprising ways, and at the same time play with
the others. The main tune remains the “thread” that the audience is brought back to again
and again. Culture may be understood in a similar way. There is both continuity and
change within culture, and the exciting part is to see what changes, what is new, what is
reproduced and how it is the new tied in with the old (ibid.).
Building further on the jazz metaphor, I have now established that the street youth
are “jazz musicians”. The next task will be to identify the stage, the other players and the
audience. In Chapter One, I argued that the street youth are engaged in a multitude of
social relationships on different arenas. These social relations require different sets of
roles. A street youth, as insignificant he may be in the eyes of a passerby, enters through
activities, actions and social relations various levels of society. His handicraft business
may operate on a small ‘scale’ (Grønhaug, 1978), and as he participates in a demonstration
for his rights he, enters a level where his agency reaches a larger scale. “The little
community” (Redfield, 1967), in this thesis the street community, enters systems of larger
scale. Grønhaug (1978) suggests that different social sub-populations, dispersed in a social
space, are interlinked in social organization. In the study of street youth, I have identified
some entities within systems of interconnectedness. The systems will be treated as super-
20
This is a reference to the lecture “Nyere perspektives på identitet” held by Geir Thomas Hylland Eriksen
at the seminar Samfunnsvitenskap – Quo vadis, University of Oslo, April 2002.
21
The verb “to culture” is translated from the Norwegian “å kulturere” (Howell, 2002).
43
individual systems that condition the lives of the individuals. These entities I call ‘social
fields’ in line with Grønhaug (1978). I will mainly identify two such fields in this thesis,
“the street social field” and the “dominant social field”. The street youth move through
these fields through everyday practice, activities and interaction. Within each field,
individuals are guided by different ethical norms and moral codes. It is important to note
that the social fields are a part of the anthropological model, and not a native construct.
This thesis will focus on the concrete social interaction within these social fields, and how
the fields become a meaning context of that same interaction. This is in line with a ‘dual
concept of culture’ which emphasis that culture must be seen as both aspects of ongoing,
concrete interaction and a meaning context for the same interaction (Eriksen, 1991).
The street social field
The street community has been established through a historical process. And will in this
thesis be described as a “network of networks” (Hannerz, 1980:200), which span across
Java to other islands. There are individual differences within the street community, and
there is an ongoing discourse on the street, and negotiations of different hegemonies.
Nevertheless, it is possible to refer to the street youth as a group. The street youth know
the same “tunes” and “improvise over the same themes” (c.f. Howell, 2002). At least they
share enough to disagree, as that too requires that they have some categories in common
(c.f. Eriksen, 1998). Building on Lysgaard’s ([1961], 1985:214) analysis of community
formation, the street youth and street children form a group as they are geographically
close and able to interact with each other face to face. Through this interaction the street
children and youth reach an, at least perceived, agreement of what it means to be a street
youth, and how to cope with oppression and the hardship of life. New members are taken
into the group after initiation rituals where a common ground is established. Through this
process the individuals identify with the group which is expressed through social
practice22 .
22
Lysgaard argues that three conditions must be achieved to form a working class collective: “conditions of
closeness” (nærhetsbetingelse), “conditions of common problem orientation” (problembetingelser) and
“conditions of similarity” (likhetsbetingelse) (ibid.:224-225). Note: “the collective of street youth” is different
from the working class collective in that mainstream society is not dependent on the street youth, in the
same way as what Lysgaard calls “the technical/ economical system” depends on the working class
44
In the theory of Lysgaard ([1961] 1985), which deals with the formation of a
working class collective, he states that the process of group formation happens in relation
to the dominant society. The same criteria lies within Bourgois’ definition of ‘[inner city]
street culture’ as ‘a complex and conflictual web of beliefs, symbols, modes of interaction,
values, and ideologies that have emerged in opposition to exclusion from mainstream
society’ (1995:8). Style, behavior, values and ideas formed on the streets of Java differ and
in many ways challenge the values and ideas of dominant society. Bourgois’ definition
points to the resistance aspect of street culture, which indeed is important. Nevertheless,
the main attribute of street culture, I will argue, is that it is system of concrete social
interactions and a context of meaning. This makes a system of cultural elements, which
form a worldview that is important to the individual in order to make sense of his life
situation and actions. This makes street culture a part of actual lived life and experience to
the street youth. As such, the main “function” of street culture is not to resist oppression
from dominant culture, but to offer meaning.
The social group on the street and the cultural traditions that are reproduced and
negotiated within this social group, I will call the street social field. Values, norms, style and
practices that I will later in the thesis place within this field, are often based on the
hegemonic street culture. Still, it is important to underline once more that the street youth
are not a homogenous group and that the needs and desires of the individual at times are
in conflict with the interests of the group.
The dominant social field
As discussed in Chapter One the street youth live in public space and are dependent on
social relations with members of dominant society. In this interaction with the non-street
Javanese, I envision that they enter, what I call, the dominant social field. This too, consists of
actual social relations with non-street Javanese as well as a context of meaning that differ
from the context within the street social field.
When the street youth enter the dominant social field, it will be important to look at
power relations in the analysis, as the street youth are marginalized within this field. This
is in contrast to when they act within the street social field with other street youth, where
they define the hierarchy based on street values.
collective.
45
In addition to the socialization into the street community briefly described above,
the surrounding community offers a parallel socialization. Hannertz (1969:137) calls this
process ‘biculturation’. Beazley (1999) writes that
Biculturation happens when mainstream definitions are stated with such authority that they have a
pervasive impact on subcultural groups, who sometimes want to participate in the mainstream
consumer culture and conform to the ‘alternative’ world which most of them once knew. In short,
they sometimes wish to be normal. (Beazley, 1999: 260)
The children have early in their lives been a part of a family, and although some children
never have been enrolled in school they have the experience of belonging to a local
Javanese community. This has given the children knowledge about dominant culture, and
the socialization continues although the children have left their homes and their
neighborhoods. The socialization that comes from mainstream society increases in
strength as the children reach puberty. Then they meet harder social sanctions than when
they are “small and cute”. This causes a crisis and change of career for the street youth. It
also affects the street youths outlook for the future, identity and feeling of self. The street
children are increasingly able to see themselves through the eyes of the dominant, and
dominant values are internalized.
In this way, I will argue that the dominant social field offers an alternative source of
meaning, this makes the field act on two different levels. On the one hand it consist of
networks of social relations, on the other hand, it is a cultural system, that is partly
internalized within the individual. In a given situation the street youth orient themselves
towards the dominant social field to give meaning to their actions and situation.
Ideals of the “educated person”
After defining these two social fields, it is important to note that the picture is more
complicated than a mere street culture vs. dominant culture dichotomy. The social
relations and activities of the street youth: contact with NGOs, mass media, video games,
films and music etc. offer a myriad of alternative and, sometimes, conflicting messages of
“what to do?” “how to act?” and “who to be?” (Giddens, 1991:70). According to the street
youth, Bob Marley promotes freedom, the Indonesian pop star Iwan Fals criticizes the
system, the Sultan is refined (halus), and the movie star is cool (hebat).
Barth (1994b) focuses on different types of cultural reproduction and transmission
46
of cultural knowledge. He makes a comparative analysis of Bali and Papua New Guinea,
and makes a distinction between the Balinese Islamic “Guru” and the Papuan “initiator”.
Whereas Barth argues the guru’s goal is to “reveal” the truth, motivate, convince and
empower his students, the initiator surrounds himself in an aura of mystique through
secrecy and short frenetic revelations to small closed groups in ritual. Whereas, the guru
transmits decontextualized knowledge, the initiators message is contextualized. Barth
looks at how the different social positions of the guru and the initiator create different
traditions of knowledge and different information economies, where the different
exchange of knowledge generates different institutions of status power (ibid.:169)
Throughout this thesis will look at how different social fields which the street children
move through are interpretive communities23 and knowledge.
To conceptualize this, I will try to locate “the educated person” (Levinston and
Holland, 1996) as defined by the state (c.f. Chapter Three) within the street social field (c.f.
Chapter Four) and the dominant social field (c.f. Chapter Five). The ‘educated person’ is
based on an assumption that every society “develops models on how one becomes a fully
“knowledgeable” person, a person endowed with maximum “cultural capital”” (ibid,
1996:21). The focus is based on a dialectic relation between the educated person as both a
cultural producer and a cultural product. The different ideals of the “educated person” are
constantly produced, negotiated and reconceptualized through social practice.
Furthermore, the different ideals articulate with each other, as I will show, in relation to
how the street youth construct dreams and ideas of their future (c.f. Chapter Six).
Seeing the street youth as active cultural agents, will in this thesis, involve seeing
how they live in a world of different and conflicting ideals of an educated person. This
becomes especially clear in Chapter Six, where the orientation towards their own future is
explored. The analysis will move within the borders of structure and street youth agency
(Amit-Talai & Wulff, 1995) and touch upon their management of street youth identity and
construction of self.
Different fields and consistent notions of self
Envisioning that the “cultural streams” (Barth, 1994a) flow through the defined social
23
‘Interpretive community’ will in this thesis mean that groups of people who act within different social
fields have similar frames of references and agreement upon the criteria of the interactions.
47
fields, and that the street youth “play the same tunes”, and at times “engage in jam
sessions” with different people (Howell, 2002), I look at how they turn towards cultural
streams, or tunes, in order to create meaning to their worlds. This theoretical approach
brings me closer to grasping the complexity of Java. But am I closer in understanding the
street youth?
The descriptions of fragmented cultural worlds are products of the anthropologist,
as already discussed above. In the following I will argue that although living in a complex
society, orienting themselves towards different cultural traditions, which at times may be
contradictory, the street youth do not experience themselves as fragmented individuals,
nor as living in cultural chaos. On the contrary the different cultural fields offers means to
make sense of ones life situation and actions.
The shifts in cultural orientations is situational, as is also the street children and
youth’ perception of self and self-representation. Earlier attempts to make the self into a
coherent whole, goes together with the attempt to see cultures coherent systems. Geertz’
(1973b [1965]) study of person in Java, Morocco and Bali is an attempt to identify
organizing cultural principles and then to explain how the culture’s concept of person also
rests on these principles. Geertz’ abstractions from cultural resources to self and person
have been criticized (Bråten, 1995, 1997; Wikan, 1990; Barth, 1993). Ewing (1990) argues
that a psychological equivalent to Geertz notions of self may be that of Kohut (1971, 1977
in Ewing) who argued that “every normally functioning adult has a bounded, cohesive
self” (ibid.). Ewing makes an anti-thesis to Kohut arguing that the experienced continuity in
the pre-symbolic, cohesive self that is the unitary center of experience is illusory. “When
we consider the temporal flow of experience, we can observe that individuals are
continuously reconstituting themselves in response to internal and external stimuli.” They
construct these new selves from their available set of self-representations, which are based
on cultural constructs (ibid.:258). This is more in line with Bråten’s (1995) analysis of the
Javanese self in his doctoral thesis Riddles of Inverted Beings. By examining the spiritual
experiences of a pedi-cab driver in Yogyakarta, Bråten argues that a person’s selfhood is
channeled and developed through various social engagements. Furthermore, Bråten
argues that a person’s social standing within a hierarchy must be taken into account in
order to understand how his or her development of self. He criticizes previous
anthropologists for not taking social stratification into account in their analysis of the self.
48
Throughout this thesis, I will show the relation between the street youth
development of self-concept, and street youth agency. I will argue that power relations
influence how their self presentation, and representation through processes which are
situational. The same street youth at different time present himself as the powerful, the
powerless, the oppressor, the oppressed, the independent and the needy, the rich and the
poor.
To further conceptualize these arguments I build on Howell’s (2001) understanding
of how individuals tolerate living with the ambivalence of multiple and hybrid
discoursive practice. Howell suggests that the individual “create cognitive boundaries
between different contexts in which diverse elements of discourse are constitutive”
(ibid.:204). In this way, I argue, the street youth are able to live with contradicting
interpretations of their self-concept, life-situation and actions. In the case of the street
youth they find a fine balance between forgrounding and backgrounding of, what I may
call, “on the street” and “off the street” values and expectations of today and tomorrow.
This is a process, which happens contextually in relation to the various practice and social
engagements of the street youth.
49
50
Chapter Three
Children Outside State and Family
[F]or the Javanese, his family – his parents, his children, and usually his spouse – are the most
important people in the world. They give him emotional security and provide a stable point of social
organization. They give him moral guidance helping him from infancy through old age to learn, and
relearn, the values of Javanese culture. The process of socialization is a continuous one throughout
the life of the individual; and it is a man’s closest relatives who by the day-to-day comment, both
verbal and non-verbal, keep him from deviating too far from the cultural norms (Geertz, H., 1961:5).
This quote from Hildred Geertz (1961) stands in sharp contrast to how one think about the
family situation of a street youth. The quote indicates that Geertz did not account for
alternative sources of socialization, such as school, media, peer groups and other social
relations, which children are engaged in. She further gives the impression that Javanese
values are automatically transferred from one generation to the next. By analyzing the
street youth’s accounts of how they became street children, whom Geertz maybe would
describe as someone “deviating too far from the cultural norms”, I argue how children
negotiate different models of how to be an educated person (c.f. Holland and Levinson,
1996).
This theoretical perspective is particularly interesting in Indonesia, as the street
youth in this study belong to a generation, which was born and raised during the New
Order authoritarian regime. Nevertheless few studies have been conducted focusing on to
what extent the powerful State ideology has been internalized by the Javanese people (c.f.
Gjelstad, 1999). To what extent have Indonesian children and youth been active agents
within their own social and cultural universe, and not just passive recipients within
processes of socialization? (c.f. Caputo, 1995). This further raises a question of how
51
Javanese families have been influenced by State ideology. Whereas, we can criticize Geertz
for describing the family as an isolated system, in order to answer this question, it is
necessary to see the family and children in relation to wider historical, political and
economic processes.
It is not possible to fully understand the street children and youth without seeing
them in relation to the society they live in. I will start the following discussion with a
description of Yogyakarta and the street community. Furthermore, I will discuss how the
State has defined the ideal family and the ideal child, before I let the street youth tell their
own stories of leaving home. It becomes clear that children show initiative and take
actions in their lives that in some cases are in sharp contrast to the discourse of the ideal
child and an educated person.
Yogyakarta – berhati nyaman
Yogyakarta – berhati nyaman is the official slogan of the city. It is an abbreviation of bersih
(clean), sehat (healthy), iman (faithful), nyaman (pleasant) and aman (safe). The atmosphere
in Yogyakarta, or Yogya (pron. ‘djodja) as the city is popularly called, is famous, and the
people who live here are proud of their city. It may be one of the poorest and most
populated districts of Java, and there is no large industry apart from tourism and
handicraft and furniture exportation. It is a popular city for students, intellectuals and
artists. The most famous Indonesian university, Universitas Gajah Mada (UGM), is
situated in the north of the city, and the National Art Academy, Institut Seni Indonesia
(ISI) is in the south, along with several other big and small colleges all over the city. The
students have become an important industry for the locals who specialize in small food
stalls (warung and lesehan) selling cheap meals and boarding houses (kos-kosan) renting
rooms to students, as well as to the more expensive shopping areas of the city providing
goods and services.
Both foreign and domestic tourists are attracted to the city because of it´s
atmosphere, traditions and history, in addition to her friendly people and affordable
prices. It is the country’s second largest tourist destination, next after Bali in popularity.
This is largely due the presence of the ancient Hindu temple Prambanan, and the Buddhist
shrine of Borobodur in the near vicinity. The Yogyakartans (orang Yogya) are proud of
their archeological heritage. Furthermore, the temples are materializations of the
52
complexity in Java that fascinates so many tourists, students, and scholars.
The city is located in South Central Java, between the volcano Mt. Merapi in the
north and Parangtritis and Parangkusomo beaches of the Indian Ocean in the south. The
city is arranged in accordance to the Javanese north-south and east-west axis, and the
Sultan’s palace, the Kraton, is situated in the middle of the north-south line between the
volcano and Parangkusomo. These three places are given much importance in Javanese
mysticism24.
The Sultan’s palace, Kraton, is located in the middle of the city, and consists of two
square shaped walls. The inner wall encloses the Sultan’s residential area and regalia. The
outer wall embraces 33 neighborhoods, that traditionally, and to some extent still, house
the relatives of the Sultan family and servants of the kraton (Bråten, 1995). Inside the
kraton walls are two grass squares called alun-alun lor and alun-alun kidul. These are placed
respectively to the north (lor) and the south (kidul) of the Palace. The square to the south is
used for sports, games and nighttime tea and snacks served around the square, and it has
also become a cruising area for youths on motorbikes looking for good ambiance, romance
and a fun time with friends. The biggest arena for puppet theater, wayang kulit is nearby.
The southern alun-alun is also a lucrative area for street musicians, who will go between
the food stalls playing for money. The square to the north houses markets and kraton
ceremonies, and is also the location for the annual festival Sekaten.
The surrounding city is also largely centered on the north-south and east-west axis
similar to the kraton walls, but with some exceptions such as the mosques and prayer
houses which face Mecca to the northwest. Most people live in neighborhoods (kampung)
off the main streets. Narrow alleys lead from the main streets into mazes of more alleys,
where the houses stand closely together. As it is all over Indonesia, each neighborhood is
organized into a political unit, Rukun Warga (RW) and then that is broken down into
smaller units, Rukun Tetangga (RT), which I will discuss further throughout the chapter.
As discussed, Sultanate and Sultans of Yogya have played important roles
throughout the national history, and Hamangkubuwana X is very popular with the local
population, including the street youth. He is seen as a skillful politician and businessman.
At the same time his spiritual powers are unquestionable, and I was told that he is a
strong man who possesses magical powers. Within mythology, it is believed that the
24
More on the Javanese mysticism Geertz, 1960; Bråten, 1995; Beatty, 1999.
53
Sultan is married to the powerful Spirit Queen of the South Sea, Ratu Kidul. She in keeps
the Merapi volcano from causing damage and must be given offerings and respect from
the Javanese people including their ruler, the Sultan. The idea of a marriage between the
living king and a mythical queen gives the sultanate spiritual legitimacy (Bråten, 1995).
The Sultan becomes the personification of how Yogyakarta is both modern (modern)
and traditional at the same time. A guided tour at the kraton will underline how the
Javanese do not see this as a contradiction. My guide told me that he is the most refined
(halus) man, and that he lives in a modern25 house, wears a suit and tie, and has only one
woman because he is modern. In other words, the modern is also located within the northsouth and east west axis of the city. There are modern shopping malls, five star hotels,
banking complexes, bars, and movie theaters. McDonald’s burgers can be chosen instead
of more traditional gado-gado, and motorized vehicles fill the busy streets alongside
pedicabs. The Yogyakartans (orang Yogya) are at the same time proud of their traditional
heritage, and they identify with a national aspiration towards modernity (modernisasi) and
progress (kemajuan). This will be further discussed in Chapter Six.
Malioboro Street
Malioboro Street is the main street of the city Yogyakarta, and also the most famous. The
street was built by Sultan Hamengkunuwono I in 1757, and stretches one kilometer from
the Palace (kraton) in the south to the main train station Tugu, in the north. Originally, the
street was designed to be an avenue for colorful royal processions and ceremonies, in
addition to being a symbolic north-south axis in accordance with Javanese mythology
(Øde, 2001:17).
Malioboro is one of the main shopping areas of the city, and one of the busiest
streets. The biggest traditional market, Bringharjo, is to the southeast. To the north is the
so-called Malioboro mal, which is a modern shopping center with air-conditioning, coffee
and ice cream bars, McDonalds, fashion and music stores to the north of Malioboro. The
mal is a place were tourists and locals meet, middle- and upper class families come to
shop, high school kids, gay men and urban and modern women and men come to see and
be seen.
Just below the train station to the north of Malioboro, is one of the main tourist
25
Note that I place modern in cursive to underline that I use the local term, as defined by the locals.
54
areas of the city, Jalan Sosrowijayan. This street has restaurants, bars and cheap motels for
tourists. Sosrowijayan makes Malioboro a place for local guides and street hawkers. The
busyness and chaotic traffic during the day cools down at night, when the shops along the
street, close, and small food stall owners open their street restaurants, lesehan. Then the
street becomes the place for the old and the young searching for entertainment and a good
time, as well as street musicians, food trolleys (ankringan), and shoe polishers on the
lookout for potential customers. This makes Malioboro a remarkable mix of the old and
new, locals and foreigners, the rich and the poor. About midway down the street, the
tourist information office is located next to a public toilet. This has become a territory of
the street children and youth of the city, and at night they often gather there after a day of
playing music (ngamen) on the street corners. The public toilet becomes the safe haven,
from which the street boys and youth explore the remaining city, and a central place in
this study (c.f. Chapter Five). The origin of the toilet as the gathering spot for street
children in recent years was the opening of a nightclub, ‘The Basement’ in the area. The
boys then saw an economic opportunity by creating a parking lot in front (Beazley, 1999:
114). The nightclub is now gone, but the street youth and boys have made it into their
space, where they come to meet friends, have fun and gather strength after a day at work
making handicrafts, polishing shoes (menyemir sepatu) or play (ngamen). The young street
girls rarely visit the toilet, and I was told that they did not always feel comfortable there.
Instead the girls have their own hangouts in the city park (taman) to the south of
Malioboro Street (c.f. Chapter Four).
The street children and youth have an imagined community across the city, Java,
the nation and the world. The networks of the street community extend all over Java, and
the railway station at the north end of Malioboro is an important point in the street
children and youth’s reference within the city, as it is the point of entry and exit. I was
often told, however that Yogyakarta is the nicest and safest place to be a street kid.
The street community of Yogyakarta
During the authoritarian regime of Suharto, the Indonesian economy improved steadily.
However, development was ensured for the rich elite whereas the strategies where not
always beneficiary for the poor. In the early 70s, Suharto launched the Green Revolution
(Revolusi Hijau). The plan was to mechanize and rationalize agriculture and stimulate the
55
‘modern sector’ based on the ideas of the American economist Walt Rostow26. By placing
investments in advanced parts of agriculture and industry, it was believed that
production, national income and standard of life would improve through a ‘trickle down’
effect (Hulst, 1998: 93). According to Adi Sasono, the director of Independent Institute of
Development Studies (Lembaga Studi Perkembangan – LSP), this theory is too optimistic
because it works only in favor of the rich farmers who do not invest in further
development, but in consumer goods (ibid.: 43). Part of the green revolution was to invest
in the “modern sector” which required more urbanization. This modernization caused a
surplus workforce in agriculture, which was absorbed into construction projects in the
cities. Unfortunately, these building projects were saturated in the 1980s, and
unemployment rates went up. The informal sector of the urban economy was their
alternative but their income decreased and the wives and children who stayed behind in
the villages were forced to look for their own earnings. According to the NGO Humana in
Yogyakarta, the first generation of street children in the cities emerged in this time period
in the late 70s (Beazley, 1999:34-35; Ertanto, pers. conversation).
The street children and youth became a problem for the development plan of the
New Order Government, as they represented an alternative reality from the language of
order and progress. Countless numbers of attacks and abuse of the homeless by the police
and the military was reported (Beazley,1999), and most street youth have experienced
being caught in governmental cleansing campaigns that the children and youth
themselves call garukan. In these operations, unwanted social elements were “swept up”
and transported away by the police. Sometimes the children and youth were put in prison
for a few days, and other times they would just be dropped off in remote areas without
means to get back into the city. This was typically done before international meetings,
when the government was concerned about the international reputation of the country,
such as in 1994 when the Asia-Pacific Economic Committee (APEC) Summit took place in
Jakarta (Amnesty International, 1994, in Beazley, 1999).
26
Rostow evolutionistic theories of the “stages of economic growth” from traditional society to high mass
consumption (Rostow, 1960) can been criticized for seeing development as uniliear, and for undermining
regional differences.
56
The history of Girli – the large family
The street children are not included in official national history of Indonesia, which is a
symptom of their “mutedness” (c.f. Ardner, 1975), and they were not recognized by the
Suharto regime (Berman, 1994). One side of the history of the street children has been
recorded through the cooperative Keluarga Besar Girli (The big Girli family), which was
the first organization of street boys in Indonesia, founded in 1984. ‘Girli’ is an acronym for
pingir kali, the riverbank, which is the home of he poorest residents of Indonesian cities
(Berman & Beazley, 1995). In the early1980s a group of street musicians KPJM (Kelompok
Panyanyi Jalanan Malioboro), who played and hung out in Malioboro came into contact
with the street children (anak jalanan) and worked with them to bring about positive
changes in their lives. They encouraged the kids not to beg, and instead taught them to
play music and sing to earn money. They also taught them how to make handicrafts, like
jewelry and other trinkets to sell instead of stealing. It was a real grassroots movement,
very special to Yogyakarta, which changed things through cooperation and community
amongst the street children and youth, rather than trying to change things from above,
which has been a criticism of some NGOs. The movement grew, and the model of Girli
have spread to different cities. Girli has become an institution for learning, empowerment
and a social network, as well as giving the street children emotional support and a source
of identity. The children called themselves anak girli, the Girli kids, and the cooperation
stretched to include traders, petty cab drivers and food stall owners in Malioboro, with
whom the street youth were encouraged to create alliances. Girli became an alternative
family to the traditional idea of home. Together the family members organize concerts and
gatherings for the street kids and youth.
The non-governmental organization Humana was established by Mas Didid, one of
the men who initially got involved with the street kids through KPJM. Humana’s role has
been to facilitate activities of Girli, such as the publishing of the journal Jejal, which, as
mentioned in Chapter One, is a magazine written by street children and youth, where they
tell their stories and air frustrations and happiness of street life. Humana has also
employed street youth, and organized “open houses” where the street children can come
to work and play, participate in workshops and training, and in some instances sleep.
Further, Humana has provided children with a home where they can live in a more
traditional family situation.
57
Many of the street youth in this study refer to themselves and some of their friends
as anak Girli. The Girli family exists, but it is clear that the dynamics between the family
and the organization facilitating the activities has changed. Many street youth are of the
opinion that the street community should liberate themselves from NGOs and become
independent, this is the attitude of some street youth who have been active with NGOs as
children. Young street children seemed to be more positive about NGOs. The changing
attitudes towards NGOs may be seen partly in relation to a general distrust in institutions
which has been strengthened by the economical crisis of 1998 (Ertanto, 2001, pers.com.).
But also as a result of the street children and youth’s desire to be independent and selfsufficient. This will be discussed more in detail in Chapter Six.
Doubtlessly, the work of NGOs has increased street youth agency, as it had given
them alternative ways of income, health care and education. This has contributed to the
safety of the street children and youth as well as their self-confidence and self-esteem.
Nevertheless, the grassroots activities coming from the kids themselves should never be
underestimated, and for the work on the non-governmental organizations to be useful it is
essential that they work in collaboration with the kids in respect of their desires and
needs.
Today, there are several organizations working with street children in Yogyakarta.
To mention some, NGO Indrianati, works especially towards the street girls, and have an
open house where they can seek refugee, feel safe, shower and sleep, whereas Milas works
together with both boys and girls providing health care and a free space for work and
relaxation. Aulia foundation is a home for young children who have lived or worked on
the street with their parents, mostly in Jakarta. Other non-governmental organizations
focused on issues of women, children, family and poverty, may also at times work with
street youth. Furthermore, At times, the NGOs form coalitions and networks, working
towards the same projects. All the organizations above are partly funded from overseas.
State power and surveillance
As discussed in Chapter Two, the Indonesian State is a product of history, and has aimed
at controlling the large and diverse population in times of change. The ideas underpinning
the Indonesian Constitution of 1945 was based on the subjugation of the individual in
favor of the State. In this, State and society were constituted as an organic whole.
58
Individuals can only live in relation to the whole, and there can be no conflict between the
individual and the State (Suryakusama, 1996:93).
The New Order regime sought to establish a new national culture based on
Javanese traditions, institutions and political culture (Anderson, 1990; Koentjaraningrat,
1985; Hooker &Dick, 1993). The modern urban elite, who acted as clients in the patronage
system of President Suharto, has been compared to the Javanese élite (priyayi) whose social
hierarchy was based around the royal courts (Beazley, 1999). Anderson (1972: 4-12)
understands the Indonesian political system of the New Order in terms of the Javanese
concept of power, and how power can be accumulated and absorbed. He illustrated how
Suharto attempted to increase his political strength through possession of potent objects
(pusaka), and persuasive philosophies, such as the Pancasila. Liddle (in Beazley, 1999:37)
asserts that Suharto consolidated power and curbed opposition through three ‘political
resources’, economic growth and material wealth, persuasion through the co-option of
clients, and coercion27. One may suggest that the new governments in the Reformasi era
are struggling to maintain power and control because they are lacking the same political
resources, and are unable to fill the vacuum of power.
One way for the government to control the population is through a surveillance
system that goes all the way down to the individual level. The Indonesian villages and
cities are organized in units consisting of households. A larger neighborhood (kampung) is,
as mentioned, made into a Rukun warga (RW) and Rukun Tetangga (RT). There is an elected
leader on both levels (Pak RW and Pak RT), who is responsible for the wellbeing of the
houses within his unit, and the monitoring of the comings and goings of people. The
families and individuals within the RT and RW are obligated to have an official
registration card (Kartu Tanda Penduduk, KTP). Children under the age of 17 are not
required to have their own identity card, but are assumed to be under the jurisdiction of
their families, who have special family cards. Once, the children turn 17, they are required
to have their own card, but still connected to the family. A person without a family
27
Beazley (1999:37) reasons that through the economic crisis in 1998, Suharto was no longer able to maintain
stability through the use of ‘political resources’. Physical coercion by the army was not enough to stagger the
demonstrations and food riots. His clients were unwilling to support him, as the financial system was in
crisis and material wealth and economic growth could no longer be guarantied by supporting the regime.
Consequently Suharto was forced to step down.
59
connection may not get a KTP.
Without such a card one is not regarded a citizen of the Indonesian Republic, and
one is denied the right to have an identity, to reside in a kampung, to vote, and to receive
services from the State such as welfare programs, education, health care. These are basic
rights secured in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) which
was ratified by Indonesia in 1990 (Beazley, 1999). In addition they cannot get a driver’s
license, rent a place to live, or stay at a hotel. The possession of an identity card becomes
proof of a person’s moral standing, and without it the person is seen as a criminal.
Furthermore, the identity cards are regularly inspected in urban areas, and children
without a KTP are arrested and ordered to return to their villages (Beazley, 1999). The
street youth and children usually lack official registration cards. The circumstances
around the move, or flight, away from home, made them leave without the necessary
documents, i.e. birth certificate and letters from the leader of their neighborhood. In
addition, some come from families who are not officially registered, which makes it
difficult for the youth to obtain a card as he or she turns 17 (c.f. Chapter Five). In this way
the street youth are prevented from participating on many levels of society.
State surveillance and physical coercion has not been enough to maintain power.
Social control is additionally maintained through ideology of reproduction and sexuality.
As mentioned before, the New Order regime placed the family, and control of the family
at the center of state discipline, which in terms would lead to a sound nation and
economic development. (Suryakusuma, 1996). The state becomes an educator, where the
President is the strict father (bapak) who disciplines his children. Focault (1980) postulates
that the State’s attempt to control the body is a way to control the human Self in all aspects
of life. The “modern” control of the body, as opposed to “primitive” physical violence, is
to teach and train the population to be in a specific way, one that is seen as productive and
valuable to the state power (in Broch, 2000:222).
In Indonesia the control of the family is largely connected to the control of women,
and centers around the ideology, which is called State Ibuism. ‘Ibu’ (‘mother’ and ‘wife’) is
a cultural and ideological concept, derived from Dutch petit-bourgeois and Javanese élite
(priyayi) values (Suryakusuma, 1987:47 in Beazley, 1999:41). The ideology has been
remodeled to fit into the patriarchal state (ibid.).
State Ibuism is the ideology that places women as companions and appendages of
60
their husbands. They are seen as procreators of the nation and educators of the children
and are expected to contribute to society without expecting anything in return
(Suryakusuma, 1996:101-102). There is a focus on how this is the ‘traditional’ role of
women, and women are made responsible through state rhetoric for the development of
the nation. As stated by Suryakusuma (1990:23 in Beazley, 1999:41): “Women have been
sacrificed more and more on the altar of national development.”
The ideal family
The family in Indonesia is made the center of ideology of economic development. The
family unit is registered and included in a state surveillance system. This makes the family
politicized and public, which in turn strengthens the power of the élite because the arena
for child rearing and sexuality is controlled and regulated (Beazley, 1999:42).
In addition to surveillance, the family has been controlled through the official
organization PKK (Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga, the Family Welfare Program). PKK is
present in every village, and has been controlled by women’s groups like Dharma Wanita,
which is made up of wives of civil servants known to promote State Ibuism values. Since
the fall of Suharto during the Reformasi era, the power of organizations like Dharma
Wanita has decreased, and Indonesian women are surrounded by an increase of new
ideologies and competing paradigms, such as human rights, Islam, western ‘girl power’
and international feminism (Blackburn, 2001:8). The current situation and ideals of
openness are new, and reactionist groups are violently fighting to conserve status quo.
And the family remains monitored and politicized.
Another aspect of the role of the family within development is the family planning
program, Keluarga Berencana (KB), coordinated by the PKK. The national slogan is ‘Dua
Anak Cukup’ (Two Kids are Enough). The Indonesian State claims to have 100% target
achievement (Suryakusama, 1996:97). Civil servants are penalized for having more than
two children (Beazley, 1999:43). Berman (1994:21 in Beazley) claims that unwanted
children are given away, and may end on the streets. Which is another frame within which
to understand street children and youth.
61
The ideal child
Childhood is a cultural and social construct. The Indonesian childhood has developed
from playing a role within the family economy to the embodiment of national aspirations
of development (pembangunan) and progress (kemajuan) (Hooker & Dick, 1987). The ideal
child (Cita-cita anak Indonesia) has been politicized, just as the ideal woman and family is a
matter of the State, and promoted by the Indonesian Child Welfare Organization (Yayasan
Kesejahteraan Anak Indonesia, YKAI) (Beazley, 1999:44). The proper behavior of children
was included in the ‘Broad Guidelines for State Policies’, GBHN (Garis-garis Besar Haluan
Negara). The guideline states that a child is expected to have eight principal characters: the
performance of religious duties; being respectful and devoted to their parents and
teachers; being honest, capable and sensitive in conduct; clever at reading and writing;
competent and full of initiative; self reliant, self disciplined and responsible; full of
confident in facing the future; and to have love of Indonesia (Bessel, 1998:166 in Beazley).
This ideal is promoted through the national education system, as is also the ideal family
and mother (Gjelstad, 1999:69).
There are gender and class differences in the socialization of Indonesian children.
Traditionally, girls are encouraged to stay closer to the home rather than the street and
public space. Geertz (1961) noted that girls are from an early age are taught to perform
domestic tasks. The girls are seen to need more protection and guidance when outside the
safe space of home or the workplace. This may suggest that there are more street boys
than street girls, because boys are taught to cope with the outside world. Socialization of
girls from poor and middle-class families are similar, whereas the differences between
middle-class boys and those from the kampung are more noticeable (Beazley, 1999:47-48).
Boys from poor families are encouraged to move around in public space, and explore the
city. They are from an early age taught to be independent and contribute economically to
the family. The same behavior of middle-class boys would be deemed morally
inappropriate, which may be an explanation why there are more street boys of poor
background (ibid.).
State ideology is forceful, and the indoctrination through education, media and
political rhetoric enters the minds of the people, although it is important not to confuse the
Indonesian State with the Javanese person. To some extent, State ideology is internalized
within the people as the following quote by a middle class woman illustrates:
62
I had a conversation with Yuni, and we touched upon the subject of family. On the question “What
do you do if you don’t have a family?” she looked at me as if she did not understand. “You always
have a family, and if your real family is dead, there will be someone else in the village who will take
you in”, she eventually answered. I confronted her with the obvious fact that there are children who
live on the streets, upon which she looked thought for a minute before she answered “Yes, it is sad.
They are poor and have made a choice. They are on the street because they want to, and because
they have no interest in conforming to society.” (From my field notes)
In line with Hildred Geertz (1961) description the family as a social security system
(discussed in Chapter Two), Yuni sees the street children as exceptions and not as
representatives for Javanese families per se. She also assumes that the street children make
a choice and are unwilling to conform, which in terms means that they are naughty (nakal)
and a potential threat to the stability of society. At the same time she expresses her pity,
which is a common ambivalence that the children meet from dominant society. These
ideals are internalized within the street youth (c.f. Chapter Four, Five and Six) and are a
part of the biculturation process that happens through socialization in public space. The
internalization leads to low self esteem, and may at times steer the youth to want to leave
the street and “become normal”. Nevertheless, in the process of becoming a street child
the family and the child “fails” to live up to the ideals of the state. This in turns leaves us
with interesting questions of how the ideals are negotiated by the individual. It is evident
that the State ideology is not the only guidance to becoming an “educated person”
(Holland and Levinson, 1996). Which other cultural sources influence the child in the
process of leaving home? Which other ideals of childhood and family life exist within the
socio-cultural universes of Javanese children?
Leaving home
When a street youth tells his life story, he will often start with the events that led to the
move or flight away from home. This story is at the core of his street youth identity, and is
the platform of the ‘imagined community’ (Anderson, 1983) of the street children and
youth. The stories are based on the memories of the street youth, and the details of the
stories may change depending on the context of the storytelling. The following analysis is
based on some general patterns.
There is rarely one single reason alone, which is enough to make a child leave home,
63
and most often there are several different factors. As discussed in Chapter One, a common
notion is that poverty is the core problem, and the street children can historically, as
discussed above be placed within economic reforms on macro level. My empirical findings
suggest that poverty may be an indirect cause of social problems in the home, but not a
reason enough in itself. Not every poor child ends up on the street, and not all children on
the street come from poor families. This indicates the complexity of this issue. I believe the
move away from home to be a combination of at least three factors:
1. Conditions at home which trigger or lead to the move.
2. The child’s knowledge of the world outside the home.
3. Psychological elements such as personality, which makes it more or less likely
that a child will move.
Point three will not be discussed further. In the following I will analyze point one and two
analytically, to name the social and cultural processes which establish leaving home,
which indeed is a radical move, as an actual opportunity for children.
As discussed in Chapter Two, several studies have interpreted the move away from
home as a rational act where the action is a solution to a problem, rather than a problem in
itself. Within this theoretical approach the child acts rationally in order to satisfy “needs”
and achieve goals (Veale, et al., 2000: 139-141). In cases where the street youth, I knew,
gave the impression that the move away from home was an actual choice, this approach is
somewhat fruitful, it is not able, however, to account for the total experience of the child.
A hermeneutic description of the act, i.e. a contextualized “thick description” (Geertz,
1973a) from the perspective of the youth themselves is a better approach to find the
meaning of the act from their points of views.
Leaving home is often a gradual process and does not happen overnight. It is
common to move gradually away, starting to spend a night or two in the street, and then
as they get more involved in street life they may chose to stay away from home for longer
periods of time, and even leave to another city. In the cases where the move has the
characteristics of flight, the move has been planned in advance which is evident by their
preparations of belongings or the acquisition of money, often stolen to support the “fligt”.
Neglect, sexual and physical abuse are often cited reasons why the street children
and youth leave home. The abuse is in some cases linked to their parents’ depression,
alcohol and drug abuse (Beazley, 1999). Other times the abuse is punishment for being
64
naughty (nakal) and embarrassing (bikin malu) the family in the neighborhood and school. I
suggest that a child who is not able to behave appropriately, i.e. show respect, repress his
inner desires, reflect badly on the whole family. The child who has not learnt live up to
important kejawen (Geertz, C. 1960; Geertz, H., 1961) the lack of which reflect that the child
is not yet human (durung wong) and is unable to understand (durung ngerti). The
uneducated Javanese, may be seen as a potential threat to the important harmony (rukun)
and wellbeing (slamat) (ibid.) Further more, in relation to the educated person in defined
through the ideal child and the ideal family, a naughty child may symbolize anti
nationalistic attitudes. It is the responsibility of the family to adhere to the teachings of the
State, in order to ensure national harmony and further progress (kemajuan). Although, this
partially may explain the punishment, it nevertheless leaves the child feeling unwanted,
unloved and afraid to be at home.
Based on knowledge about the expectations of the ideal girl, as discussed above,
one may assume that the route to the street is longer and harder for women, as may be
signaled by their under-representation on the street. The girls I talked to often cite similar
reasons for leaving home as the boys. Still, the special position of girls and women within
the Indonesian society makes them especially vulnerable to abuse and coercion. Sinta, a
street girl, told me that she experienced sexual abuse from the man, whom she at the time
though was her biological father. She only later found out that she was given away at birth
to be raised by a childless couple. The abuse lasted from ages 10 until 16, when she finally
gathered enough courage to run away into the city. The sexual abuse was in itself a
psychological trauma, additionally, to the social stigma she feared from society should
anyone discover her secret added to her fear and despair. Rape and incest have been, and
still are, difficult issues within the Javanese society28 . Girls are especially vulnerable since
the notions of a woman’s inherent nature (kodrat wanita), her sexuality is restricted to
procreation within a marriage. Lost virginity may still lead to social exclusion, especially
in villages (Sastramidjaja, 2001).
Intan, another street girl, also experienced feeling unsafe at home when her father,
due to a financial crisis, decided that she had to marry a man who was considered to be
wealthy. Intan, who was only 15 at the time, was afraid of this man, who was much older
than she. Previous to this, she had been unhappy at home because her stepmother treated
28
A prime resource on the topic of rape and sexual abuse is the NGO Rifka Annisa: www.rifka.annisa.or.id.
65
her like a maid and she had many more domestic chores than her half-siblings, which
further motivated her to escape the marriage by running away from home. Arranged
marriages still happen in villages, although love marriages are more common in the cities.
Intan’s case is an example of how familial control and arranged marriages can be a
violation of a girl’s own desires, and may feel like an abusive situation for her. The cases
of Sinta and Intan show how female sexuality is controlled and exploited, and how the
images of the ideal girl can be confining and even dangerous to a young woman,
furthermore is shows how women’s agency is more restricted than that of men (c.f.
Chapter Four).
Several of the street youth talked about violence and neglect in relation changing
family situations of divorce and remarriage. Endar, for instance, told me that his mother
remarried, and his stepfather did not want to take care of him and his siblings, as a result
they were often beat. The scar on his forehead, he told me, was a bad reminder of a time
he was beaten with a stick. Endar’s story was not unique as ‘the stepfather’ (and in some
cases ‘the stepmother’) often figured in the stories I was told. He (or she) was often
someone who is not able to care for the children of a new partner, or who grossly treats his
or her children different from stepchildren. In these situations the biological parent may
try to interfere with the stepparent to protect their children, as was the case in the story of
Endar. Aria, however, told me that his mother asked him to leave when she married her
new boyfriend, because he did not want her children. Endar keeps feeling sorry for his
mother because he left her, and he knows that she tries to find him. Aria on the other hand
says that he never wants to return home because he was not wanted.
Endar and Aria come from what is called a “broken home”, and is according to my
informants, a family where parents are too concerned with their own needs to attend to
their children. In many cases the parents have divorced. This is often seen as a modern
phenomena, and as a negative consequence of globalization and especially westernization.
The term “broken home” has been circulated through the songs of the popular singer Iwan
Falls (c.f. Gjelstad, 1999:33, 126), who is a hero to the street youth, as well as to other
Indonesians. In the song “Frustrasi”, Fals sings that the young generation of today is
frustrated neglected children who dream about becoming “a big person like Hitler, the
famous.” Gjelstad, (1999), who makes an analysis of a middle class “broken home” shows
how the family is a “disorganized social system” (Barth, 1994), or a “cultural crossroad”
66
(Eriksen, 1994), where members bring in different cultural elements and personal matters
which are negotiated inside the family collective (Gjelstad, 1999:40). This approach
contrasts Geertz’ (1961) portrayal of a static Javanese family where values are transmitted
from parent to child. The perspective makes children active agents and instruments of
judgement upon their parents’ behavior based on the child’s knowledge of what a family
should be and the ideal roles of the parent. When a discrepancy exist between the child’s
ideals and their actual experience, the child may choose to leave home. Becoming a street
child, may be a realization of “becoming like Hitler”, naturally not in terms of political
ideology, but in that it is an expression of individuality, in sharp contrast to the State
defined educated person, or the proper Javanese. The child makes himself independent
(mandiri) and free (bebas), through actions, which are considered by dominant society to be
uneducated, misbehaved (kurang ajar) and naughty (nakal).
Negotiated values
The discrepancy between experience and expectations of one’s life may be seen result of
the multitude of ideals and messages that are conveyed to the children. State ideology is
contested through different channels. Bambang, who comes from a poor family in a small
village about 250 km from Yogya, made it an important point of his life story, to tell how
he was often invited to his neighbor’s house to watch television at night when he still lived
with his family. He reflects on how this made him aware of the world outside the village,
and planted a desire to go places. Through magazines, films and TV, children are
bombarded with images of the urban middle class. These images are agents of
socialization of young people into the consumerism, urban attitudes and behavior. Media,
which also has been a powerful medium to convey State ideology, creates a discrepancy
between the national expectations of development and the life situation of young people
living in villages. The glamorous life portrayed on television and magazines may be far
more appealing than the state ideology state ideology of the obedient child. This is an
example of how children receive conflicting messages. Children in the villages become
aware and may internalize the attitude that village life is backwards (kolot) and less
progressive (kurang maju) than city life. This notion is in line with State ideology of
development (c.f. Chapter Six). In turn this motivates the migration of youth into the
urban areas (Jones, 1997:39). Furthermore, the poor child may realize his or her
unfortunate situation, and desire to improve his standard of living. In addition, it may
67
give children from different class backgrounds a desire to earn their own money, be free
(bebas) and independent (mandiri) and participate in the glamorous lifestyle presented to
them (Beazley, 1999:56). They know their parents, and other villager, can never reach the
level of existence viewed on TV and the movies, but maybe if they go out alone there is
hope or possibility. For example, Adi worked for his parents, begging on the streets of
Jakarta. He was sent out in the morning, and would be beaten if he returned without
money. That made him afraid to go home and instead he would stay out on the street.
Gradually he became more and more involved in the street community, and he would
sometimes spend the money he made on video games and cinema with his street friends,
until finally he cut ties from his family. Ulis worked at a factory and his parents expected
him to contribute to the family income otherwise he would be beaten. Ulis was angry that
he was not allowed to have fun and enjoy the money he worked so hard for. In the end, he
decided to be economically independent and leave home.
Becoming free (bebas) and independent (mandiri) are values often used to describe
the positive aspects of street life (c.f. Chapter Four). As mentioned above, children may be
tempted to search for economic independence and freedom. At the same time, these
values, also discussed in relation to middle class youth (Gjelstad, 1999), may be
interpreted to be an expression of how the Javanese hierarchy is not taken readily accepted
by the young generation, but instead challenged and negotiated. Similar to broken homes,
where the children feel neglected and parental authority is questioned. They may find
their parents to be old fashioned and unreasonable for demanding strict respect (Gjelstad,
1999), the use of high-Javanese at home, or forced religious practices. Rojo told me that he
left home because his father was a strict Muslim, and that conflicts arose when Rojo
refused to attend the mosque and pray regularly. There were also conflicts in relation to
Rojo’s “bad” (nakal) friends and drinking of alcohol. Gradually he started to stay out more
and more after school. His relationship with the family got worse, and he moved to
another city and became a Hindu, which may be seen as a clear rebellion of his father.
Bur, a 19-year-old student who was involved in a school project on street children,
is the son of a middle class businessman in a neighboring city of Yogyakarta. He told me
that his father insisted that he study economy and take over the family business. Bur was
more interested in studying music, but his father became angry when Bur tried to object.
Although Bur’s school project ended, he continued to hang out on the street, and one day
68
he confided that he considered a break from his family and wanted independence and
freedom to pursue his own dreams. He told me that the economically prosperous future
was not as important to him as the possibility to be himself. This case is especially
interesting, not only because of Bur’s economic standing, but because it also shows how
the street community offers an alternative to conventional home life. Street culture
produces cultural elements, or cultural streams flow across to different youth groups. As
an example, Gjelstad (1999) makes a note of how middle class youth in Solo at times reach
for cultural elements that derive from street life, like wandering without a toothbrush and
towel, although the middle class youth have their own form and may bring a pocket TV,
as they are “modern street youth” after all (ibid.: 102, c.f. Chapter Five).
In the process of leaving home it is interesting to note the importance of the peer
group, and how the child is socialized into a street community (c.f. Chapter Four), which
is already established as an alternative to home. The home is a part of dominant social
field (c.f. Chapter Two). Leaving for the street and becoming involved with the street
community involve entering the street social field. Through socialization into the street
community by peers one get involved in a new universe of discourse and an alternative
life situation and worldview.
Many street children and youth report that they ended up on the street simply by
following friends or siblings (ikut-ikutan) or being invited by friends (diajak teman). For
most youth, this aspect plays a part in the process of leaving home. Bambang, for example,
left home but stayed in the same city as his mother, until he met other street children with
whom he later ventured further away. When he left, he brought his younger brother with
him. This shows how the street children and youth through social engagements obtain
knowledge and ideas, which can not be fully controlled by the State and family, but which
are important in the child’s constructions of his social and cultural world.
A final point to make in this discussion, is the cultural importance of leaving home
in order to seek wealth and experience is an act embedded in Indonesian culture (Bezley,
1999). Wandering (merantau) is most common among the Bataks of North Sumatra, but
Anderson makes a note that it was common in traditional Javanese society for prepubescent boys to leave home for a while to seek experience and knowledge (Anderson,
1990:7). Traditionally the wanderers would have the intention of returning to their
villages. Although many street children and youth still stay in contact with their home
69
place, few would ever move home. The possibilities of making money in the cities are
much better than in the village, and after some time in the city the village will seem dull
and uninteresting (Beazley, 1999). The pattern of merantau has changed as well as the
popular image of the wanderer, from being a local hero succeeding in finding the treasure
and experience, the wanderer is now a threat to the nation state. Today the wanderer risks
discrimination from the police and general public, as they are outside the state
surveillance system and cultural categories forcefully conveyed by the State and dominant
groups of society.
To summarize, state ideology and Javanese values are not automatically
transmitted and internalized into a child. Based on the life stories of the street youth, my
arguments is, that children participate in different social and cultural environments each
with its own ideals and values. These may at times be conflicting, and are constantly
negotiated by children in different situations. I have shown how peer groups, parents,
neighborhood, media, school, and public space all offer alternative models of how to be an
educated person (Holland and Levinson, 1996). The move away from home the street
children may be seen as a demonstration of these children’s agency, which, as mentioned,
is more restricted for girls. Different cultural elements or streams offer meaning to their
acts, which in turns in some ways expand the child’s room for action and control over
one’s life. Nevertheless, I will show throughout this thesis, the price to pay for this kind of
freedom and independence is social, cultural and political exclusion.
70
Chapter Four
The Alternative Reality on the Street
Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will. He slept on doorsteps in fine weather and in
empty hogsheads in wet; he did not have to go to school or to church, or call any being master or
obey anybody; he could go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it
suited him; nobody forbade him to fight; he could sit up as late as he pleased; he was always the first
boy that went barefoot in the spring and the last to resume leather in the fall; he never had to wash,
nor put on clean clothes; he could swear wonderfully. In a word, everything that goes to make life
precious that boy had (Twain, [1876] 1920:71)
When children leave home because of neglect and abuse, they will already have a
scattered self-image, and feel unwanted and unloved. The dream of being free from the
expectations of the home may soon be dispersed when they, as street children (anak
jalanan), face social stigmatization within mainstream society. The solution for the child
may be involvement with the community of street children and youth, which offers an
alternative source of dignity and respect, and an arena that offers a collective self-identity
and new reference group, from which the individual can redefine his negative selfconcept. Through initiation and inclusion into the street community, the child gradually
takes on a street child (anak jalanan) identity.
In this chapter, I will examine the construction of what I will call, the “educated
street person” (c.f. Levinson & Holland, 1996). I will argue that the street educated person
increases the room of street youth agency, it offers alternatives to the stigmatization and
negative stereotypes which youth are subjected to from the state and powerful groups
within mainstream society. As discussed, the State sees the street children and youth as a
threat to national development. Mainstream society looks at the street children as rough
71
(kasar), naughty (nakal), uneducated (kurang ajar) and uncivilized (durung wong), and
lacking kejawen values (Geertz, C. 1960; Geertz, H, 1961). Similarly experts, media and
politicians have assumed that street children lack socializing influences, and hence are
criminals who lead disorganized and amoral lives (c.f. Beazley, 1999). As mentioned in
Chapter One, Whyte (1945:xvi) was one of the first to argue that inner city street life may
seem disorganized to the outsider, but understood on its own terms it is as organized as
mainstream society. Bystanders often fail to notice that the street children and youth are
involved in social and cultural processes which socialize them into street life. It is a
different socialization than that offered by the State, the education system, and the
Javanese family, but nevertheless the lives of the street youth are organized by a different
set of principles. The socialization of the individual into the street community happens on
the street and within the peer group. Here alternative notions of proper behavior and
decency are established. Sometimes, the street children and youth engage in criminal
activities, which strengthens the claims of the State and dominant groups. Nevertheless,
this too may be seen as an attempt by the street youth to increase their room of agency and
gain control of their lives, in a society where they are not given many opportunities.
In Chapter Two, I argue that street youth move between different cultural
landscapes and cultural orientations in order to give meaning to their life situation and
actions. I argue that street children and youth, as a group, are interpretive community
which offers an alternative, meaningful context to their lives. Within the group, the street
children and youth negotiate what it means to be a street child and what their position is
in society (c.f. Lysgaard, [1961] 2001). The group is where the street youth evaluate
themselves in relation to their peers, and where their actions and practices are monitored
and judged by other street youth.
As discussed in Chapter Two, I operate with the term ‘street social field’ to frame
social and cultural processes which happen within the street community. The street field is
difficult to delimit, as the constellations of individuals who are engage in social
interactions within this field are fluid and constantly changing. Hence, I have to
conceptualize the street social as a “network of networks” (Hannerz, 1980:200-201), which
predominantly stretches all across Java, as well as other parts of Indonesia.
72
Socialization and initiation into the street community
In the following section, I will examine different ways of initiation into the street
community, and how knowledge is transmitted to the “new kids” (anak-anak baru). As
discussed in Chapter Three, children are not necessarily ignorant of what they will meet
when they move away from home. Awareness of the world outside the village is raised
through media and the social network of the child. Some may know other children who
have left home, a cousin, neighbor or a brother, and may be tempted by tales from the
street. Most of the children become aware that street children exist, which establishes
leaving home as an alternative. It is common that the children have first hand contact with
street children before they make the decision to move away from home. Bambang, who
spent the days at and around the market together with his mother, who sold vegetables
there, made friends with a group of street children. They taught him how to make money
by begging, playing music and stealing before he moved away from home. The same was
the case with Adi, who worked on the streets of Jakarta (c.f. Chapter Three). He also got to
know street children, and was invited to hang around with them. In a way, one can say
that he was recruited to become a street child. He remembers being encouraged not to go
home at night, and that he sometimes was embarrassed to go home, because the other
children teased him for being weak and spoiled (c.f. Beazley, 1999). The street youth look
down on working children because they are not free (bebas) and independent (mandiri) like
the street “educated” children are. Working children, who come in contact with the street
community, hence may feel a peer pressure to leave home.
Initiation of the new kid
Sometimes children come from a different city without knowing anyone from the street
community. He or she is a new kid (anak baru). In the meeting with the street community,
the anak baru has to prove themselves to be accepted. Ulis told me that when he ran away
from home at the age of 12, he took the train from his city to Yogyakarta. He did not know
where to go, and he was not brave (berani) enough to leave the train station when he
arrived in Yogya. Soon however, a group of street children found him, and asked him
where he was from and why he had come to Yogya. When he told them that he had run
away from home, and now planned to live on the street, they beat him up and stole his
money. Afterwards, they forced him (dipaksa) to eat food from a garbage bin (hoyen). Being
73
beat, robbed, forced to eat hoyen, or forced to buy food and drinks for everybody may be
seen as part of an initiation ritual. The other street children act as initiators, giving the anak
baru contextualized bodily experience of the way of life on the street. The initiator who
possesses the “secret know-how”, which the anak baru is desperate to obtain, places
himself above the cultural novice in the street hierarchy (c.f. Barth, 1994b).
When the initiation ritual at the train station was over, Ulis remembered being
invited to join his initiators at the public toilet on Malioboro where he was introduced to
other children, and given something to drink, as a gesture of friendliness. Clearly, this was
a sign that Ulis was about to become accepted as a member of the street community. At
the toilet he was advised and lectured on how to live, where to sleep, street values, rules
and ethics. To say it with Barth (1994b), he was given decontextualized knowledge voiced
by “gurus”. The gurus also establish themselves higher in the street hierarchy than the
anak baru. The different source of powers of the “initiators” and the “gurus” will be
discussed later in this chapter. When the initial knowledge it passed on, the anak baru is
expected to take care of himself, as independence is an important and necessary trait. It is
important for the street children and youth to help each other, but their main concern,
however, it to look out for themselves. Gradually, he will acquire more knowledge and
become an educated street person. Later he may become the initiator and guru of a future
anak baru.
An important aspect of initiation to street life, is how the child, who initially seeks
freedom from the claims of the family and state, has to give in to the law of the jungle
(aturan rimba) on the street. One practice where this is illustrated is anal sex (sodomi) as a
part of initiation. Young boys are often sodomized (dibo’ol) by older boys, sometimes in
return for food and a promise of protection. This act gives the anak baru a lesson that the
younger child will be controlled and ruled by the older youth. If the child tries to resist he
may be threatened with violence. In some cases an older boy “owns” one or more of the
younger boys (anak-anakan), who he regularly has sex with in exchange for food and
protection. When the boys get older, they themselves may sodomize (membo’ol) the
younger boys, as a way to show that they have climbed in the hierarchy on the street, and
now are in control of the younger children. Bongkok (1995) writes in his autobiography
that he was sodimized as a child, and that may be why he as an older street child
sodomized other children (ibid.:71). Although the first experience with anal sex may be
74
painful and experienced as a violation (Bongkok, 1995:46), most street children and youth
never articulate that they see this as a particularly violent act (c.f. Berman, 1999). It is
rather seen as a part of life, and to many, the practice is something that they start to enjoy
(c.f. ibid.). Some continue the practice with their friends as they grow older. This does not
mean that they identify as homosexuals (orang homo, orang gay). On the contrary, are
opposed to homosexuality and may call male sexual perpetrators from outside the street
community orang homo. Berman (1999) makes a linguistic analysis of children’s accounts of
violence. She argues that “to steal from or enjoy the services of one’s weaker street cohort
is a part of the natural causal order of survival” (ibid.:5), and an obligation (harus) of the
weak. On the contrary, abusive interactions with outsiders, i.e. mainstream society, is
“framed by persecution” (ibid.:7) and within a wider context of oppression, and will be
described in terms of “force” (terpaksa). The street child and youth will react to the
situation in relation to how he positions himself “within the power structures of the streets
and that of the mainstream social order” (ibid.:6).
The initiation rituals and lecturing by gurus doubtlessly play an important part in
how the new kid (anak baru) starts to redefine himself and take on the street child identity
offered to him. It gives him a new way to interpret and negotiate his experiences at home.
Argued with the words of Rudie (1994:12), the initiations to street life “punctuate” the
“innocent” home life and bring it onto a discoursive level. With the new knowledge
acquired, his “old life” is recontextualized, and the anak baru learn to look at his old self
and home with contempt. He will come to despise the rules of home, and his own childish
helplessness and inexperience while still living at home (c.f. Chapter Six). The contents of
the knowledge transmitted through rituals and lectures, establish street life in contrast to
mainstream society, and constitute the street community as the new reference group of the
anak baru. The initiation rituals become the first lesson of how to become an “educated
street person” (Levinson & Holland, 1996).
How does this cultural reproduction and transmission of knowledge crystalize into
a feeling of belonging and identity? Bourdieu (1977) argues that there is a distinction
between “role-modeling”, which he sees as a conscious imitation of others, and
“becoming” which he sees as a subconscious formation of habit in daily activities
(ibid.:87ff). The new knowledge acquired on the street may at first be questioned by the
anak baru as he “role models” the other children. The price of inclusion within the group,
75
which is to give up control of one’s body may seem costly, at the same time standing
outside the group may seem even less appealing. With time, however, the cultural
knowledge of the street will become self-evident and incorporated, and form a street child
identity, which is a “stable element in a social system in flux” (Rudie, 1994:74). In other
words, the punctuation of the child’s “old” life places “old doxa” within the sphere of
reflection. Through a process of identity building street life is taken for granted.
Children who come alone to the street, but who already know someone in the street
community, may be excused from such initiation rituals as described above. Because of the
nomadic life style of the street youth, where they frequently move from place to place, the
street community is formed as networks of social relations that span all across Java. The
network also makes it possible for the street children and youth to travel from place to
place, as they know that it is possible to meet friends or friends of friends who will help
one get adjusted to a new city. Once I accompanied Dion (10) to Jakarta. At the train
station we met another street boy. He could easily pick Dion out of the crowd, because of
his shaved head, style of dress and temporary tattoo. The boy and Dion had never met
before, and the Jakarta boy asked Dion where he is from (anak mana?). Dion replied that he
came from Yogyakarta. The boy lit up, and asked whether Dion knew Agung and Ali,
which he did. Then they chatted for a while about how the two boys had the same friends
and how they had met. Dion told me afterwards that he was relieved to know the same
people as the boy. Being at the train station with a foreigner (me) could be seen as
trespassing onto the boy’s territory where tourists are especially lucrative train
passengers. He would have feared being beat up (dipukuli). Similarly, I observed how
newcomers to Malioboro were asked where they were from, and allowed to play music
(ngamen) if they knew someone in the Yogya community. Knowing someone in the
community seems to be a signal that a boy is ok, and that he has already passed the initial
exam into street life.
Not all children who leave home are included in the street community. There is not
an automatic solidarity between the homeless children and youth. Those who are not able
to take care of themselves (jaga diri, kurang mandiri) and those who are seen to be spoiled
(manja) or arrogant (sombong) would be excluded or sanctioned. Others were not accepted
because they differ from the normative street youth. One boy would always be teased and
sometimes beaten and chased away from the group. When I asked some boys why, one of
76
the street youth told me that he did not like the boy because he is crazy (orang gila). He
was teased for having dark skin (orang hitam), which is an insult based also on the myths
of beauty also embraced by the middle class. There were other boys who had darker skin
than this boy, who were never teased, which indicates that there were other reasons for
why he was not included. I assume that the real reason the rejection of the boy was that he
seemed to be developmentally challenged, and in that way differed from the others.
Beazley (1999) notes that the she experienced how the street boys did not accept a boy
who was deaf and Chinese29. This indicates that the street community has established a
hierarchy where certain categories of people are not accepted, and marginalized. In this
way, the street boys who themselves are marginalized make themselves the center of the
street sociocultural field by excluding and marginalizing others. The street girls (rendan30)
are one group which is marginalized and made “the other” by the street boys, which I will
discuss further below (c.f. Beazly, 1999).
The free child – an alternative to state ideology
What are the core contents of the street philosophy that is transmitted to the anak baru and
culturally reproduced through everyday life and practice? The following will be a
discussion of street values and some of their inconsistencies.
When I asked the street youth why they enjoy street life, they would often state that
street life is nice (enak di jalan) because street life is cool (hebat, asyik), as it allows them to
be free (bebas), independent (mandiri) and live without rules (tidak ada aturan). As discussed
in Chapter Three, street life is freedom from the unwanted claims and demands of the
state and the family. On the street, certain values such as freedom and independence are
celebrated. They will express happiness that they do not live at home because on the street
there is no one to order them around (menyuruh), or who is angry with them (marah) like at
home, and that they can go and do whatever they want. They can eat when and what they
29
The Chinese Indonesians are generally discriminated against in Indonesia. They are often scapegoated for
the financial problems of the country, and were targets of riots and violence after the economic crisis
(krismon) in 1997-98. I talked to one street youth who participated in the violence, and who explained that he
“really hates the Chinese”.
30
“Renadan” (vagrant wearing makeup) is what females are called by the street boys. The street girls
themselves prefer to be called anak jalanan (street child), which is also what the boys are called (see below).
77
want, and whenever they are tired they can just lay down and sleep wherever they choose.
In this celebration of values, the street children and youth tend to romanticize street life,
which is by Beazley (1999) seen as way to remind (or convince?) themselves that street life
is the best form of life (ibid.:158).
The feeling of freedom to live without rules, free and independent, is not always in
accordance with reality. There are indeed rules and codes on the street, and when they are
broken the perpetrator will be sanctioned. Aria, for example, was beat by the boys because
he stole money from a friend. Another boy, Adi, who was visiting from Jakarta, was
verbally sanctioned for being too negative about the Yogyakarta community, criticizing
“everything” and not acting like is appropriate for a guest who is met with hospitality.
The others called him vulgar (kasar) for not knowing how to behave. These are examples
of street justice. When someone acts in unacceptable manners, they are talked about. The
gossiping, and exchange of opinion about an individual and his actions are parts of a
continuos socialization process, where the group reaches agreements on what is to be seen
as proper behavior. What the individual perceives as freedom, may be interpreted to be
freedom from the claims of the State and the powerful groups within mainstream society.
Interestingly, however, the street youth judge each other also based on the scale of
refinement (halus) and roughness (kasar), which are seen to be core kejawen values (Geertz,
C., 1960; Geertz, H., 1961). Whereas most people from mainstream society see them as
kasar, the street youth themselves strive to become refined (halus). Bambang explained to
me that he saw himself as more refined than many of his friends on the street, but that he
was often embarrassed (malu) when he met with non-street Javanese because he feels kasar
compared to them. This will be further addressed in Chapter Five. At this point I will only
draw the attention towards how the values are interpreted with relative relation to which
reference group the street youth turn towards, his street peers, or powerful groups within
mainstream society.
Freedom is also expressed in relation to the family. As discussed in Chapter Three,
many children have left home because of physical and psychological abuse, and the street
becomes a rescue from this. They will express that street life is nicer than life in a
neighborhood (kampung). The youth will express gratitude that there is no one to
command them (menyuruh), or be angry with them (marah) like at home. Nevertheless, at
other times the street children and youth will express that they miss someone to care for
78
them (memperhatikan). Many street children and youth often miss their families, and
especially their mother and sometimes also siblings. This feeling seemed to become
stronger closer to the holidays, such as Ramadan, when the tradition says that one should
go home to one’s families and ask for forgiveness (minta maaf) for one’s shortcomings and
wrongdoings. Some children and youth go home around this time. Others told me that
they were too embarrassed (malu) because of their sinful (berdosa) lifestyle to face their
families and old neighbors.
To the street youth, the sense of freedom involves being able to travel from place to
place (jalan-jalan ke mana-mana). The nomadic life style of the street youth makes them
difficult for the State to control and monitor. The official registration card (Kartu Tanda
Penduduk – KTP) is an important way for the State to control the population, and the lack
of a KTP is an important factor in the oppression of the street youth, as already discussed
in Chapter Three. On the other hand, at times the street youth will express gratitude that
they are not registered. The lack of KTP becomes a symbol of the free street lifestyle.
Having a KTP has moral implications, and one is then expected to live up to the ideals of
the State. Some of the street youth see the lack of an identity card as an advantage because
it makes it easier to hide from the police. Doubtlessly, at times it may have practical value.
For example, when Gus was arrested for possession of drugs and stealing from a
supermarket, he was able to lie to the police about his identity. According to his friends,
that influenced the punishment because he was treated like a first time offender, when he
in reality had been to jail for stealing before. Nevertheless, in other situations the lack of
KTP becomes a burden, as will be discussed further in Chapter Five.
The ideal of independence (mandiri) also involves that they can take care of
themselves and are not dependent on anyone to survive. Someone who always asks for
things (minta sama orang) is seen as (spoiled). Being independent gives a feeling of freedom
and pride. The street children and youth would often oppose being felt sorry for, and be
insulted when they are presented or treated like victims. Creativity and skills are also
valued traits, and the street youth often talk about their skills and the importance of
learning. Acquiring skills makes one independent and gives one the opportunity to take
care of oneself without begging and being spoiled by others. The artistic and
moneymaking skills of the different street boys are discussed and admired by the group.
Bambang, who is a skillful guitarist was often given compliments for his music and Slamet
79
for his artwork and pantomime acts. One of the street boys was seen as an especially
talented pickpocket (copet), and there were stories and rumors about how he has, through
fasting and meditation, obtained magical powers that make it possible for him to see
through clothes to find where people hide their money. Creativity and skills in making
handicrafts are also valued traits. Bambang told me that “because we are street children, it
is very important that we study. Otherwise, how would we survive?” (“Karena kami anak
jalanan, penting sekali kami belajar. Kalau tidak, bagainmana kami hidup?”). Bambang
emphasized the necessity for the group to learn and obtain knowledge. Furthermore, he
told me that this was something he learnt from talking to an older street boy when he was
younger. In line with the collective need for skills, the street youth learn from and teach
each other. At the production house for handicrafts where I spent some time, it was
common to see the young learn from the old, the skillful from the less skilled.
Being happy
The important thing is to be happy (yang penting senang) is a central life motto for
Bambang. This is a general attitude on the street, and the street youth will often claim that
street life is a happy way of life. The street children and youth are expected not to express
negative emotions and talk too much about violence, hunger and hard times, as it is
construed to be a normal part of life (biasa saja). Instead humor, jokes and laughter are
important ingredients in street life and survival. As discussed in Chapter Two, this is
common for the Javanese to suppress one’s inner feelings and desires in order to maintain
harmony (rukun) (Geertz C., 1960; Geertz H., 1961; Siegel, 1986; Mulder, 1996). In
situations where the street youth feel discriminated against (c.f. Chapter Five) he may
express anger and despair. Often the anger is expressed on behalf of all street youth as a
group, and not just as a reaction of the individual. An example of this reaction is given by
Sugeng when he comments in Jejal on the celebration of the National Children’s Day (Hari
Anak Nasional), July 23rd:
Ever since I was little, I have not understood what the children’s day is about. I have only
seen children on TV, who get together and sing and dance with Mr. (Pak) President. And
we, on the edge of the street, wonder when we may become like them (My emphasis.
Sugeng, Jejal July, 1999:31)31. This collective anger and feeling of injustice is expressed
31
My translation from Bahasa Indonesia.
80
through discussions within the group, with non-governmental organizations, and public
manifestations such as street concerts and demonstrations (e.g. Jakarta Post, Feb 7, 2001).
One street youth told me that he would pray to God when he was feeling very sad and could not
make sense of his life. He believed that God was testing him by placing him in this life. Faith in God
is comforting to many street youth, and becomes an outlet for difficult and negative feelings that
cannot be shared with the group. Bambang told me that sometimes at night, when he tried to sleep,
he would pray to God and sometimes cry. The idea that God exists makes him feel better. He
believed that God had given him the most difficult life (hidup yang paling susah) in this world to test
his faith. In this way, negative experiences and hardship are given new meaning in the context of
religious faith.
People, who complain too much in the group are sanctioned. Eko was left by his foreign
girlfriend, and went through a hard time. He told me that he was stressed (stress) and
confused (bingung and pusing) after she left, and he often came to my house to talk about
it, and asked for my help to write her letters in English. The other street youth were
annoyed with his complaints and told him to stop it (ya sudah!). To me, they said that the
whining was more than anything an expression of how Eko had become spoiled (manja)
with his rich woman, and that now he was not able to be happy without her money.
The carefree attitude comes together with the desire to live for the moment. Worries
of tomorrow will be taken care of later, whereas today is important now. Street life is
unpredictable and uncertain, and the general idea is that it is not possible to know what
the future may bring. Life on the street is so unpredictable that they do not know what
will happen. The solution is to over emphasize that they do not care (cuek) what will
happen.
Cuek – not giving a damn
The street children and youth often feel monitored and judged by members of mainstream
society. When the street youth enter the dominant field, in face to face interactions with
the non-street Javanese (c.f. Chapter Five), they are reminded of in what ways they are
stigmatized and confused (bingun) about how to lead their lives. A common reaction to the
stigma it to state that the he does not care (cuek) about what people think of him. As one
street boy told me:
81
If people tell me that I should not live the way I do and dress the way I do, just let them, I don’t care.
If I want to live like this, well, yeah, this is how I’ll live. (Kalau orang bilang aku enggak boleh hidup
seperti ini, biarin aja, aku cuek. Kalau aku mau, iya begini aja! – Ulis, pers.comm.).
Not caring (cuek) and “just let them” (biarin) becomes ways of resisting the demands of
mainstream society, and places one’s own individual desires first. This becomes more
difficult as the street children grow older and internalize the dominant ideology through
the process of biculturation (c.f Hannerz, 1969:137; Beazley, 1999:260, Chapter Two). The
street youth then become able to see themselves through the eyes of the non-street
Javanese and become embarrassed (malu), whereas it is easier for the younger children to
not give a damn. When someone experiences internal street justice, the individual will also
react with “cuek” and “biarin” which in those contexts can be seen as an individual attempt
to demonstrate personal agency.
Searching for experience
The street children and youth look down on the neighborhood (kampung) children for
being inexperienced. The street youth take pride in touring around in search of new
adventures. On their return they retell the stories which gives them status within the street
hierarchy. The travelling enhances their feelings of freedom and independence. Staying
mobile is also a strategy for survival, at times it will be necessary to leave the street for
safety or economic reasons. For example, during Ramadan, Jakarta is seen as a better place
to be than Yogyakarta because the latter city is too quiet (sepi) which makes it difficult to
make a living. Other times, running away is necessary to escape the police or enemies on
the street. In Java, travelling is generally seen as valueable. Poor people are generally less
able to travel, which adds to the street youth’s feelings of superiority to their kampung
counterparts who are more “trapped in space” (Beazley, 1999:162). Bambang often made
remarks about how he sees all things in life as experience, and the meaning of life itself is
to accumulate different experiences, and how he is grateful for being street youth because
his life has been filled with adventures. This may also be understood as a way to shed a
positive light on negative experiences such as abuse, hunger and violence. It is all
worthwhile, as experiences give life it’s meaning.
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Spending money
The street youth commend themselves for not being spoiled (manja) and for being happy
with very little material possessions, yet at the same time they are extravagant with the
spending of what money they do have (boros). This goes together with a careless attitude
and lack of concern about what tomorrow will bring. The money they earn is spent
immediately on food, drinks and entertainment. One reason for the lack of willingness to
save money is that they do not have anywhere to keep the money safe. Especially the
younger children fear carrying money because they may be robbed by gangsters (preman)
or older street youth. Sometimes the youth would leave money (titip uang) and belongings
with social workers, food stall owners or other adults they trust, or find a hiding place.
When a youth has money, it is expected according to both Javanese and street
etiquette that he shares with others. This “solidarity” is at times felt forced, and one street
boy told me that when he had money (pegang uang) he would either spend it immediately
on himself, or stay away from his friends for a while. If the others knew that he had
money, they would force him to spend it/share it with them. The consequences of not
showing solidarity by sharing or giving, is to be labeled ‘stingy’ (pelit) which is a serious
insult, which may be followed by social isolation. Still, other times, the street youth would
tell me that it is a great pleasure to be able to treat your friends to a meal or drinks, as a
payback for all the times oneself has received aid when in need. I also witnessed moving
acts of solidarity when someone was in special need. One night the street children and
youth participated in organizing a street concert to collect money for a husband and wife
who are both blind and who are well known in the Malioboro community.
Being able to spend money on what the street youth desires also enhance the
feelings of freedom and independence. According to the street children and youth’s own
account, they make more money than working children from the kampungs, and yet do
not have the same obligations towards a family as the others. That means that the street
youth may eat at food stalls (warungs) and enjoy video games, the cinema, billiard,
prostitutes and gambling from time to time, activities which enhance the feeling that the
street is a positive place to be (enak di jalan).
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The street hierarchy
The following section will account for how the street children and youth gain and
maintain status within the hierarchy on the street. The street children and youth celebrate
equality, and claim that there is no leadership on the street, but that everybody can do
what they want (read: emphasis on the values of freedom and independence).
Nevertheless, the children and youth monitor and bring justice upon each other, when
someone acts in contrary to street moral and values, and some youth speak with more
authority than their counterparts. As discussed in relation to the initiation of the new kids
(anak-anak baru), there is an individual struggle towards becoming an educated person,
one aspect of which is to enhance one’s status.
Once the child is initiated into the street community he has to continue to prove
himself in order to gain a more fortunate position within the hierarchy. The laws of the
jungle (aturan rimba) dictate that the more powerful boys dominate the boys at the bottom.
It is possible to look at the search for status as a survival mechanism, but at the same time,
the boys also pursue personal fulfillment through enhancing their status. Rudi, for
example, told me that when he was little the others bullied him. Now he is the boss at the
crossroad, and the other kids pay him to be allowed to play music there. He explains,
“That is because I have had progress in my life”. The young boys see the older boys as
their role models, and express that they want to become like them. Street life is a career
with possibilities of promotions32.
Personal traits such as age and sex are important to one’s rank. The older boys have
a higher position than the younger. It is important to note that age is a relative indicator,
as very few of the street children know exactly how old they are. It may be more accurate
to say that physical size, experience and knowledge, which are connected one’s age,
influence one’s status.
Machismo values
Furthermore, to gain and maintain a position within the street hierarchy, and to defend
oneself if it is necessary, is a way for the street boys to express a stricter masculinity than
what would be normally expected from the non-street Javanese. Again, this is related to
32
In Chapter Six, I will see this in relation to national discourse on progress, development and modernity.
84
the values of independence, and the hardship of street life, where masculinity illustrates
one’s authority, strength and adulthood. When the street children reach puberty, their
expressions of masculinity change. As I will discuss further in Chapter Five, the sanctions
that the street youth meet change dramatically when they reach adolescence, as they are
no longer small (kecil) and cute (lucu), and mainstream society to a larger degree expects
them to be responsible for their “inappropriate lifestyle”. A reaction to this may be that the
street youth obtain an attitude of “not giving a damn” (cuek) and withdraw further into
the street culture. Nug, a 13 year-old boy, went through a phase when he reached puberty
where expression of masculinity became very important to him. In meeting with older
boys he would be loud and demand attention. He told stories of how much alcohol he
could drink, and he made remarks about having girlfriends. Alcohol and the girls are
symbols of adulthood, and an obvious attempt of Nug to impress the older boys and be
considered an adult himself.
Nug came from a group of 4 friends, three boys and a girl between 9 and 13 years
old. In the beginning of my fieldwork these four were rarely seen without the others. Nug
was the first to “grow up” and try to work his way in with the older boys. Agung, another
boy from the group of four followed shortly. When I first met Agung, he appeared to be a
small and shy shoe polisher. Then a few months into my fieldwork, I met him at a concert
and he wore black nail polish and a temporary tattoo. He asked me for a cigarette. It
surprised me as I had never seen him smoke before, and his appearance had changed
completely. He told me that he had just started, and he did not really like it, only
sometimes. A couple of months later he got a mohawk, punk style clothes and a real
tattoo33. He stopped working as a shoe polisher, and started to play music at a street
corner, which is seen as more appropriate for the older boys. He would smoke and drink
with the bigger boys, who earlier would advise him not to drink alcohol because he was
too young.
Agung clearly went through a phase of transformation from a small street child to a
street youth. Agung and Nug continued to hang out together, and I never saw them
together with their other two friends, Roni and Yuni, who complained to me that they
never saw Agung anymore, and that Nug had changed completely. Yuni told me that she
was afraid of Nug now because he had stolen their money, and demanded sexual favors
33
Street style is discussed in Chapter Four.
85
from them. Agung, they told me, was still nice, but he was never around anymore. When I
asked him why he was not with Yuni and Roni anymore he told me that he still likes
them, but that he was tired (malas) of them, and that it was more fun to hang with Nug
and the older boys. The process from childhood to youth may also be understood as a
punctuation (Rudie, 1994) of childhood, and an incorporation of adulthood, in this case
exemplified with masculine behavior. It seemed that Agung experienced a conflict of
loyalty amongst his old friends, which indicates that there was a time of reflection of one’s
new role within the street community. In the end, however, the desire and necessity to act
like an adult when they reach puberty became more important. Nug demonstrated early
in the process that he removed himself from his (now) old friends, as he threatened them
and stole from them, a clear sign that he moved himself upwards in the hierarchy, and felt
that he was now able to dominate and control them.
Alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are important components of a masculine street life
style. Alcohol and drugs used in public space is an especially important factor in the
feeling of being free (bebas) and independent (mandiri), as it is not socially accepted
behavior by the priyayi elite and dominant Muslim society. For children to engage in such
adult activities is seen as inverted praxis and displays of obscenity by mainstream society
(c.f. Chapter Five), and adds an important part to the construction of a street child identity.
Sometimes the young children would smoke and drink, but the older children would
often warn them that it was not good for their health, that they risked not getting taller
and might become impotent. These threats become serious, as size and sexual activity are
important measurements for masculinity. In this way the youth engage in role playing,
with the older boys taking on a parenting role by looking out for the best interests of the
younger ones. Nevertheless, at other times, the younger children felt it necessary to smoke
and drink in order not to be bullied by the older kids although, they told me, they did not
really want to. On a few occasions the younger kids used me as an alibi not to smoke by
telling the older children that I did not allow it. In this way they could avoid the
expectations of masculine and adult behavior, which is not always appreciated by the
individual.
The ability to handle drugs and alcohol is important, and some of the street youth
made a point of trying different drugs for the sake of experience. Still it is not seen as good
behavior to brag about how much alcohol one can use, or about the fact that one has tried
86
drugs. They are to be seen as a normal part of life. Excessive talk about it would be an
expression of lack of experience (kurang pengalaman).
Having been to jail may be seen by some street children and youth as a necessary
aspect of becoming an educated person. The law is seen as a product of dominant
ideology and kejawen values, and breaking with them further establishes a street youth
identity (Ertanto, 2001, pers.com.). Many street youth have been to jail, mostly for stealing
and violent acts. Stories from jail are often shared and compared. I was given detailed
descriptions of the scarce and terrible food, rotten and infested with insects, and tales from
the cell which was shared with several other inmates34. Being young and usually petty
criminals, the street children were at the bottom of the hierarchy and forced to take orders
and give backrubs to the older inmates. Their hair would be shaved right before they were
sent into prison, and the freshly shaved head would serve as a symbol of their status as
newcomers, which was also a green light for other prisoners to give them a beating.
Bambang told me that the worst part, however, was the loss of freedom. “On the street, I
was used to freedom. It was terrible to be locked up in jail, and watch the birds fly across
the sky above.” At the same time, Endar would talk with nostalgia about his friendships in
jail. The hardship and friendships in jail may be seen as a “liminal phase”(Turner, 1970),
where the street youth and his friends inside, many of whom were also street kids, taught
and demonstrated their position within mainstream society and a strong sense of
community was established. The street children in this position create a community based
on common suffering, which adds to or strengthens an understanding of where they are as
a group, and as individuals, in relation to mainstream society and the State. Having gone
through a jail experience becomes a symbol that one is a “real” street kid. It gives the
individual the opportunity to demonstrate that he is able to cope with extreme hardship
and that he is brave (berani) enough to break the rules of mainstream society. To many,
being to jail is highlighted as their ultimate street life experience (pengalaman). Suvil (19),
who had never been to jail, told me that he wanted to have that experience. He had once
been taken in a cleansing operation (garukan) (c.f. Chapter Three). The police held him for
two days together with many other street kids. That, however, does not count as serving
34
Indonesia has been criticized for the treatment of juvenile delinquents. Under aged offenders have been
tried in front of adult courts, and sent to prison with adults, which are breaks on United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child (Smith, 2001).
87
“real hard time”, according to both Suvil and Endar, who was also listening to the
conversation. By the end of my fieldwork, Suvil had his “wish come true” when he was
arrested and imprisoned for stealing.
Street girls
The street boys express masculinity in their relations with the street girls, who are
marginalized. The boys often made statements that the street is not a place for girls (c.f.
Beazley, 1999). The girls are called rendan, which comes from kere berdandan (vagrants
wearing make-up. The girls find the term rendan insulting, and they prefer to call
themselves ‘street kid’ (anak jalanan), which is also how the boys refer to themselves. The
boys’ labeling of the girls becomes a way of ‘othering’ them. In this way, they place
themselves as the normative street youth and become the center of the marginal street
community. The attitude of the boys towards the street girls has its roots in a more general
discourse on gender in society. As discussed in Chapter Three, the state ideology on
women, state Ibuism, places the girl and the woman in relation to the home and the
family. Furthermore, the street is seen as place without morals (tuna susila) and women
who are seen on the streets after 9 pm are seen as bad women (perempuan nakal). The street
boys’ attitudes towards the street girls are based on the same rhetoric. The street is defined
as a masculine place, and women who decide to enter the street world hence should be
willing to adapt to the rules of the street boys. In many cases this also involves an
acceptance of sexual and physical harassment and abuse. When a street girl is abused, she
herself is blamed, because she is on the street, where she should not be. This is a common
attitude on rape in Indonesia (and elsewhere in the world), where women are often
blamed and have their morals questioned35.
The girls, who often left home because of sexual and physical abuse, which is
derived from the patriarchal structure found within the family (c.f. Chapter Three),
experience that although they leave home, they are not able to escape sexist attitudes and
behavior. Nevertheless, the street girls are not paralyzed by terror or passive victims.
35
Source: NGO Rifka Annisa http://www.rifka.annisa.or.id. For similar accounts from Java see Beazley
(1999). Bourgois’ (1995:211) study of el Barrio in Harlem, New York presents a similar analysis of women
within the patriarchy of inner city streets.
88
Instead they redraw the borders of gender by carving out space for themselves on the
fringes of the street community. The girls do not often hang out in Malioboro with the
boys, instead they have chosen the city park (taman) as their territory, where they can act
on their own terms (c.f. Beazley, 1999).
The street offers limited possibilities of making a living. Playing music and shoe
polishing are male activities. I only saw girls sing and play for money a few times, and
then they were invited by the street boys to do so. Most of the girls, according to the ones I
met, are dependent on having a boyfriend for survival. The street girls will trade sex and
love for food, protection and sometimes drugs. Some of the girls would have several
boyfriends at the same time. A lucky girl would find a nice (baik) boyfriend, who was after
more than just sex, and may become a potential life partner. A girlfriend of one of the boys
could come to the toilet, as he would offer her protection, and the others would stay clear.
Although the street girls may use sex as a means to survive, they do not see themselves as
prostitutes (lonte). Some of them may go into professional prostitution and start working
in tourist bars, the “red light districts” of the city, or at the beach. This is appealing as it
gives them the opportunity to make their own money and be independent (mandiri).
NGOs are working together with the girls to increase their room for agency. Most of the
girls I encountered have chosen to work with NGOs and learn how to make handicrafts
and develop other skills in order to be independent. Some of them expressed gratitude,
that they were no longer dependent on the boys for survival. Furthermore, it enhances
their status on the street to have a job, which is acceptable for a woman.
The street boys see the girls as material girls (cewek materi), and several of the street
boys told me that they did not want to be with the street girls, as they are not independent
(mandiri) and only expect the males to pay for them. Instead they preferred to date girls
from the neighborhoods (kampungs) or foreign students, social workers or tourists. At the
same time, when some of the street boys enter a relationship with a wealthier woman,
they themselves usually hope to be taken care of financially (c.f. Chapter Six).
Sometimes the boys pity the girls. One evening I met a very unhappy girl together
with some boys in Malioboro. She told me that she had just arrived in Malioboro after
running away from her home in Sumatra together with her boyfriend. She said that she
was already tired (bosan) of street life, being hungry and sleeping on the pavement. She
missed her home, but did not know how to return. She was still with her boyfriend, but
89
things were not working out well. One of the oldest and most influential boys in the
group, Joko, came to me during the evening and asked me whether I could do the
community a favor and let the girl sleep in my house that night. He argued that she was a
girl and not able to cope with the stress of street life. He told me that since I am a woman I
should be able to understand her hardship. He felt that she had become a burden to the
community, as she was not independent (mandiri) and they thought it was a good idea for
her to return home. The boys showed compassion and felt sorry for her.
Positive changes in the dynamics between the individual street boys and girls have
been made through works of NGOs. Production houses for handicrafts, both single and
for both genders, offer the boys and girls an opportunity to make their own money in a
“respectable” way. For older boys and girls who work together making handicrafts, the
relationships are more equal. Some of the boys and girls were good friends, and had
known each other on the street for years, but never had the chance to get to know each
other until now when working together. Because of this, some of the boys and girls
preferred working together with members of the opposite sex. In this way, some
production houses functioned as bridge builders between the boys and the girls, which
enhances the safety of the street girls. Other NGOs worked especially with the girls, which
certainly is needed, as some girls expressed the desire to have space defined for girls only
in a masculine street world. This may serve as an example of how the street girls are not
passively accepting the position given to them, but form their own space. Bambang
explained that he enjoyed the company of his female colleagues at a production house of
handicraft because they were economically independent (mandiri). It is possible to imagine
that the economic independence of a woman is worth more when the money is made in a
respectable profession, such as handicraft production. Additionly, the women at the
production house were both hard working and skillful. The girls who depend on their
boyfriends are seen to be lazy, unable and unwilling to work.
Friendships, solidarity and violence
As shown, one is socialized into street life after arriving from home and the kampung,
which is followed by a process of re-identification for the children and youth on the street.
In addition to alternative sets of values and ideals developed to become an educated
person, the child and youth also becomes a member of a social network. The street youth
90
and children are dependent on these networks and friendships, which they have in
common with other Indonesians, especially the poor (Ragnhildstveit, 1998). Friendships
become one’s social security system, and as discussed above, principles of collective
ownership, sharing and solidarity guide social relations. Also for the priyayi elite, social
networks are important in order to maintain status36. One can not assume a priori that the
Indonesian word for teman is the same as the English friend. Teman is defined more
loosely than in English, and also applies to what in English may be referred to as
‘acquaintances’ or ‘colleagues’. My teman were assumed to be other foreigners, just
because we look the same, which has also been noted by other anthropologists in
Indonesia (Broch, 1992:174).
Ragnhildstveit (1998) defines the use of teman in Yogyakarta to be “almost anyone
who [has] a possible egalitarian connection to which [is] not based on kinship or
neighborhood” (ibid.:85). Friendships amongst youth on the street are based on the idea of
equality, and a feeling of “being in the same boat”. The feelings of sharing a destiny are
celebrated in rituals of sharing food and drinks while sitting in a circle at night playing
guitar and singing (c.f. Chapter Five). At the same time, the importance of friendships is
emphasized in the life stories and the stories of the youth’s street careers. I was often told
that the nicest thing about street life is the many friendships (banyak teman). Bambang told
me stories from when he was little, where he strongly underlined the happiness of
working, eating, sleeping and seeking adventures with all his friends (teman-taman). As
youths and young adults, they still put great emphasis on the camaraderie of the street.
Clearly, friends are the largest source of emotional support for the street youth, and at the
36
A priyayi woman in my neighborhood who is an insider (orang dalam), traditionally referring to inside the
walls of the Kraton, explained the necessity for her and her family to network with other orang dalam, to
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same time friendships and social networks are crucial to survival. In the evening after
work, when they meet (ngongkrong) on Malioboro, is the highlight of the day (c.f. Chapter
Five). Friendships on the street may be seen as networks of individuals, where close
(akrab) friendships and alliances are constantly shifting. The networks of friendships
become interpretive community where street values and lifestyle are hegemonic, and yet
negotiated.
Close friends (teman akrab) often work together, sleep in the same place, and are
seen together in Malioboro at night. The red lights (lampu merah) and bus stops of the city
are divided between the boys, and in some places they have to compete with children and
adults from the neighborhoods (kampung) who make money playing music (ngamen). The
alliances between the boys are constantly shifting, and it is not uncommon for a boy to
move to a different red light, as long as he already knows someone from the group
originally playing there. One day I visited a group of boys who play music on the inner
city buses. When a bus stopps at the sidewalk, the two boys enter. One of the boys would
give a small introduction before singing. The other walks down the aisle of the bus and
collects money. They claimed to make around Rp 50.00037 in one day, working from
morning until evening, which is quite a lot of money by Indonesian standards, even when
shared between the two boys. I asked them why they prefer to work in pairs when
working alone would pay twice as much. They explained to me that it was more practical
to divide the work. I argued that it would be possible for one person to sing a song, and
then collect the money afterwards. They agreed, but added that to play music alone make
maintain the boarders towards outsiders (orang lapangan) (ibu Ana, pers. comm.)
37
50 000 = approx. NOK 50 in 2001.
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them feel uncomfortable and embarrassed (malu38), which underlines the necessity for
emotional support, especially when at work with mainstream society where they are
subjected to negative sanctions.
Working together in groups is also necessary for safety reasons. During the Suharto
regime, when they were on the constant look out for cleansing operations (garukan) (c.f.
Chapter Three), it was better to be on alert in a group, to watch out for each other. Today,
the street youth still have reasons to fear the police. The youth are frequent targets of
suspicion, because of their physical appearance, “unacceptable” lifestyle and lack of
official documents. When one of them is wanted by the police, they will cover for each
other. One of the street boys escaped to Jakarta after an incident where the police were
looking for him. The boys in Malioboro were frequently questioned by the police, but
refused to give them information, although they knew where he was hiding. In Jakarta,
the boy could seek refuge within the street community there, something which also
illustrates the inter city network of the street youth.
I see public space as a patchwork of different territories inhabited and used by
different groups. Unwritten rules and codes guard invisible borders. The street children
and youth have to defend the space where they work, live and spend their leisure time,
which is placed on the margins of society (c.f. Chapter Five). As an example, the street
youth and children who play music are in active competition with children and adults
from the neighborhoods over lucrative places to play. In addition, the street children and
youth sometimes complained that they had to give place to students and religious groups
collecting money for a “good” cause. Furthermore, as discussed above, the street children
38
In Chapter Five I argue how the feeling of embarrassment is developed as the children grow older, and is
a part of the biculturation (Hannertz, 1969; Beaxley, 1999) process where the youth are taught by main
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and youth are also in danger of being robbed and assaulted by other street youth and
gangsters (preman). The street children and youth feel especially vulnerable while asleep,
and it is therefore common that they sleep together in groups. At night when they meet in
Malioboro (c.f. Chapter Five), the number adds to the feeling of safety and control.
Being a member of a group is in this respect valuable and necessary, as a potential
perpetrator will be aware that the street youth will stick up for each other. When a street
boy gets into trouble, he will turn to his friends for help. During my stay in Yogya, a
group of street youth got into a fight with a Malioboro street trader. One of the boys had
argued with the trader earlier, and the trader attacked him. Angry and humiliated, the boy
went to the public toilet on Malioboro, where his friends were, and they all came with him
to take revenge. The fight got out of control, and the trader was knifed to death by the
boys. This serious incident was followed by police actions against the street community,
and several of the street youth were arrested, which illustrates how the street children and
youth are treated as a group, rather than as individuals. In the end some of the street boys,
who had actually participated in the incident were arrested, while two others managed to
flee the city. Several other street children and youth decided to leave the city after the
killing, and the ones that stayed behind left Malioboro and other hang out places. Not only
did they fear the police, but most of all they feared that the family and friends of the man
who was killed would take revenge. All the associates of the street community would be
potential victims of such an act, since the whole street community was given collective
guilt as a group. The issue was resolved after rounds of negotiations between
representatives of the street community (consisting of many of the older members of the
original GIRLI), and friends, relatives and colleagues of the trader who was killed. The
stream society that their life style is in conflict with dominant ideology.
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issue was finally settled internally, without the influence of the police, who none of the
groups trust39.
When I later talked to one of the street boys who had participated in the violent
incident, he explained to me that although his life now was in danger and he regretted the
outcome, he still felt that he had done the right thing in helping a friend. This was
confirmed by another street youth who expressed relief that he had not been there when it
happened, because then he too would have been involved, without questions about who
was right or wrong. The bottom line is that when a teman is in need it is a duty to offer
assistance. In that way one is guaranteed assistance in return. The same principle works
for money and food where one is expected to share, which discussed above, at times feel
like forced solidarity.
An important lesson learnt from the story of the killing, is how the group is judged
collectively, and the actions of one individual may have consequences for the entire group.
This makes social control and the sanctioning of unwanted behavior necessary. Ulis
brought a friend to the street one evening who got too drunk on whiskey, and was loud
and rude to the girlfriend of another boy. One of the other street boys talked to Ulis about
the “problem”, and advised Ulis not to bring this friend anymore. Ulis told me that he was
embarrassed (malu) on behalf of his friend, and for having brought him there. It was
explained later to me that it’s not good to introduce people to the group who do not know
how to behave (kasar), as they may get the whole group in trouble.
39
The police in Indonesia have reputation for being corrupt, and after the killing there were rumors that
although the police knew where the fugitive s were hiding, the family of the victim did not have the money
to pay them to solve the case.
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Conflicts, violence and stability
The importance of friendships should now be evident. Nevertheless, the alliances between
street youth are constantly shifting and often fragile. Some friendships go back to when
they were little. When asked to tell their stories about how they met their friends, stories
of both love and hate come forward. Bambang was, according to himself and others, the
tyrant of the street when he was younger. He was the boss of a crossroad, and the other
children had to pay him to play there, otherwise he would beat them up. I once was
around when Bambang met someone that he had not seen in years. They talked happily
about old times, even though the stories were about how Bambang bossed the other
around, and would take his money. When I asked the youth whether he was still angry
with Bambang, he laughed and said that this is how things work on the street, and that it
is all experiences, and experiences are good. It is seen as natural that the stronger will rule
over the weaker. There is no visible harm done or bitter feelings afterwards, but amongst
the street youth it is a constant struggle to hide your weaknesses.
Who is seen as a friend (teman) may change over night. One day Eko told me stories
about Iwan, a student he was friends with, who he said was a very nice guy. Whenever
Eko needed anything Iwan would help him. Eko said that if Iwan had money and he
didn’t, Iwan would always buy food and alcohol for the two of them. The next day, I met
Eko again, and he was upset. He told me that he was really angry with Iwan, and did not
like him anymore. In fact, no one liked him. I reminded him what he had said just the day
before, but he just made a face and told me that it was all in the past. Now he was a really
stingy guy who would never give anything. He has rich parents, Eko told me, still
whenever he gets money he never gives any. He also has a rich girlfriend, and now he had
her car, but he would never let Eko and Eko's friends borrow it. They had wanted to go to
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the beach the night before in the car, but Iwan said no. I suspect that this matter was the
source of a conflict that resulted in Eko's change of attitude. As this story illustrates, the
motive for arguments is mostly about money or things that are lost or stolen. Sometimes
there are arguments over women, but I was told that the most stupid thing one can do is
to fight over a girl, and that there is a rule on the street that your friend's girlfriend is off
limit. Still, on a couple of occasions, I witnessed fighting amongst friends on the street
over tourist girls. That might have a material side to it, because tourist women are often
seen as a source of income. Love or sex, however, is not seen as a legitimate reason to fight
with a friend.
Without friends the street can be a dangerous place. In the beginning of my
fieldwork, I became close to one street youth, who got into severe money problems. He
borrowed money from all his friends, and he had eaten on credit all over the city. People
told me that they were annoyed with him because he tried to cheat everybody in his
desperation. On a couple of occasions I too maneuvered myself out of set ups staged by
him in order to get money. Finally he stole from a friend, and that was the last drop.
People were looking for him to take revenge so he fled the city. The word was that one
street youth, who had a particular reason to be angry with him, wanted him dead. This
story illustrates how it is important to maintain your friendly connections and be fair with
your allies. Otherwise there is no protection and space for you.
Money and borrowed clothes are often a source of conflict between the boys. Once I
visited some street youth at the crossroad, and I witnessed a fierce argument over a pair of
jeans, which one of the boys had borrowed and “lost” (hilang). The oldest boy at the site,
whom the younger children pay for protection, interfered and put an end to the argument,
ordering them to stop arguing over material things. He lectured that it is important for
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“us” (kita) to stick together, and “we” should not fight amongst “ourselves”. Afterwards,
he turned to me and complained that keeping harmony (rukun) on the street was a hard
job, because the kids (anak-anak) argue all the time.
The importance of maintaining harmony (rukun) and solidarity on the street is often
emphasized by the street youth, and this is celebrated in rituals and music as I will discuss
more in depth in Chapter Five. This is also the message of Girli, the street boys
organization, discussed in Chapter Three. The big family of Girli encourages the street
youth to create allies with different people, including members of mainstream society. The
street youth often refer to each other in terms of little brother (adik) and older brother
(kakak). These terms of familiarity underline the solidarity within the street community.
Adik and kakak are more than just terms of friendship, as they also indicate a special and
close (akrab) relationships where the older brother is expected to protect and assist the
younger brother, who in turns will respond with feelings of loyalty and respect (hormati).
Some of the kakaks on the street, I have previously in this chapter named “gurus”, as they
clearly have a mission to enlighten the younger street children in important aspects and
values of street life, as discussed above. In the times after the killing, as discussed above,
these older street boys/young men were particularly active in negotiating with the
offended groups. Another empirical example also clearly illustrates the roles of the kakaks
on the street, and the importance of solidarity.
I attended a concert in Malioboro street together with some street youth from Yogyakarta and
Jakarta. The good music and the alcoholic drink lapen created a pleasant atmosphere, which was
strengthened by the friendly visitors from Jakarta. A whole group of us were out dancing in front of
the stage. All of a sudden I noticed a change of spirit, and I saw some people running. Made, one of
the boys from Jakarta, came running towards where we were standing to tell us that one of our boys,
Joko, had been stabbed in the arm while dancing. Made was clearly angry (emosi), and wanted to run
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back to get the guy who did it. Henny, an older and respected woman from Jakarta, grabbed him
and dragged Made behind a building to cool him down. Public displays of anger are not common
on Java, nor on the street. The situation was tense, and we evacuated the area, and our group met
again in front of the toilet. Everyone was clearly shaken by the incident, fearing that it would erupt
into a street war. The elder people in the community talked about the importance of staying calm.
They knew the perpetrator, and the group he was in, and Rio, one of the most respected men of the
street community, urged everyone not to take revenge on their own, but let the community as a
whole deal with it. He stressed the importance of community by repeating the word kita, “us”
inclusively. we. Joko, the one who was stabbed, also had gathered at the toilet, and he was cut badly
and needed stitches. I offered to take him to the hospital, and Rio called me over to him and asked
me if I would do kita (us, the community) a favor by doing so. Then he stressed that kita, the
community will be thankful if I could help. I brought Joko and another street youth, Rojo on the
motorbike to the hospital. While Joko was with the doctor, Rojo and I had to fill in his papers. As he
does not have an official registration card (KTP), we had to make it up as we went along; i.e. his
home address, his occupation etc. When we came to where we had to fill in the cause of the
“sickness” Rojo poked my side and signaled that I should be quiet. He then wrote “accident” in the
rubric. I asked him afterwards why he had lied about what happened. He explained to me that the
hospital might inform the police about the incident, and since the street youth do not have official
papers, they may be blamed.
This illustrates how the kakaks, or gurus, took a central position to solve the situation. The
others were kept under control, as by Henny’s demonstration of authority in relation to
Made. It is a common notion both on the street and within Javanese society that age fosters
patience and knowledge (sadar), and in this situation the elders were able to act before the
youths got out of control, as Made was about to do. This is a common way to deal with
problems on Java, and it helps to maintain harmony (rukun). In this way, the elders
controlled the situation, but also set an example of how to act, and sanctioned those who
did not behave accordingly. In this situation, the control and harmony were especially
important as an uncontrolled response could have brought the whole community into a
dangerous spiral of violence.
In the hospital, Rojo protected the street community by lying to the staff, and
displayed distrust in formal institutions. Mas Rio, one of the elders of the community
urged internal street justice, and intended to patiently find the perpetrator themselves,
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instead of trusting a legal process. Mas Rio told me that they were not necessarily
interested in practicing “eye for an eye”, but it was important that the elders had a talk
with the offender in order to settle the matter.
It is possible to recognize two traditions of transmission of knowledge from this
discussion on initiations. On the one hand, there is what I have called “initiators” (Barth,
1994b) who through rituals of initiation give the new kid (anak baru) contextualized
knowledge and bodily experience of power relations on the street. In addition, there is
what I call the “gurus” (ibid.) who through lectures, speeches and the setting of examples
“reveal the truth” about street life, and pass on decontextualized knowledge. Inspired by
Mauss’ (1954) theories of exchange, Barth explores how different types of knowledge
transmission foster different relationships between student – teacher. On the street, both
the initiators and the gurus will receive respect from the younger and more inexperienced
cultural novices. Nevertheless, whereas the young child will accept his inferior position as
a part of life, I was often told that they at times nurture images of taking revenge on their
superior street peers. The relationship with someone, who is powerful because he is
stronger, is hence at times fragile, as the struggle for power is continuous. The street
youth’s relationship to those who I have called gurus is of a different quality. They are
given central and powerful positions in times of crisis, and have a large influence and
authority on the street. They are called upon when the street youth or children need help,
and they are often active organizing events in the street community. The street children
and youth, who as discussed, see themselves as independent (mandiri) and free (bebas) do
not always agree with the gurus. At times some of them complained to me that they think
they talk too much about responsibilities, instead of just letting people have fun and do
what they want. At an early stage in my fieldwork, Rojo openly addressed Mas Rio and
told him to get off his case. Rojo felt that Mas Rio was not being respectful enough
towards him in return. Rojo, who is seen to be wise and honored for his personal qualities
as well as his talents as a musician, is seen by others as a role model. After the
confrontation Rojo and Rio became closer friends, and by the end of my fieldwork, Rojo
told me that he felt that he and Mas Rio were in a relationship of mutual respect. I read
this to have been a process of Rojo enhancing his status in relation to Rio. Rojo became an
older brother (kakak) and maybe on his way to becoming what I call a guru within the
street community.
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The elders in the street community often complain that the young kids of today are not as
obedient and respectful with the elders as they used to be. They told me that times had
changed and that there is not so much solidarity (solidaritas) on the street anymore. They
argued that the street children are more individualistic now than before, and have become
more oriented towards consumption. They believe that the pride of being a street child
and youth is not there anymore. I was given several reasons for this. Rojo believes that one
reason is drugs. In the old days, the street children and youth would enjoy ganja
(marihuana) from time to time in order to chill out and have a good time. Now, according
to Rojo, the main purpose of social gatherings for some people is to drink and do drugs.
The drugs now are harder, such as heroin, and make communication and community
difficult, while often causing arguments and violence. Other street children and youth
complained that the reason why the climate and atmosphere has changed is that nongovernmental organizations and the elders do not care enough about them. I was told that
compared to how it used to be, the influence of KPJM (c.f. Chapter Three) has decreased.
Joko argued that another reason for the decay of community and pride is the
constant presence of foreigners, who become friends with the street youth and introduce
them to wealth, which makes them dependent on money to have fun. Beazley (1999)
suggests that another reason for the changes may be widening gaps between rich and
poor. Malioboro, with malls and a fast growing numbers of shops, has also made the
difference between rich and poor more visible, and may have made the street children and
youth increasingly frustrated with their life situation (ibid.:169). The desire to be rich and
live in wealth threatens the ideal of the “educated street person” presented throughout
this chapter, and establishes other ideals which are more or less within reach of the
individual street youth. These ideals as I will show, may cause conflicts between the
individual desires and group solidarity.
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Chapter Five
Cultural Exclusion and Resistance of Oppression
“Once I dated a Javanese girl who was in SMA (High school). She lived in a kampung close to
Malioboro, and I met her in a food court (warung). I liked her, and we became girlfriend-boyfriends
(pacaran). The problem was that she didn’t know that I am a street boy. She thought I was a student
because I wore a shirt when we first met, which covered my tattoos. I always had to wear a long
sleeved shirt when I went to see her. When I went to her house I had to borrow clothes from friends
to look good. She was a nice girl, but in the end I broke it off (putus) because it was too stressful. I
was always afraid that her family would beat me up if they saw me on the street with my friends
because then they would find out who I really am. Now I think that I want a girlfriend who accept
me the way I am. ” – Bambang (22) (From my fieldnotes)
Children who leave home are perceived qualitatively different once they are on the street.
As mentioned in Chapter One, the street is seen as an immoral place, where children
should be accompanied by responsible adults (Hecht, 2000: 151). The rank and status of
the children change in relation to where they are, on the street or at home. Media and
members of mainstream society are often ambivalent in their perception of the street
children. On the one hand they are seen as potential criminals and a menace to society. On
the other hand they are pitied and perceived as victims. This ambivalence may be
understood in light of the theories of Douglas (1966) in Purity and Danger, where she
argues that ‘matter out of place’ is polluted, and a threat to morals and values of society. I
argue, that children outside the family and the protection of the home are similarly out of
place in relation to dominant ideology, and hence become anomalies (c.f. Panter-Brick,
2000).
Above, Bambang tells about an experience he had when meeting with members of
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dominant society. It is a situation where he comes onto foreign land – the territory of
mainstream society. In the eyes of his girl friend and her family, he can only be accepted if
he tries to conceal that he is a street boy and adopts the behavior and values of dominant
ideology. Another solution is, like he did, to remove himself from the situation and return
to his own domain, the street. Once there he expresses a hope for the future that one day
he will be accepted and respected. In accordance with my theoretical discussion in
Chapter Two, I will argue that in this situation in Bambang’s life, he interacts within the
dominant social field. The rules of the game are different than what he knows from the
street, and his possibilities to influence the rules within the field are limited because of his
social standing. Interaction with members of mainstream society is framed by a different
meaning context than within the street community, as discussed in Chapter Four.
Following this, new meaning is given to Bambang’s life situation and actions. This in turns
influences his self-concept.
This chapter will explore street youth agency in attempts to gain control of their
lives in the meeting with members of mainstream society. As previously discussed, the
street children and youth can only be understood in relation to mainstream society, as
they live in public space, and are dependent on members of “the rich” (orang kaya) for
because they are the target of money generating activities. I will argue that the
relationship between the street youth and non-street Javanese is dynamic, and both parts
actively “other” each other (c.f. Beazley, 1999). The street youth are marginalized socially
and culturally, as the dominant groups within mainstream society have the power to
define the “principles of hierarchization” (Bourdieu, 1991:168). Nevertheless, the street
youth are powerful enough within their powerlessness to interpret and negotiate their life
situation and position within society. They have what Scott (1985) called “weapons of the
week”. They are able to “embellish, decorate, parody and when ever possible to recognize
and raise above a subordinate position which was never of their choosing” (Hebdige,
1979:139).
Personal encounters with “the other”
In Chapter Three, I described the family as a “cultural cross road” (Eriksen, 1994) and a
“disorganized social system” (Barth, 1994a). Similarly, I will argue, the street is an arena
where different cultural streams (ibid.) meet, and are negotiated and contested by people
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who engage in social interactions within the street social field and the dominant social
field, which is the anthropological model used in this thesis. In the following I will make a
“thick description” (Geertz, 1973a) of the social universe of the street youth. I hope to
illustrate the inconsistency in the “cultural systems” (Ewing, 1990) that the street youth
operate within and between, and how the systems are open and negotiated by the
individual, but at the same time borders between groups and categories are maintained.
For the discussion of how the street youth interact with the non-street Javanese, it is
useful to keep in mind the term ‘biculturation’ (Beazley, 1999:260; Hannerz, 1969:173),
which I introduced in Chapter Two. As discussed, this is a process where the street youth
become aware of how they are seen through the eyes of members of mainstream society,
and incorporate dominant ideology. This includes an incorporation of the ideals “the
educated person” (Holland and Levinson, 1996) as defined by powerful groups within
mainstream society.
The problem of growing old
The story of Bambang above indicates that the street youth feel oppressed by dominant
society. They are hurt by how they are treated, and especially as they grow older, the
socialization in accordance with dominant ideology increases in strength, and the street
youth become increasingly aware of how they are seen by members of dominant society. I
was told that when street children are still little, they are not embarrassed (malu) for being
on the street, and working is “easy” (gampang) because they felt brave (berani) in asking
people for money. Now that they are older, it is harder because it does not feel right to
almost be an adult and not have a “real job”. As the kids grow older it is more common to
hear them complain that they are tired or bored with street life (capek/ bosan di jalan), and
express concern about what to do with their lives. It becomes more difficult “not to care”
(cuek) about what other people think of them. This change of feeling about street life and
self-esteem is partly due to the stronger and more insulting social sanctions they
encounter from members of mainstream society as they reach puberty. The young kids are
seen as cute (lucu) and people feel sorry for them. That makes it easier to make money. An
older child will not be able to earn money begging, because people will lecture him and
tell him to work for his money. The older children are expected to work and make honest
money, and are held responsible for their own life situations and actions. The changing
attitudes from many non-street Javanese lead to a “career crisis” (Lucchini, 1993).
104
Bambang told me that he became a beggar at the bus station when he first moved away
from home. Soon other people who worked at the station told him that it was not
appropriate for a young, healthy boy not to work for his money. After a while, he became
too embarrassed (malu) to beg, and learnt to sing and play percussion and was able to start
making money by playing music, commonly known as busking (ngamen).
One night I met 15-year-old Budi on Malioboro. He was carrying his shoeshine kit,
but told me that it had been a very slow night. He had tried to make some money at a
tourist bar, but he was yelled at for bothering the guests. His two younger colleagues had
a good night. “People don’t like me anymore, now that I am older”, he complained.
Polishing shoes is seen as a suitable job for the young street children, but the older ones
are often hassled by the public and have a hard time finding customers. Budi did not
know what else he could do. He could not afford a guitar, and he also felt embarrassed
(malu) to play music using a small guitar and sticks. Having a real guitar, however, would
make him an adult street musician (pengamen).
Bambang and Budi felt very uncomfortable in interactions within the dominant
social field. It is important to note that the feeling of embarrassment to the Javanese is a
fundamental barometer for proper behavior, which is tightly connected to the necessity to
show the appropriate respect for people. This is also connected to the important value of
not loosing one’s face (hilang muka). In this way feeling malu is avoided as much as
possible (see e.g Geertz, 1961:110-114). The feeling is tied into the failure both to be refined
(halus) (Geertz, 1960) and to be progressive (maju), as I will discuss further in Chapter Six.
The feeling of being malu also illustrates that ideology of the dominant is incorporated into
the street youth. He knows how, what I may call, “the educated Javanese” is supposed to
be, and he knows that he is not able to live up to the ideals, which are expected of him
within the dominant social field. In this process of biculturation he becomes his own critic
where he in these situation will judge himself in accordance with dominant ideology.
“The Other” seen from street perspective
In contrary to Bourgois’ (1995) account of el barrio in Harlem, the street youth do not live
in a ghetto that the dominant can avoid, but they are in public space where they meet
different people, rich and poor, come for entertainment, errands and work. Growing up
on the street makes the street children and youth skillful net-workers and they have
numerous strategies to provoke people's support and friendship (c.f. Chapter Six). In the
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following I make a thick description of the social universe of the street youth, as a means
to account for the diversity of the dominant society and the street youth’s different ways
to relate to different people. The account is based on the categories of the street youth.
The rich people (orang kaya)
The most common hierarchical system applied by the street children and youth is that of
two categories, the rich (orang kaya) and the poor (orang miskin, orang yang tidak punya)40.
Interestingly, the classification of people within this system is much a matter of morals
and not mere economic factors. Orang kaya is a term used to name anyone who is
perceived to be richer than the street child or youth. It is a term with emotional
connotations, and is used to talk about the Others as opposed to Us, the street children
(anak jalanan). Using the term creates a distance between the individual and the outsiders.
It is often used in a negative way, where people talked about are seen as arrogant
(sombong), spoiled (manja), or inexperienced (kurang pengalaman) with real life (hidup yang
benar).
‘Rich’ and ‘poor’ are relative terms, and economically disadvantaged people from a
neighborhood may be called rich (orang kaya), when they are seen to have more than the
street youth. It is often used in a derogatory way, when the street youth feel oppressed by
someone from dominant society. For example, once in Malioboro, a man who passed by
corrected Budi for being drunk on the sidewalk. Budi explained to me that he does not
care about (cuek) that rich man (orang kaya itu). “I may not be rich, but I am at least friendly
(ramai), free (bebas) and independent (mandiri)”, he told me. This is an example of street
youth agency where the self-concept of the street youth is shaped in relation to the orang
kaya. His self is projected towards the current situation where he is on the street, at the
orang kaya is not, but that is ok because street life is nice (enak di jalan). In this situation,
Budi orient himself towards street values, which offer an alternative source of dignity and
respect.
At a concert, a band entered the stage, which turned out to be very skillful. I
commented to Rojo that I liked the music, and he replied that they are very rich (orang kaya
sekali). He could tell from their clothes and instruments. Then he indicated that being a
40
Rangnhildstveit (1998:16) found that the ‘little people’ (wong cilik) categorized people with the same rich
and poor categories.
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skillful musician is no big deal when you are rich, and that street youth who are all self
made, are much more impressive. The achievements of the rich are not valued as much as
their own, because good things come easy to those with money. Also within an arena like
music, which brings different people together, people’s skills are negotiated in relation to
their social standing. And again the classification becomes an establishment of the dignity
of being poor and loyalty and solidarity with the street community.
People who show solidarity and willingness to help and share with the street
community may be orang kaya, but then orang kaya often is followed by a positive term like
goodhearted (baik hati), nice (orangnya baik), or cool (orangnya asyik). One example is how
Bambang described a social worker who allowed him to spend lebaran (celebration period
at the end of Ramadan) with his family. "He is very rich (orang kaya sekali), but his whole
family is really goodhearted (baik hati)." The people called rich are often expected to have
negative qualities, and sometimes when a goodhearted rich person “disturbs” the mental
categories of the street youth, he or she is treated as an exception to the rule expressed by
a “rich but….”
For a street youth to be called rich by another street youth is a painful insult. This
may happen when a person manages to get money or possessions, and who is not willing
to share with others. This makes it difficult for the individual to leave street life behind, as
he would be expected to share with the others. The insult transforms the individual from
the “we” (kita) to the “Others” (orang kaya). Eko had a wealthy girlfriend and experienced
pressure from his friends who wanted him to ask his girlfriend for money. This made Eko
uncomfortable, and when he refused the others said that now he has become rich (sudah
kaya) and arrogant (sombong). Eko told me that he had decided to stay away from the street
for a while because his friend did not understand his difficult position. Staying away is
likely to escalate the problem because that means that he thinks he is better than they are.
This way of excluding someone from street community becomes a mechanism of cultural
and social (re)production within the street social field, as it prevents people from breaking
a tradition of equality. The individual street youth may then have to withdraw from the
street community. In the example of Eko it shows how individual desires conflict with the
interests of the group.
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People from the neighborhoods (Orang kampung)
Orang kampung may be called the common people in Indonesia. Nevertheless, it is
important to notice, that what are called orang kampung is a diverse group. There is a
polarization between people who live inside a kampung (kekampungan) in modest houses,
and the often bigger houses (gedungan) that lay along the main roads. (Dick 1990:164,
Sullivan 1992). Furthermore, wealth within the neighborhoods is unequally distributed.
The orang kampung come out into public space for shopping, errands and entertainment
(Ragnhildstveit, 1999). They play a central role in the socialization of the street children
into the Javanese society, but they are also competitors and role models, which will be
illustrated in the following.
I went to eat mie goreng41 with Agung (13), Tomy (13) and Dion (10). In the warung 42, a woman
asked them where they are from. They answered politely that they come from different villages, but
that they now were on the street in Yogya. The woman questioned them about street life and urged
them to go home. They were uncomfortable with this, but always polite. Finally and with no
apparent reason, the woman told them that it is not nice to steal, and that it is better to beg. The
children responded that best of all is to work for your money. (From my fieldnotes)
The street children in this situation automatically addressed the woman politely, as
required in accordance to Javanese etiquette. The street youth have internalized the
Javanese hierarchy and know when to act with familiarity and when to show respect
(Geertz, H., 1961) and act accordingly when the interact within the dominant social field.
The woman applied to a stereotypical way of addressing the boys, assuming that they are
delinquents. Furthermore, she saw it as her duty to give them moral advice. The boys,
aware of the situation, answered what they knew that she wanted to hear. Even though
they sometimes will steal to make a living, they know that stealing is wrong. When she
advised them to beg as an alternative to stealing, the boys surprised the woman by telling
her that it is better to work than to beg. That is in accordance with a Javanese work ethics.
Hence, the boys demonstrated a higher level of moral than the woman expected. The boys
felt uncomfortable because the woman made assumptions, and they told me that they felt
41
Fried noodles
42
Food Stall
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that she put them down, which contribute to their feelings of embarrassment for being
street kids.
After the economic crisis 1997-98, the competition on the street got harder, and one
reason was that many children and adults from poor families in the kampungs came to the
street in search of money43. Parents sent their children out to play music on street corners,
polish shoes or sell newspapers to help with the family income and pay for their
education. The increased competition from kampung children (anak kampung) results in
occasional clashes between the two groups. The street children feel that their space is
invaded and they are at times forced away from the “good spots” for earning money
playing music (ngamen). At one street corner of the city, the street children have been
forced to share the four arms of the intersection with other groups. They have been forced
to take the side where there is less traffic, which means less income. The street children
and youth often find that they loose such battles because the kampung children have their
neighborhoods and families to fall back on. Is a clash gets to the attention of the police the
street children are sure to loose because they do not have official registration papers44, and
therefor pre-supposed to be troublemakers and criminals. At one time there was a serious
clash where the some kampung children attacked a group of sleeping street boys. The
problem escalated to the point where the street children felt the need to carry knives. As a
result, one of them was arrested for possession of a weapon. It was later explained to me
how unfair the situation is because the kampung children can use their home as a base,
and only bring knives when it is necessary. The homeless street children and youth, on the
other hand, have to bring it with them everywhere because they do not have a place to
hide it, and therefore risk being caught by the police.
Despite the fights and competition, the street children also have friends who live in
the kampung. Many kampung children of different social strata also hang out in the street
at night, and some mingle with the street community. On one occasion, a street boy, Gus,
was beat up by the other street boys over money. Gus then went to his friends in a
kampung, and they came out to help him get even. These shifts in loyalties happen
regularly, as discussed in Chapter Four. Still, friendships or romantic relationships with
43
This observation was made both by social workers and the street youth themselves. The information was
obtained through personal conversations.
44
Kartu Tanda Penduduk - official registration papers. Discussed in Chapter Three.
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kampung children and youth is difficult for the street children, because they are generally
not welcome into the kampung and people's homes, as illustrated by the story of Bambang
in the beginning of this chapter.
The kampung children are, also looked down upon for being rich. As already
explained, that means that they are spoiled (manja), and that they do not have the
experiences (pengalaman) that street life offers. Still, there are moments when the street
children will express jealousy of the lives of the kampung children. As one street boy put
it: "How nice it must be to be a kampung child! All they have to worry about is eat, go to
school, eat again and sleep". Despite the apparent ease of kampung life, the street youth
express gratitude that they are not connected to a kampung because of the freedom they
have on the street, and that they do not have household chores to do. They also told me
that they were happy that they, as opposed to the neighborhood children, can spend their
money the way they like. One street boy told me that once some rich people (orang kaya)
felt sorry for him and took him in. They promised him schooling, food and a bed to sleep
in. In the beginning he told me that he was very happy, but was soon annoyed by the rules
he had to obey, curfews and bed times. He also missed his friends. Finally, he told me, he
stole their stereo and ran away to the streets again. This again demonstrates how the street
youth harbor an ambivalence towards, what I call, “on the street” and “off the street”
values, and foreground and background the sets of values at different times (c.f. Howell,
2001).
The meeting with “normal” children may be difficult for the street children, as the
contrasts between them become very apparent. The child may become reminded both of
what he is not, and at the same time, of what he is. I once was walking together with 10
year old Dion when we ran into a group of school children about his age. The school
children who walked in a big group, all wearing their school uniforms, looked at Dion and
made loud jokes about how he was crazy (orang gila). Dion wore a pair of shorts and a
dirty basket ball shirt, and he was barefoot with his head shaved, a sharp contrast to the
well dressed children with neat hear cuts. It was therefore easy to pick him out as different
from the group despite their similar age and size. Dion reacted to the harassment with a
tough face, and he pulled up his sleeve to make sure that they all saw the temporary tattoo
of a naked woman that he had just gotten. He urged me to walk away with him. When I
asked him afterwards how he felt about the school children, he just sneered and said that
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they are spoiled (manja). He said that his friends on the street are more cool (asyik). I
suspect that he did not feel comfortable with them because he was there alone with me,
and that his friends were not around. To me it was clear that in the meeting with them it
was important for Dion to underline the difference between them by showing his tattoo.
In that way he signaled that he is a member of a different group, and that he is a free child
(anak bebas) who does not have to obey their rules. It would also be safer for him to meet
the children when he is with his friends, because he knows that there might be conflicts,
and that his friends would help him. At the same time the companionship of other street
children, would in this situation have offered him reassurance that he is different but cool
(asyik) and free (bebas). Alone with me, the harassment hurt him, and he rapidly removed
himself from the uncomfortable situation.
Street vendors, pedicab drivers and petty traders are mostly orang kampung that
work in the realm of the streets. The street children give a different status to the orang
kampung that they know, and they often become role models and allies. As discussed in
Chapter Three the corporation Girli encourages the street children and youth to befriend
other people. In this way, the street children and youth can be ensured protection when
they are in need, as well as with food and small jobs. Some vendors let children that they
have a close relationship with, buy food on credit. The vendors can also provide a safe
place for the children’s scarce belongings during the day, when the children are out at
work. I often observed children leave their bags tucked away under the roof of a street
vendor’s trolley. The vendors get to know the children, and close relationships are not
uncommon between street children and youth and women who run food stalls (warung) in
areas near to where they play music for money. The younger children will find it
comforting to have these relationships, as they may to some extent serve as a substitute for
the mother that they miss.
Street youth vs other Javanese youth
Student and high school kids often come to the streets for entertainment and to hang out.
Gjestad (1999) explores how the management of different arenas and situations (tahu
situasi-situasi) is an important cultural capital within a Javanese youth peer group
(ibid.103). Management of the street, being street wise, my be argued to be cultural capital
in certain youth communities, especially to young boys and men. This effects youth, who
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are not street children but who also come to Malioboro to enjoy the good atmosphere and
perform similar social activities as the street youth such as sitting around, playing the
guitar, singing and drinking. This become a symbol of being urban and modern, and to be a
social youth (anak gaul), which is what a cool kid would aspire to be. In this way, the main
streets of Yogyakarta become a pool of youth cultures where ideals and trends circulate.
As mentioned, some students become good friends of the street youth and will at times
spend the night on the street, and envy the street youth’s freedom. The street youth, on the
other hand may at times envy the mainstream youth’s ability to take part in the
commercial world, and possess nice clothes and motorbikes. Still the borders between the
groups are maintained, as the adoption of certain cultural elements does not make a high
school kid become a street youth. Here it is useful to use an empirical example from
Gjelstad (ibid.). Roni, an 18 year old high school student from Solo says that he sees going
camping as being free (bebas) like a vagabond (orang jalan). To him this means “spending
little money, sleeping little, eating little, smoking lots, and talk lots.” He also leaves his
toothbrush and towel at home, like a real street person. But then, he brings a battery run
TV, claiming to be a street person, but a modern one (ibid:102). Roni adapts certain
practices and values which he believes to be street like. Then he distances himself from
poor street youth, claiming to be more modern. The street youth take pride in being able
to survive on little, and the bringing of a TV would in most contexts be seen as cramping
their style. In this ways the borders between Roni as a middle class boy, and street boys
are maintained, although cultural elements may be borrowed by such “cultural
bricoleurs” (Hebdige, 1979).
Nevertheless, some students are to a large extent accepted by the street community.
These may fall under the category “rich but cool and goodhearted” discussed above. To be
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accepted as a richer youth it is important not to be stingy (pelit). In some occasions the
students share their monthly allowance from their parents with their street friends. One
student used his parents’ home for shelter for some of his street friends when that was
needed. The students have to prove not to be spoiled (manja), and have to prove that
although they are not homeless, they are cool and experienced with hard life. Some street
youth told me that rich people never really will be accepted in the street community,
because they will always be evaluated in relation to their economic standing. Andi (21)
told me that this was an aspect of the street community that he himself did not like, as he
wished that one day people would be judged for who they are and not for what they have.
Returning home – a culture clash
When the street children and youth come to the street for the first time, they are still
“mainstream children”. Through initiation and identification with the street children, their
way of life gradually changes, as discussed in Chapter Four. Returning home can after a
while be characterized as a culture clash, and a clash between the ideals “educated street
child” and the “educated Javanese child” (c.f. Holland and Levinson, 1996). Some children
and youth regularly visit their families. Other children and youth never go home. Some
are afraid to be punished, some do not know where their families live, and some are too
embarrassed (malu) because of their sinful (berdosa) life style on the street to return. The
street youth’s emotions connected to the family home are often ambivalent. At times they
express happiness that they are free from the claims of the home, whereas other times they
feel sad because they miss their mothers and siblings. There are many stories in Jejal about
the home where they express how they feel. Danil writes
At times when I am reminded of my mother I sometimes feel sad. If I am fed up, I like to hate my
parents. Now it is no longer possible for me to see my parent again and I feel like I have been very
wrong and sinful in my ways towards my mother. Why did I choose this very unpleasant street.
Whether this is my fault or my destiny, I am now reminded of my future. Before, my parents cared
for me and I was really very happy. And if someone was mad at me I would often cry. And now
who will be mad at me and who will give me advice. And just now I feel that what is called this life
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is really very difficult. (Danil, Jejal, Dec. 1997, my translation).
Danil explains how he at times when he is tired hates his parents, but at the time of
writing the passage, he feels sorry for having made the wrong turn in life. This is a
common feeling, which seemed to intensify during Ramadan and lebaran45. Many street
children and youth go home at this time to ask for their families’ forgiveness. Others try to
fast and pray to become clean (bersih) around this time.
One time (not in relation to lebaran), I was invited to follow Bambang to his family
home. He told me that he missed his mother, and he wanted to show her that he was
doing alright. At the same time, he had decided to try to get an official registration card to
become a good person (orang baik), which I argue, he sees as opposed to being a naughty
(nakal) street person. He had saved money for the ride home in addition to some money
that he wanted to give his mother. It was important to him to prove that he was successful
in the city and lived a good life something the money would be a sign of. I would also be a
sign of his success, as a foreign friend would represent material wealth and progress in the
eyes of his neighbors and family. In addition he argued, it would be helpful to have me
there in the meeting with civil servants in order to obtain the papers he needed for his
KTP to have me there, as they would treat him with more respect. “If they see me with my
tattoos and this hair, they will not help me, but if you are with me they will think that I am
more progressive (maju)”, he told me. In this way, I argue, he could present himself as a
successful migrant returning home for a visit. The following is an account of our trip
Before going to his village and on the way, he told me nostalgic stories of how nice and cool his
place is in the mountains, and he told me that I would enjoy it there. As we approached on the
motorbike that he had rented, he stopped in the nearest city first. He showed me the marked where
he had started his career as a street kid, and told me stories about the old days. Not until after
evening prayer (sholat), he decided that it was time to find his mothers house in a village outside the
city. Approaching her house, which was a shed with dirt floor and walls at the back of a another
family’s house, he excused himself because her house is vary small, poor and underdeveloped
(kurang maju). Bambang told me that his mother in any case was lucky that a family had allowed her
to stay there, although they knew that she would often lack money for rent. I could tell that he was
45
Festival to mark the end of Ramadan. This is a time to repent and ask for forgiveness for ones sins,
wrongdoings and shortcomings.
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hesitant and nervous about the meeting. When we arrived, the mother cried when she saw him.
Bambang was quiet and visibly moved too. His mother was a single parent in charge of his two
younger siblings, a boy of about 10 and a girl of 6. They smiled at him, and he was happy to let them
listen to music off my disc man. He joked with them and told the boy to look after his mother, and
not be naughty (nakal). His mother asked for Bambang’s brother who is also on the street. Bambang
told her that he is doing alright, although I knew that he had not seen him in months and had told
me that he had given up on his brother because he always got into problems. He later told me that
he lied to her that because he did not want to upset her. He then gave her the money he had brought
with him. Bambang explained to his mother that he wanted to get a KTP, and that he would need
his birth certificate. She told that it got lost, and that she does not know his date of birth. She could
only tell him that Bambang was born on the marked in the city about 22 years ago. Bambang
showed his mother a letter that he has obtained from a state official saying that he has moved from
his village to Yogyakarta. His mother looked at it up side down and revealed that she is illiterate.
Bambang asked her to talk to the leader of her neighborhood, pak RT, and ask him for help. His
mother replied that she was not sure whether that was possible, yet she promised that if we came
back the next day she would talk to him. That night Bambang was sad. He told me that he feels like
he is not human. That he is treated as a no-class citizen for not having registration papers. He
thought for a while before he corrected himself “I am treated like a bad person, grouped together
with all the bad people”. The next morning, we go back to his mother’s house. She had not been able
to talk to pak RT, and we have to go back to the city without the certificate.
Bambang’s mother never talked to pak RT. As the poorest person in the village she would
be too embarrassed (malu) to ask for help, as she knows that she can never return a favor.
Bambang and his mother both, felt powerless in the meeting with authorities because they
are poor and stigmatized. Furthermore, they do not know sufficiently how the system
works and who to talk to for help. When I offered Bambang to accompany him to the pak
RTs house, he refused quietly explaining that his mother would probably be embarrassed
(malu) if we did. This was a meeting with the official bureaucracy, which did not take
place, but nevertheless reminded Bambang (and his mother) of their place at the bottom of
the hierarchy.
Bambang did not get his official registration, but he was able to meet his mother
and siblings. That made him very happy, although he explained to me that it was very
painful to see his mother living like this, and he wished that he could do more for them.
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He felt shameful that he was so far away, and he told me that one they he wishes that he
could buy his mother a house in the city where he can take care of her. Still, for now, he
was happy that he had been able to show her that he was doing alright.
Endar (19) was not as fortunate as Bambang when he went home. He also wanted
to get a registration card, and needed his birth certificate. He knew that it was not safe for
him to go to his family’s home. When he left home 8 years ago, he stole money from his
stepfather, and he was certain that he would still be angry with him, and punish him if he
returned. He asked me to come along for protection. He argued that if I came with him, he
stepfather would not dare to touch him. Unfortunately, I was not able to go, and Endar
decided to go by himself. Afterwards he told me the following story:
He went to his grandmother’s house first because he had always had a good relationship with her.
He asked her to go to his parents’ house to get the birth certificate, as he did not dare to go by
himself. His grandmother was very happy to see him, and gave him food, hugged him and talked a
lot. In the meantime a neighbor had seen Endar arrive, and he ran over to alarm Endar’s stepfather.
Luckily, Endar saw his stepfather through the window before he comes in. “He looked furious”,
Endar told me. “I tried to run away and my grandmother tried to hold me back, so I hit her with my
elbow to get loose, and jumped out of the window at the back of the house, and ran away.” (From my
field notes)
This experience further alienated Endar from his family, and from society as it makes it
less likely that he will be able to obtain a registration card. He got his suspicions
confirmed about his stepfather still being angry with him, although he never actually
talked with him. Sadly, the situation with his family got even worse because he also hit his
grandmother, something, which made him feel very bad afterwards. Now he said, he was
never able to go to her house either because he was so embarrassed (malu) for how he had
behaved. The solution for Endar, I will show in Chapter Six, was to momentarily give up
his project of getting official papers and immerge further into the street alternative culture
(c.f. Chapter Six).
Contested space and performance of identity
It’s around 7 PM and the mosques have made their last calls for the day. The streets are magically
changes from the hustle and bustle of the day under the hot sun, to the cool and quiet night. Eko,
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Suvil and Bambang pick up their guitar and leave the intersection where they have been playing for
money (ngamen). They walk the couple of blocks to Malioboro. On the way they meet some other
street kids, and they all tag along to the public toilet. A group of kids have already gathered there.
They are sitting on the sidewalk talking. All have been out working all day either playing music,
polishing shoes and making handicrafts. Now it is time to relax and hang out (ngongkrong). They
count their money and two of them go to a warung to get rice and vegetables. They all eat together.
Afterwards they collect money again from everyone to get some cigarettes and a bottle of “Crocked
Hat” whisky (Topi Miring). Eko picks up the guitar, and plays a well-known Iwan Fals song. The
others sing along. Bambang opens the bottle of whisky and pours a bit in a glass that he passes to
Suvil who is sitting next to him. He raises the glass and says “Monggo46” the others reply “Monggo
Mas”. Then he empties the glass in one swig and passes it back to Bambang who pours again and
gives it the next person. They all drink equal shares one by one, all from the same glass. Meanwhile
Eko keeps playing until he is tired and passes the guitar on to someone else. They are singing,
talking and laughing. Occasionally they throw a remark at people passing by, and other street kids
come and go. Suvil and Eko get up, and leave. They want to check out Paciksan, a stall that sells
alcohol a few blocks up the street. Half an hour later they come back with a group of friends they
had met there. The circle gets bigger. As the night falls one by one they go to sleep, either just across
the street, or bit up the road. Some also leaves to other parts of the city where they have found a safe
place to rest (From my fieldnotes).
A solution to the feeling of exclusion that the street children and youth feel from members
of mainstream society and the State, is to create an alternative community. The public
toilet (Toilet Umum) on the main street of the city, Jalan Malioboro (c.f. Chapter Three) is
the meeting place of the street children and youth. It is situated just about midway down
the street, next to the tourist information office. In front of the toilet there is a space, and a
few trees are planted. Mostly every night the kids come, always certain that they will meet
friendly faces. It becomes a safe haven and a getaway from the territories of the
mainstream population – a place where they can get emotional and psychological support
in order to cope with the oppression and loss of dignity they meet during the day while
making a living on the margins of society. It is also a place where children and youth are
socialized into the street community. Malioboro is a mosaic of territories for people who
46
Monggo is Javanese for please, but in this situation it can also be translated to cheers.
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work there: street musicians, vendors, shoe shiners and pick-pockets. Invisible borders are
drawn between people, and unwritten laws protect the interests of the various groups.
The street children and youth know these rules, and newcomers are soon introduced to
them (c.f. Beazley, 1999:113). Violations mean trouble, not only to the individual, but also
to the whole group. The street children guard their territory, and their presence makes
other groups stay clear.
Beazley (1999) has found, through research using the street children’s
representations of the city (drawings of mental maps), that the public toilet is a focal point
in the street children’s orientation within and understanding of the spatial city. It is a safe
haven from which the street children explore the rest of the city (ibid.). During the night,
the children and youth come and go, and it is normal to see the kids get up and go for a
walk (jalan-jalan), but later to come back again. Knowing that their friends hang out in
numbers at the same place every night gives security while exploring new ground or
passing enemy territory. One night Eko came to the toilet and told the guys there that he
had some problems with some kids in a neighborhood close to the intersections where he
plays music for money. The other kids immediately mobilized and went with him to back
him up, and I was later told that there had been a fight that night. The group identity is
expressed in this action, although the main focus in life is to look out for one’s self, one is
dependent on membership in a group for protection against enemies.
The toilet is dominated by the street boys. As discussed in Chapter Four, this is a
place where the younger street girls do not feel welcome or comfortable unless they came
with a boyfriend, who will protect her from unwanted sexual attention. The older girls
who had been in the street community for a long time, were safer as they had developed
friendships with the boys over the years (c.f. Chapter Four). The Public Toilet becomes a
physical space where the street boys sets the premises, and where street culture is further
developed through an internal discourse within the street community (c.f. Chapter Four).
In this chapter I will look at the territory as a place where identity is performed, and
boundaries are lined up between ‘us’ and ‘them’, inside and outside the street community.
As noted:
For those who reject the norms and beliefs of society, such places facilitate the ordering of a new
identity or identities. In this geography of the elsewhere, margins become centers, centers become
margins, and the meaning of centers and margins become blurred. Those who see themselves as
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marginal or different are likely to see such places as socially central to their alternative values and
beliefs. (Hetherington, 1998:124)
This territory becomes an establishment of utopia. Here, the values of the street children
and youth come to play, and identity is performed and expressed (Hetherington, 1998). In
the act of the street children while in their space, the borders towards non-street Javanese
becomes clear. The street children sit in a circle, which is closed, but then willingly opened
and expanded to people who are welcomed into the group. When a person who is not
welcome comes around, he is not invited to sit, and may be ignored. The sharing of a food
and drinks emphasizes the feeling of equality and belonging to the group and marks a
distance to the people who pass by, who are not offered the glass. The comments that are
thrown after the passerbys also become markers of distance, as the comments balance on
the edge of the socially acceptable. At the same time the territory gives identity to the
street children and youth as the passerby see the children and youth around the toilet and
classifies them within an often negative stereotype.
The toilet becomes the focal point in the (re)production of street culture. The
gatherings at night are important in order to uphold a group identity, and through
conversation, music and ritual the street children negotiate what it means to be a street
youth, and creates a collective memory and sense of continuity in times of great change
(c.f. Connorton, 1989). Simultaneously, the territory of the street children and youth forms
the foundation of resistance. This is the place where new styles and ideas are tried out,
and a place where the creative innovative styles become fashion. This is where freedom
and independence are hegemonic values and cultural capital for an alternative “educated
person” (c.f. Holland and Levinson, 1996).
Street youth style and resistance
As previously discussed in Chapter Two, street culture has been defined in terms of
resistance to oppression (Bourgois, 1995:8). Street life presents an alternative, which
indeed provokes the dominant and the State, hence such definitions are partly applicable.
Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that, resistance aside, street culture is a part
of the actual lived life experiences of the street youth. Within the street social field there
are both social interactions and a meaning contexts where the street youth interpret life
situations and actions, in line with a dual concept of culture (Eriksen, 1991) presented in
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Chapter Two. It should be noted that, for example, a tattoo might be chosen out of
preference and taste and not just because the street youth want to annoy and alienate the
non-street Javanese. Nevertheless, as a cultural expression the same tattoo may show the
interplay between resistance and oppression
Returning to the story of Bambang and his kampung girlfriend in the beginning of
this chapter, I asked him why he wanted to have his body covered with tattoos, piercings,
and wear clothes that are not in accordance with Javanese etiquette. If his appearance had
been more mainstream, he would not have had problems with his girlfriend and her
family, I reasoned. To that, he answered he thinks tattoos and his clothes are cool (asyik)
and that he wants to be free (bebas) and wear what he likes. He further argued that he
thinks it is boring to wear the same thing as everybody else and that he wants to have his
own style. Street style hence becomes the materialization of street values of coolness,
freedom and independence.
The street children and youth have in their bodies powerful communicators of their
identity, both in terms of self representation (who am I to me?) and self presentation (this
is me to others) (Broch, 2000:223). The body is a “surface on which they can express their
difference and assert their defiance to state and society” (Beazley, 1999:181). The
communication is made through body language, bodily practice, clothing, bodily
adornments and music. Street style is an expression of meaning both from the street
community to the dominant society as well as internally within the group. Small signs and
objects, e.g. safety pins or specific clothing, are “’stolen’ by subordinate groups and given
‘secret’ meanings: meanings which express, in code, a form of resistance to the order
which guarantees their continued subordination” (Hebdige, 1979: 18). By “stealing” and
recontextualizing symbols and objects the street youth act as bricoleurs. The objects are
given new meaning in a new “symbolic ensemble” which serves to erase or subvert the
original meaning (ibid.: 104). These normally harmless objects are taken out of their
“natural” order and the theft hence becomes symbolic violence on the social order and
authorized codes of the dominant (ibid.:19), and becomes “out of place” and “contrary to
holiness” (Douglas, 1966). This is why the styles attract attention and risk sanctions.
Within the street community there is a different notion about what cultural capital
an educated person (Bourdieu, 1977) should possess. Through looking at the street style it
is possible to see what clothes, music and behavior is seen as cool (asyik), free (bebas) and
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independent (mandiri). Street youth styles are built on various cultural traditions. While I
was there, popular influences came from Rastafarian culture, punk, Indonesian and
western rock, and western student and backpacker style. Typically, the street boys would
have long hair (gondrong), often in dreadlocks. Long hair is seen as not suitable for boys,
and is a sanctioned practice in schools. The yellow, red and green colors of the Ethiopian
flag, typical of the reggae and Rastafarian style, together with marijuana leaves were often
found on clothing, jewelry, knitted hats and tattoos. Others would dress in black, wear
chains around their waist, torn jeans and T-shirts, held together with safety pins. Their
bodies are often a patchwork of different tattoos, and scars made when removing old.
Pierced lips, ears, chin, navels and nipples were also popular. Furthermore, western tshirts, jeans, backpacks and sunglasses were coveted by some. These unique styles were
mixed together in different and systematic ways. Although the street children and youth
are poor, they still search for desired objects and a specific style, which is very important
to them. They are creative in their use of symbols to develop their own style. A baseball
cap may be worn backwards, the collar and sleeves taken off a T-shirt to give it a wanted
and distinguished look. Modifications like this were made to make the objects cool, but at
the same time making new clothes look old and ragged was a strategy to earn money. If
they looked too “preppy”, it would be harder to make people give money. It was also
important for a prevent oneself from looking too rich in order not to be called rich (orang
kaya), as previously discussed. Ultimately, the street youth would take pride in not having
too much and being able to live with little.
Music is an important part of style, and street musicians (pengamen) are especially
respected and looked up to in the street community. When the street children and youth
play for money they tend to choose well known and popular western or Indonesian songs,
but when the street youth are alone, they prefer songs with subversive meanings. Bob
Marley is seen as a rebel like themselves, and the street youth believe him to represent
their cause. Which is a good example of how cultural elements are given new meanings
when contextualized locally. Although they do not understand the words of his song, the
reggae music is in itself cool (asyik). And certain words and phrases that are understood
are sung with great enthusiasm, such as “no woman no cry” and “when I’m smoking my
ganja47”. I have already mentioned the music of Iwan Fals, who himself started as a street
47
‘Ganja’ is also used in Indonesian in referral to marijuana.
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musician in Bandung48, and who now offers a critique of society. Furthermore, songs by
the organized group of street singers KPJM – Kelompok Penyanyi Jalanan Malioboro (c.f.
Chapter Three), or self made songs which often talk about the situation of the street youth,
leaving home, missing mother, and criticism of the state, the rich and the police. The songs
advocate “correct” behavior for the street youth, and criticize structures in the Indonesian
society and commercialism. In this way the music functions as an arena where the
children and youth may express themselves and communicate their personal feelings.
Further the music strengthens group solidarity and becomes a marker of identity. Not
only are the lyrics and music an arena where the significance of being a street child, in
addition the music draws attention to the street community in the public space where they
play and sing at the top of their lungs. Hence, the dominant society is reminded of their
existence (c.f. Beazley, 1999:193).
When the atmosphere gets “really swell” (enak) the street children and youth would
sometimes dance (joget), either on Malioboro or at concerts. The style of dancing common
to that for Dangdut music, which is danced with controlled sensual movements. Otherwise
they would play reggae and dance the Rastafarian way, or jump around in good old hard
rock head banging style. Both the style of clothing and hair, as well as the movements
while dancing are in sharp contrast to the controlled behavior and bodily practice of
kejawen tradition, and the value of being refined (halus) and controlled outer (lair) behavior
to reflect inner (batin) harmony (rukun) (Geertz, 1960). Instead, the street youth establish
their own style of behavior based on the principles of being cool (asyik), free (bebas) and
independent (mandiri) (ref Chapter Four).
Subversive behavior
Foucault (1980), who has been dominant in theorizing the body politics, argues that the
state aims to regulate, control and discipline the body. Domination of the body in every
aspect of life: work, school, military, prison and family, is domination of the Self. The body
is the focal point of execution of power and social control, and the individual is made into
productive, creative servants subordinate the state. The more efficient the methods of this
power execution, the less the individual is conscious of the oppression (c.f. Broch, 2000).
The state and powerful groups within mainstream society force their power upon the
48
For more information about the life of Iwan Fals, c.f. http://www.iwan-fals.com.
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street youth to control their bodies. Their mere bodies represent a threat to the established
as they occupy public Javanese space. Subversive bodily practice further alienates the
street children and youth from mainstream society.
I have already discussed subversive behavior in relation to the need to prove one’s
masculinity. This is expression of toughness and independence is necessary to gain respect
on the street. Aggressive display of masculinity through either fighting, gambling,
drinking, disrespect for the law, smoking, doing drugs or sexual promiscuity are behavior
deviating from the norm, especially in relation to the younger children. Another factor is
how these acts are performed in public space and not within the privacy of a home. This
makes subversive acts public displays of obscenity, which further establishes street life as
an alternative to home life and mark borders between Us and Them.
Focault (1980) stated that children are denied a sexuality, as a part of the attempts
of the powerful to control the body of the individual. Nevertheless (or shall I argue as a
result of this), free sex (sex bebas) is a quality of street life enhanced by the street children
and youth. This further alienates them from dominant society, and makes them more like
‘matter out of place’ (Douglas, 1966). There are many motives for engaging in sexual
relationships, such as manifestation of masculinity, proving adulthood, romance,
friendship, comfort and commercial sex. The first sexual encounters of the street children
and youth have often been with older street boys as part of an initiation ritual (c.f. Chapter
Four), and some continue a practice of comfort sex with their peers. Still, sexual
encounters with female’s are seen as “real sex”, as opposed to sex with transvestites (banci)
and male peers. The street youth are often homophobic, and condemn boys and men who
have sex with men exclusively. Furthermore, as discussed the street children and youth
often have sex with prostitutes (lonte) which is an activity that enhance their self-esteem,
masculinity and feeling of being grown ups. Furthermore, they may have sex with street
girls (rendan) in exchange for money or a meal, as discussed in Chapter Four. Some street
boys go into prostitution (c.f. Beazley, 1999), and some become “professional boyfriends”
of foreign women, as I will discuss further in Chapter Six. However, all the street youth I
met, had a dream of meeting a woman for romance, love, mutual understanding and
respect, and some were indeed in happy relationships, either with a street girl, girl from
the neighborhoods or with foreigners.
Some girls from the neighborhoods are attracted to the street boys because of their
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unusual life style, and choose to act against what is expected of them. Once I hung out at a
crossroad with some of the boys, two junior high school (SMP) girls came over. They were
about 14 and still in their uniforms as they were fresh out of school for the day. The boys
knew them and they came to sit down. The boys were obviously trying to impress them
by being funny and cute. The girls seemed impressed. They told me that they liked to
hang out with the boys because they were different and cool (hebat). The visit reached a
peak when one of the street boys Ulis had a little green worm crawling up his cheek. One
of the girls screamed and pointed at it. Ulis pretended not to know what she was talking
about, and left the worm crawling. The two girls were shaking with terrified excitement,
and Ulis seemed to enjoy the moment. How is this meeting with members of mainstream
society different from all the examples given above? Ulis was on his territory in interaction
with members of mainstream society who actually liked him for being a street kid, and he
was in control of the situation. He impressed the schoolgirls by acting in accordance with
what they believe is an educated street youth.
Redefining the Javanese hierarchy
So far in this Chapter I hope to have shown how the street youth in meeting with
members of mainstream society is framed by context and situation. Furthermore, I have
explored how the street youth attempt to take control of their lives in situations where
they are forced to understand themselves in relation to their disability act according with
dominant ideology.
Within the street social field, the ideology and hierarchy of the dominant is
negotiated and distorted. Looking at the hierarchy from below, is an interesting criticism
of the studies of the normative Javanese discussed in Chapter Two, as it shows the
diversity of the lives and worldviews of the Javanese, and now it may serve as a summary
of the previous discussion. In the following conversation, two street youth tell me about
how they are seen and see themselves in relation to the little people (wong cilik), which are
commonly seen as the lowest in the Javanese hierarchy (c.f. Chapter Two, Sairin, 1992;
Ragnhildstveit, 1999). The discussion shows how the street youth have shifting
perceptions of where they are in relation to dominant society.
(1) Ingvild: How are you seen by society? Are you like the little people (wong cilik) or do people
place you lower than that.
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Eko: No, we are definitely not seen as wong cilik, not even close (tidak sampai)! We are garbage of
society (sampah masyarakat). We are treated worse than animals.
(2) Ingvild: How about you? Do you see yourself as lower than the wong cilik?
Bambang: No, in reality we are higher than the wong cilik because we don’t have to work as much.
We make more money, and we have more time to have fun, and when we have money we can
spend it on what we like, whereas the wong cilik would have to spend it on their families. Our life is
nicer (lebih enak) because we are free (bebas) and independent (mandiri)…
Eko: …and have more experience (pengalaman). Our life is more real (lebih benar).
(3) Ingvild: So if you ever leave street life, would you fear becoming a wong cilik?
Bambang: No, I will never become like that because I have a Dutch girlfriend. (From my field notes)
Several interesting aspects arise from this conversation, that I have chosen to divide into
three parts. First of all it illustrates how the individual constantly negotiates the hierarchy.
Contrary to Marx’ notion that the exploited subconsciously take the elite values for
granted (c.f. Lewellen, 1992:174), street children and youth perceive the world and make
their own interpretations of it, as already discussed. The first part of the conversation
shows how the street youth see themselves through the eyes of the dominant. This is
based on experience of oppression when engaging in the dominant social field. It is also
the process of biculturation (c.f. Hannerz, 1969; Beazley, 1999), where they learn dominant
ideology and the individual develops a feeling of embarrassment (malu) for being on the
street, as previously shown.
In the second part of the conversation, the street youth demonstrate the ability to
turn the hierarchy around. They redefine the “hierarchy of the principles of
hierarchization” (Bourdieu, 1991.:168). The “educated person” (Holland and Levinson,
1996) is redefined. The values mentioned being free (bebas), independent (mandiri), have
fun, experience (pengalaman) and a real life (hidup lebih benar) are based on street values.
They also negotiate poverty and believe that they have more economic freedom that a
kampung family father (bapak), and there is a belief that although they are poor they rich
on experience. This shows how poverty is a relative size depending on the situation
(Wikan, 1976). This view on hierarchy is expressed and celebrated in the street social field,
and it is based on a romatized view of street life. Bad times, violence and hunger are
placed in relation to the importance of getting experience in real life, or justified as the
price to pay for an independent life of freedom.
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In the third part of the conversation, I ask a question related to how the street youth
see himself in relation to the future. Bambang hopes that his Dutch girlfriend will be the
key to a better life. The Dutch girlfriend represents economic and material wealth. She
may potentially bring him abroad, which is seen as cultural capital both on the street and
in dominant society. Furthermore, connections with foreigners (bule) are indications that
Bambang is urban and modern. The Dutch girl will not obtain status within the Javanese
hierarchy, as discussed in Chapter Two, hence Bambang reaches for something outside the
Javanese power structure. The Dutch girlfriend may be seen as a “cultural element”
valued in a larger discourse of society concerning modernity and progress (kemajuan),
which I will discuss in detail in Chapter Six.
Oppression, pride and consistent self-concept
Throughout this chapter, I have showed how the street youth maneuver between two
social fields. They move in and out of different “universes of discourse” (Barth, 1994a:116),
one in which they are oppressed and the other in which their life style is the norm. Social
interactions within the two different fields are guided by different values and codes.
Inconsistencies within and between the cultural systems are reflected in the shifting selfrepresentations of the street youth, representation which at times are as inconsistent and
complex as the society in which they live. Sometimes the street youth presents himself as a
victim, while in other situations he sees himself as a winner. I will argue, with reference to
Ewing (1990) and her ‘model of shifting selves’, that the individual constructs a concept of
self, depending on situation and context. In the case of the street youth the inconsistencies
are related to whether they see themselves as objects or subjects in relation to society,
whether they are within the dominant social field or the street social field. On the territory
of the dominant he will feel oppressed, and present a narration of self of suffering. He will
then present himself as poor, uneducated and a victim. Within the street cultural field,
however, he is in control and will present a narration of self based on important street
values, where he is a winner. In this way we can argue that the process of shifting self is
situational, and that the construction of self is channeled and developed through different
social engagements (c.f. Bråten, 1995).
How is it possible for the street youth to live with the inconsistencies both in
cultural systems and self-representation? The street youth themselves experience their
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worlds and selves as a whole. The fragmented world and self is a construction of the
anthropologist, not the street youth themselves. Ewing (1990), who is inspired by Freud,
argues that the individual has strategies to maintain an illusion of wholeness by
reconstructing one’s self in relation to external stimuli. She argues that different external
situation trigger “a string of memories” (ibid,:267) upon which we construct a notion of
self. This causes a consistent self according to context, which gives the individual a feeling
of being a whole self. For example, when Bambang (above) experienced not being able to
get an official documents, he is reminded of his status at the bottom of the hierarchy.
In understanding how the street youth manage to maneuver between different
cultural value systems, I draw on Howell (2001), discussed in Chapter Two. I argue that
the street youth are able to create mental borders between street values and dominant
values when he enters hybrid and discoursive practice concerning what constitutes the
“educated person” in different contexts. Within the dominant social field he chooses to
wear a long sleeve shirt to cover his tattoos and hide that he is a street boy. He
foregrounds dominant values, but feel uncomfortable and embarrassed, and his selfrepresentation is that of a victim. When he is on the street dancing (joget) with his friends,
however, he foregrounds street values, and see himself as better than the little people
(wong cilik) because he is free (bebas), independent (mandiri) and rich on experience
(pengalaman) of real life (hidup yang benar).
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Chapter Six
In Search of Progress
Should I stay or should I go? – The Clash
To be or not to be, that is the question – William Shakespeare
So far in this thesis, I have shown how the street youth maneuver through different
cultural landscapes depending on situation and context, and how the self-concept of the
street youth is shaped by his social engagements. These are social and cultural processes,
which are framed by power relations, and the attempts of the street youth to gain control
of their own lives – “their desire to free [themselves] in a general situation which is not at
all free” (Aant, 2000: final paragraph).
In this Chapter, I will explore how street youth construct their dreams for the
future. As discussed, through a process, which I have called, biculturation (c.f. Hannerz,
1969; Beazley, 1999), the street youth become aware of how they are seen by mainstream
society. A feeling of being embarrassed (malu) is incorporated as they become aware of
how an educated person, defined within dominant ideology, is expected to build his life
for the future. The Javanese project of becoming human (dadi wong) and understand
(ngerti) (Geertz, H., 1961; c.f. Chapter Two) is a continuos process. At the same time, the
street youth have incorporated a street youth identity, and notion of the “educated street
person” and in thinking towards the future, the street youth will combine and shift
between street and dominant ethos. The different ideals of the educated person articulate
with each other as the individual negotiated aspects of success and progress in an attempt
to increase the room of his agency.
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During the Suharto regime, a national project of development (perkembangan) and
modernity (modernisasi) was intensified, and the individual, which is seen as subordinate
to the collective, is given responsability for the development of the entire nation (Chapter
Three). The street youth were, as discussed, targeted as anti-nationalists as their mere
presence challenge the myths of national progress. I argue that a project of development
and modernity has been incorporated into the individual Javanese, congregated in the
idea of ‘progress’ (kemajuan). The terms ‘progress’ (kemajuan) and ‘progressive’ (maju) are
frequently repeated in mass media, public debate and by the ordinary Javanese. In a
dictionary the words translate as:
maju 1 go forward, advance, progress. 2 thrive, progress. 3 progressive, forward looking. ke-an
progress, advancement, development. (Echols and Shadily, 1998)
A “thick description” (Geertz, 1973a) of the terms maju and kemajuan as they are used by
the State, mainstream society and the street youth is a fruitful point of departure to
observe how the street youth maneuver between different ideals of an educated person.
One aspect of kemajuan is ‘being modern’ (modern), ‘modernity’ (modernisasi). These
terms will be used as local, not analytical concepts throughout this chapter. The Javanese
are ambivalent towards modernity (modernisasi), which often seen in relation to “less
fortunate” aspects of Westernization (kebuleh-bulehan), such as increased individualism,
drugs and loss of moral (etc.). Along this line, modernity and globalization are seen as a
threat to traditional kejawen values (Geertz, C., 1960). On the other hand, modernisasi is
seen as an individual and national project, which will enhance the quality of life. It is
important to notice that in this project, the Javanese are able to combine the ideal of both
being progressive (maju) and refined (halus).
Contrary to my observations, Peacock (1968) argued that the dichotomies
refinement (halus) – roughness (kasar) and progressive (maju) – old-fashioned (kuno) are
contrastive scales (ibid.:17). As discussed in Chapter Two, he saw the development from
traditional to modernity almost as a unilinear process, where the modern is about to
replace the traditional ethos (ibid.: 218). This perspective on tradition and modernity,
change and continuity has been criticized thoroughly within anthropology (Berman, 1982;
Comaroff & Comaroff, 1993). The theoretical perspectives discussed in Chapter Two, of
cultural bricoleurship within different social fields, placed in a complex society with
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various cultural traditions and streams, permit me to envision that the individual street
youth situationally maneuvers between different cultural landscapes, and orients
themselves towards different cultural traditions in order to construct and give meaning to
their aspirations for the future. The “traditional” and the “modern” ethos are not felt as
contradictory and conflicting to the Javanese, as they did to the anthropologist in the
1960s. Instead, the Javanese has a parallel process of relating to both being halus and
progressive (maju), where each become aspects of situations and relationships. The modern
person, with a mobile phone and business attire, may be interpreted as less halus and more
maju, than a person related to the royal courts in Yogyakarta. Nevertheless, both may
aspire towards and “forefront” (Howell, 2001) different values within different contexts.
Interestingly, the “most halus” man in Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, is
also seen to be modern and maju as a politician and a businessman (c.f. Chapter Three).
Gjelstad (1999) demonstrates how middle class youth in Solo use the “heart as a
filter” (filter dalam hati) ( ibid.:132) in order to judge which cultural elements from “the
outside”, are appropriate for Indonesians and the Javanese to adopt to in the quest to
become modern and progressive. The filter is, according to Gjelstad, an extension of the
kejawen ideals of jadi wong (becoming human) and ngerti (understanding) (Geertz, H.,
1961), which are at the core of, what I have called, the model of the “educated Javanese”.
Furthermore, using the heart as a filter is in line with the New Order politics which
emphasis the necessity to import and utilize Western knowledge and technology, but at
the same time reject the Western ideals and values which may corrupt the “Indonesian
Culture” (ibid.:132). Building on this argument, I will argue that elements from the outside
are incorporated into the Javanese, and the “global”, “western” and “modern” will be
interpreted and negotiated locally, and become aspects of daily life and social relations
rather than a “corrupting” wave which threatens to wash away tradition. In this way
progress (kemajuan) is also interpreted and negotiated by the individual, sharply tied
together with what constitutes an educated person within different social fields.
What is progress?
The frequency in the use of the terms ‘maju’ (‘progressive’) and ‘kemajuan’ (‘progress’)
indicate their cultural and social importance within the Javanese society, in mainstream
society as well as on the street. The Javanese use the scales maju-kuno in evaluating most
things in their material, cultural and social world: themselves, others, their country,
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behavior, technology and material things. Also the street youth, on the fringes of
mainstream society, occupy themselves with this cultural categorization. It is fruitful to
look at ‘progress’ (kemajuan) as an “elaborating key symbol” (Ortner, 1973) within the
Javanese society, both within mainstream and on the street. According to Ortner, a ‘key
symbol’ within a cultural analysis may be recognized as a phenomenon, which the natives
find important and are aroused by. Furthermore, the phenomenon appears in many
different contexts, situations and symbolic domains (ibid.:1339).
‘Kemajuan’ and ‘maju’ imply “clear-cut modes of action appropriate to correct and
successful living in the culture” (ibid.: 1341). The term embodies a vision of success and the
good life, and gives direction towards how to achieve it. This makes kemajuan hold a “key
scenario” (ibid.:1341) which both motivates and classifies actions. As a symbol, ‘kemajuan’
is ambigous (Turner, 1964). The ambiguity opens up the term ‘kemajuan’ and the key
scenario leading to kemajuan to individual interpretations and construction of meaning.
This meaning is connected to the ideals of “the educated person” (Holland and Levinson,
1996), as defined within different social fields.
Within the State ideology of the New Order regime, the main focus has been on
economic and technological development for the country to become modern and
progressive (c.f. Chapter Three). The street youth identify with the state development
discourse, which is expressed when they evaluate their country on the relation to
kemajuan. Bambang told me that Indonesia is definitely less maju than the European
countries. Western tourists’ displays of economical wealth leave little doubt with
Bambang that Westerners are more maju that Indonesians. Endar was of the opinion that
everyone in Europe knows how to use the internet and drive a car, which definitely make
them more maju that the Javanese, especially the villagers (orang desa). The street youth
also see their position on the margins of society, in relation to the lack of progressiveness
(kurang maju) of Indonesia. Bambang is convinced that in rich countries, the government
takes care of the poor, not like Indonesia, where no one can help the street children when
they are in need.
If I may use Gjelstad’s (1999) empirical findings for a comparative analysis, I will
argue that the attempts of the Indonesian government to reach development and progress
have a different flavor now after the fall of Suharto. Gjelstad states that the middle class
youth of Solo supported the attempts of the government and admired the works of
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Habibi, when he was still Research and Technology Minister, and that he was seen as the
personification of globalization and progress. His involvement with the plane factory in
Bandung49, and the national dream to bring Indonesia to a technological level needed to
build a plane, was seen as a metonym of the development project of Indonesia50 (ibid.:71).
In 2001, 5 years after Gjelstad’s fieldwork Habibi’s dream has landed, the government no
longer fund the project. The achievements of Suharto in terms of economical development
and technological advancement have been overshadowed by economic crisis, political
unrest, and allegations of corruption and nepotism. As Bambang’s statement illustrates:
“Indonesia is poor. She doesn’t have anything! What can this country ever offer me?” The
street youth, at least, are not utterly optimistic when thinking about the national quest for
kemajuan. Still, kemajuan both for the nation and the individual is seen as a continuous
effort.
The ideals about progress continue nevertheless, and the state of the country in
terms of kemajuan is a daily topic of conversation amongst the Javanese. To make crossreferences, I asked people from different levels of society what they see as being maju.
Interestingly, the answers varied depending on the life situation of the one I talked to,
which indicates that the concept is negotiated and adapted to personal dreams and
expectations. Most people would say that being maju is having more financial freedom.
The money in itself do not make someone maju, but money may be a way to become maju
and modern in way of clothes, food, technology and housing. Traditional clothes are seen
as old-fashioned (kuno). Modern, urban and stylish haircuts are symbols of kemajuan
whereas the population of Irian Jaya (orang papua), were mentioned as the least maju in
Indonesia as they “did not wear clothes at all”, one priyayi woman told me, but thanks to
globalisasi they now at least have clothes51.
49
PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN)
50
See also http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0425/aa1.html#aa1a,
http://www.tradeport.org/ts/countries/indonesia/mrr/mark0098.html, http://www.angkasaonline.com/10/10/english/english3.htm, http://www.indonesian-aerospace.com
51
This may seem like an attack on tradition (adat) if one interpret the “lack of clothes” of the orang papua as
tradition, just like batik clothings are seen as tradition in Java. Most likely however, is the orang papua
judged by racist notions which exist within parts of the Javanese society about people in the many
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One priyayi woman said that eating bread is more maju than rice, and living in a
brick house is more maju than a bamboo house. Education is seen as maju especially to
people from villages and the poor (orang desa), as it is not taken for granted, as it is for the
middle and upper class of the cities.
Kemajuan may also be sought after in personal non-material life such as, for
example, family life. Andari, a young middle class woman, told me that she would see it
as kemajuan in her life to get married and have children, have a house for her and her
family, have a job where she does not have to work too much to survive. Within Andari’s
reflection a key scenario is detectable as we can see how the ideals of progress shape the
construction of she sees herself, and where she hopes to be in the future. A person will
define her or his goals for the future based on his or her present self-concept. Her actions
were directed towards these goals, and after my fieldwork, she has in fact married, she is
pregnant and she follows an English course to improve professionally52.
Progress on the street
The street youth, whose reality differs radically from middle class youth, are marginalized
and stigmatized by mainstream society, as I have discussed in the previous chapters. It is
therefor interesting to see how they construct and envision their future in relation to this
discussion of maju-kono and halus-kasar. It is common for members of mainstream society
to see the street youth as unprogressive (kurang maju). This categorization happens
regardless of the street youth’s ability to use the Internet and maybe at times, modern style
of clothing, which would be seen as symbols of progress. The labeling of the street youth
as unprogressive goes together with the street youth as unjavaneseness, i.e. their
unhumanness (durung wong), which means their lack of kejawen values. The life style of the
street youth is filtered away by mainstream society, and their mere presence is seen as a
result of “unwanted” cultural elements which may come from the outside, such as
excessive individualism, focus on freedom rather than collectivism, drugs and lack of
moral. According to mainstream society a street youth cannot have success and progress
unless he changes (berubah) his life and pursues becoming an educated Javanese. I argue
Indonesian provinces, one assumption being that they are primitive and kurang maju.
52
A criticism of the study of people’s dreams and hopes for the future may be that the anthropologist
through asking question contributes to a crystallization of a dream, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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that the combination of being seen as both unprogressive (kurang maju) and unrefined
(kasar) is another central element in the street youth’s position on the fringes of society.
Nevertheless, contrary to the notions of the passerby, the street youth evaluate
themselves, their life-situation and other street youth in relation to kemajuan and being
maju. How is the key scenario adapted to the two conflictous ideals of the ‘educated street
person’ and ‘the educated Javanese’? Kemajuan, as an individual project, how does it
combine with the sense of community and solidarity on the street? And what are the
possibilities for kemajuan offered to the marginalized street youth by mainstream society?
These are central questions in the following discussion.
Coming of age on the sidewalk
When we tell our life story, we connect where we see our present situation, i.e. where we
see ourselves now, to selected fragments of the past (Gullestad, 1996). When the street
youth looks back on his life, he evaluates himself on the basis of where he sees him self at
the moment. Hence, the construction of life stories is related to context and situation. My
argument is, as discussed, that the key scenarios are wide enough to be adapted to various
realities of the Javanese. General street values, described in Chapter Four, frame the street
discourse on progress, although the life style of the street youth is in sharp contrast to the
ideals of kemajuan advocated by the Indonesian State. In the following I will make an
analysis of how Bambang in retrospect evaluate himself as a young boy in terms of
kemajuan.
Bambang looks back on his life and tells me that when he lived at home he did not know anything
about the world and about life. He told me that all he knew, he had from television that he was
sometimes allowed to watch at his neighbor’s house. He had never been to another city, and he had
only seen trains on photographs and in television series. When he was asked by his mother to leave
home he was confused because he did not know where to go, so he started his career in the city
where he grew up. There, other street children taught him how to make money. Little by little he
started to move further away from home, until finally he got on the bus and went to a different city.
There he saw the train for the first time, a sight that made a big impression on him. He tells me that
seeing the train made him want to explore more of the unknown world, and in the end he became
an urban nomad using the train as a means of transport between cities. He reports that he has lived
in Jakarta, Bandung, Malang, Semarang and Yogyakarta since he left home. Bambang talks about
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himself when he was younger, as being non-progressive (kurang maju), and that now he is more
progressive. (From my fieldnotes.)
Through a process of telling his story, Bambang reconstructs his concept of self, and he
narrates a story of a boy who has become (more) progressive (maju). The story told above
was told with the intentions of showing me that he has had progress in life. Again, it is
possible to see how his life as a young boy is punctuated and recontextualized into the
retrospective light of progress (c.f. Rudie, 1994). Through this process Bambang uses
‘progress’ as a source of dignity and respect, and finds reasons to be proud of what he has
accomplished in life, against all odds, given his position as a street kid.
Kemajuan’s ambiguous status opens up to the interpretation of Bambang in relation
to his own life. Bambang’s concept of kemajuan is framed by street values, which I
discussed in Chapter Four. There are several elements which makes Bambang see himself
as more progressive now. First of all, there is a distinction along the scale of
progressiveness in relation to village people and city people, and village life and city life.
People who live in the village are seen as less progressive. The migration from the village
to the city has, according to Bambang, moved him on step further towards progress.
Notions about village people’s non-progressiveness (kurang maju) and backwardness
(kuno) are expressed not only when they refer to their previous life, but also in the way
they talk about village people in general. Once a group of street youth came to my house,
and Endar seized the opportunity to watch television. He struggled to adjust the antenna,
and the others laughed at him teasing him for being a “village kid” (anak desa) not
(technologically) maju enough to handle the TV. Endar, laughing with the others, turned
around and stated proudly: “Yes, I am a village kid, but a progressive village kid, because
I have an English girlfriend.” Urbanity is also seen as maju by most non-street Javanese
whom I interviewed on the subject. Urbanity is seen as giving more opportunities for
education, experience and access to technology, such as mobile phones (hp) and Internet,
and in the case of Endar, dating foreigners. The street youth define this in relation to the
important street value of finding experience (pengalaman) (c.f. Chapter Four). Both street
culture and dominant culture give meaning to kemajuan, as this case may illustrate.
From a street perspective moving away from home and expanding one’s radius of
action, is seen as progressive. This is an ideal for the boys, to be able to master different
arenas and different places (c.f. Gjelstad, 1999). The young boys will have a limited
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knowledge of the city, and move around from workplace to sleep place, which in many
cases will be in the same place. Unfamiliar parts of the city are potentially dangerous.
Slowly, as the children grow older they will get to know larger areas of the city, which was
also discussed briefly in Chapter Five, on how the toilet in Malioboro, for example, is used
as a safe haven from which the rest of the city is explored. The older see the younger as
kurang maju because they do not master the city. They also evaluate their own childhood
as begin kurang maju. Again, this can be linked to general street values of being free (bebas),
independent (mandiri) and experienced (punya pengalaman). The street children look down
upon the children from the neighborhoods (anak kampung) for being kurang maju, because
they lack those important street values, as previously discussed.
Finally, Bambang told me that when he was little, not only did he have a small
action radius, but he also did not care about moving forward. He told me that all he cared
about was to play music for money (ngamen) for food, eat and sleep, then play music
again, eat and sleep. And he told me that his friends were the same. He says that growing
older has made him think that there is more to life. Other people start to demand things
from him, in a way that he did not experience when he was little and people felt sorry for
him. He had to go from begging to singing on the street, and finally he was encouraged by
friends and social workers to learn how to make handicraft, which is again seen as one
step up. He internalized the surrounding demand to maju, and started a quest within
himself and his life to search for a way towards progress. In hard times he would
complain that the responsibility of growing up made him confused (pusing).
The ambivalence of progress
These examples of Bambang and Endar show how they at times are able see themselves as
progressive (maju). However, in line with the discussion in Chapter Five, their concept of
self change when they engage in social interactions within the dominant social field, and
feel that they are not able to live up to the standards set by dominant society, due to the
structural, social and political oppression. When Budi had been rejected as a shoe polisher,
because he was too old (c.f. Chapter Five), he experienced a crisis and became confused
(bingun) because he did not know what to do with his life. “I can not live like this on the
street forever,” he complained to me. Due to what I have called process of biculturation
(Hannerz, 1969; Beazley, 1999), Budi judges his life from the perspective of the non-street
Javanese, and come to the conclusion that his life is kurang maju and should change
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(berubah), in contrast to Bambang’s analysis of his own life discussed above. To Budi, in
this situation values of dominant society, are foregrounded (c.f. Howell, 2000), as is the
ideals of the mainstream educated person, and Budi experienced confusion, which is a
common reaction in addition to the feeling of frustration (frustrasi) and stress (stres). The
oppression and stigmatization makes him ambivalent about what it takes to become an
educated person.
Frustration is felt especially in relation to economic kemajuan. The street children
and youth themselves stress the value of being economically independent (mandiri), and
non-governmental organizations stress a goal of independence in training programs and
activities to the street children. This ideal is highly normative, but the individual does not
always manage to live up to the ideals, because they are not given opportunities within
mainstream society. Non-governmental organizations and forces within the street
community stress that making a living as street musician or a shoe polisher should be
respectful ways of making a living. Nevertheless, problems arise for the individual street
youth when he still meets social sanctions from members of dominant society when he
tries to do exactly that – polish shoes or play music. How to make an income is
categorized on the scale of kemajuan by powerful groups within mainstream society, and
these categories are incorporated into the street youth. For example, Eko explained to me
that singing on the street corner, is less maju, than having a job at a motorbike shop.
Making handicrafts is more maju than polishing shoes. Begging is a sign of dependency,
hence it is kurang maju. Stealing is also less maju than making an honest living. The form of
the work is an important indicator of how progressive it is. He told me that his goal was to
be able to work regular hours like normal people; to come in at work at 7 in the morning
and then be able to go home at 17 in the afternoon. The degree to how much time one has
to spend outside on the street, is also an indicator, where the more time spent inside is
better than outside. Non-physical work is more maju than physical, and the cleaner the
surroundings the better. This is also reflected in an effort to have an ideal body, which
Bambang argued is “light skinned (putih) and a bit fat (gemuk)” which are traits that
indicate work away from the sun, and surplus of food. Adding to this, some of the street
youth would explain to me that it is more progressive to live in a house that on the street.
Furthermore, the street youth I knew argued that it would be kemajuan to get married, and
have a wife and children. As discussed the possibilities of having a “good job”, living in a
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house and getting married are limited to the street children and youth because they do not
have official registration papers.
Bambang expressed that he wanted to be able to be a trendy youth (anak gaul), and
be a able to take part in consumption (konsumsi) of society. He thinks that the anak gaul are
modern and trendy, which is expressed in their clothes, mobile phone, motorbike and style
(gaya). He also argued they they are more progressive (maju) than the street youth, because
they are rich, and because of this, he argued, all street youth in reality want to be like the
anak gaul. A statement which not all street youth I know agree with. Bambang was at the
time, as I will discuss more a bit further into this Chapter, in a special situation when he
made these statements. He had been able to rent a room in a boarding house (kos-kosan)
and moved a step into the world of the anak gaul. His housemates and best friends at the
time, were middle class students, and Bambang had introduced himself to them as a
student. Being in close interaction with non-street youth made Bambang desire to be like
them. Being subjected to a community which had more possibilities of participating in a
world of consumption, makes Bambang desire to become a part of that world. Still
mainstream society does not offer many options towards that direction to a street youth
without education, money and family connections.
The street youth’s ideals about progress strongly suggest that they are not
notorious criminals, as they are perceived by dominant groups of society. They have
dreams and hopes for the future which at times may differ from the ideals of the State, but
nevertheless are legitimate and honest attempts to become “a good person” (orang baik).
Progress on the street
A solution to the frustration and stress, which the street youth experience when their
dreams are scattered, is to challenge the dominant discourse on progress, and create key
scenarios, which are applicable to street values and street lifestyle. In this way the street
youth offer a critique of dominant ideology. Forces within the street community, the gurus
of the street (c.f. Chapter Four) often argue and motivate street children and youth to
believe that it is possible to be successful on the street. One does not have to live in a house
and become a person in a neighborhood (kampung) to become a good person (orang baik).
They genuinely feel that street life is valuable in itself because of the good social relations
on the street, the freedom and the happiness. How to reach progress on the street is
debated, and the ambivalence is present within the individual.
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To some, progress can be reached on the outskirts mainstream society, and focuses
solely on street values and the street hierarchy. Within this discourse kemajuan is defined
at making a career on the street, climbing the street hierarchy. As illustrated through the
statement of Bambang
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When I was little I was often bossed (disuruh) around by the bigger ones. They ordered me to give
them money, or to go places. Then I thought that I would take revenge (balas dendam), but now when
I am older, I just boss the ones who are smaller than me around. That is because I want to progress
in my life (mau maju dalam hidupku) (From my field notes).
This illustrates the personal satisfaction felt when through social mobility on the street,
and how the meaning of kemajuan is framed by street values. Making a career on the street
is an alternative, as an example, it is become a protector, who is paid to give protection to
other street youth.
Making money in the “under wold” of society, on drugs or crime may also offer
career possibilities and progress in one’s life (kemajuan dalam hidup). Roni went to Jakarta
and was able to make 1 million rupias on drugs and robbery. He came back to Yogyakarta
with the money because they would last longer there, as the prices are low. He told me
that he had two options of what to do with the money. Either, he could get some tools to
set up a small bicycle shop (bengkel), or he could buy a gun and become a gangster
(preman). The two options illustrate the “on the street” vs “off the street” ambivalence that
the street youth may feel in relation to having progress (kemajuan).
Others would argue that kemajuan may be reached by making a compromise
between street and mainstream values. They are advocates for a perspective that one
should start telling themselves that a street child and youth is a valuable and strong
person. Living on the street does not make them criminals, and he or she can be successful.
Like an anonymous street boy writes in Jejal
“What is the criteria of success? A rich man with many houses. Lots of money and fortune (…) is
called successful. But in reality his children are naughty, and can not go to school because they drink
hard. Is he then really successful? (…) I am happy working with garbage (…) although the salary is
low, I can be happy, because the clue is that my stomach gets hungry every day. If I am asked
whether I am successful or not, I will answer, I am happy. Successful or not depends on the one who
sees. But if a person is happy he will forget about everything else. A street child who can be
independent and happy can also be called successful (…) just like those rich people” (Jejal,1997:26 53).
In this passage, I have chosen to interpret success (sukses) in line with progress (kemajuan).
53
My own translation from Bahasa Indonesia.
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The anonymous street boy argues that being rich, is not the same as being a decent person,
as he says, his children drink too hard to go to school. It is an argument that although
street youth are poor, they can arrange their lives and become good people (i.e. not drink
too hard, not be naughty etc.). I will draw this point a bit further and argue that the happy
street youth, who is poor, but independent and happy, can be successful through pursuing
both kemajuan (economically, materialistically, technologically) and becoming a good
person (jadi orang baik). Becoming a good person may be interpreted as a derivation from
kejawen values of becoming human (dadi wong).
Rojo, a leader figure on the street (c.f. Chapter Four), argues for a slightly different
combination of street and mainstream lifestyle. His dream for the future is to be able to
live on the street, be with his friends and have his freedom. He told me that he loves the
atmosphere on the street at night, and he wants to be able to just sleep wherever he wants.
At the same time, he wants to combine this with a nice job where he makes enough money
to live on, so that he does not have to continue the struggle for survival, which, according
to him, is a negative aspect of street life. When I asked him whether he thought such a
combined life style is progressive (maju), he told me that as long as he is happy, does not
bother anyone (menggangu) and is a good person, he could not see why not. An interesting
aspect of both the arguments of the anonymous street boy in Jejal and Rojo, is the
expression of desire to continue a free and happy life on the street. Stigmatization and
oppression from mainstream society and the State will, however, not allow them. This
reminds me of the experiences of different characters from the world of literature, such as
Huckleberry Finn (Twain, [1886] 1966) and Pippi Longstocking (e.g. Lindgren, 1968). Huck
Finn and Pippi are independent and free children, at different times and places, who
struggle to maintain their freedom and be themselves within a society. Members of
mainstream community, however, attempt to force them into a mainstream structure
(c.f.Beazley, 1999).
Progress for the street community as a group
The leaders of the street community become a voice for progress for the individual on the
street, and for the group as a whole. They talk about ‘Us’ (kita) on the street, and are
concerned about how to make the community stronger. As discussed in Chapter Four, the
street community is given collective guilt if a member of the community gets into trouble
with the police or other groups. This may be an argument why it becomes important for
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the street community collectively to strive towards progress. I attended a concert in
Malioboro with a group of street youth, which is associated with the tourist street
Sosrowijayan sang a song made by street children. That provoked one of the street youth
because they are not really one of them and should not sing on of their songs.
Furthermore, he argued, the group on stage did not behave properly on the street. “They
break bottles, and throw garbage around”. There are rules on the street how to behave,
and it is about how to improve the image of the group in the eyes of other people. It is
about not disturbing other people (mengganggu). In that way no one has the right to
disturb them back.
Internally within the group, Bambang argues that practices inside the group have
changed because street children are more progressive now. “For example, he says, new
street children that arrive are not beat up anymore, that is because now street children
have traveled all the way to Australia and Holland, so they are more maju now.” Other
informants have told me that it still happens, but my point is that Bambang’s statement
says something about how he sees the progress of individuals to improve the practice of
the group.
Heroes versus role models
Not all street youth with progress (kemajuan) will be celebrated as heroes on the street. In
the following I will make the distinction between the hero and the role model. Those who
are considered to be heroes and role models for the street community, also divide along
the ‘success on the street’ and ‘success away from the street’ dichotomy. Here, with role
models I mean people who give an example of how it is possible to become more maju. As
I will show with some empirical examples.
Dadang left home during his high school years, looking for more freedom on the street. He
gradually moved out of his parents’ house, and went to live with his friends on the street. He stayed
there for 3 years, making money playing music at cross roads and street restaurants. After this time,
he got tired of the uncertainty on the street, and he was lucky to be welcomed back home. Through
family connections he got a job in a photo copy shop. Dadang says that he experienced the move
away the street to be very difficult. His friends from the street were disappointed with him because
he did not want to stay with them anymore, and started to ask him for money he earned at his job.
Finally, he decided to break with them, which resulted in a period where he was afraid to go to the
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center of the city fearing that he would run into his old friends and have awkward situations. His
old friends told me that Dadang became arrogant (sombong) once he got rich in his parents’ house
and new job. He did not want to spend time with them, and hang around and drink in the
afternoons. And that when he wanted to leave the street they all just said that he could do what he
wants (biarin aja), see if they care (cuek). They signalized that it was all Dadang’s own choice that he
broke his relationship with them. Dadang on the other hand, experiences a profound emotional
dilemma and conflict of loyalty, be he was not able to maintain his friendships on the street, and be a
good son, brother and employee.
Dadang acted according to his ideas of progress (kemajuan). In that way he serves as a role
model, because he is on one level seen as successful, yet on the other hand, he chose to
break ties to the street community, and will therefore not be celebrated as a hero, who
comes back to help his friends. On the contrary he is excluded from the group and thought
bad of because he does not come back. This makes it difficult for street youth to break
away and make a living off the street, because social norms hold them back.
A prominent leader figure on the street in Jakarta, who may be called a “guru” (Barth,
1994b) as he is a source of knowledge and has a dedication towards educating street
children and youth. The word is that he was offered a job in the Suharto regime as a youth
coordinator in Pemuda Pancasila, but he turned it down because he was in opposition to
Suharto. He could have been very powerful and rich according to my informants, but he
decided to fight for what he believes in and stay with his friends on the street. He has
become a hero, and a person that my informants look up to, and he has become a
spokesperson and an advocate for people’s rights to survive on the streets. Because of his
status as a hero, he also has power and legitimacy for his beliefs.
The popular musician Iwan Fals is another role model who has become a hero. He
started his career as a street musician in Jakarta and became famous. He sings political
songs and focuses on social inequalities. He was seen as a threat under the Suharto regime
and to this day many of his recordings are banned. He is a hero because he never let the
street community down. He sings for them, and he appears on concerts made of and for
them. When I went to his concert in Yogyakarta, the many street children were let in for
free before the concert, and at the end he opened the doors for everybody, which is an
example of how much he cares for them. One of my informants told me that he would be a
great president because he is a great person and has a lot of support. I have already
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mentioned how Iwan Fals is an educator of Indonesian youth through his lyrics (c.f.
Gjelstad, 1999; Beazley, 1999). His special connection to the street community gives him
great influence, although he is rich superstar who could have been “othered” by the poor
street youth.
Strategies to progress
The street youth would frequently shift from a positive to a negative outlook on the
future, from frustration (frustrasi) and confusion (bingun) to motivation and determination
(siap), and their strategies will change accordingly. In the following, I will make an
analysis of different strategies available to the street youth.
Education
“Why does it get dark at night”, Bambang asks me. I pick up the ball, hold it in one hand, and make
a fist with the other. The ball is the earth and the fist the sun. I move the ball around my fist, and
explain light and shadow. Bambang listens and asks questions until he says that he understands.
Afterwards, I ask why he wants to know, and he answers that “he just wants to know” (ingin tahu
aja). He further explains that he sometimes feels stupid (bodoh) because he is not educated, and that
there are so many things that he wish he knew. He also says that the most important way towards
progress is through learning new things, this he remembers someone telling him years ago, when he
first came to the street. (From my field notes.)
Most of my informants have not been through the school system. Some have completed 1
or 2 years, others have finished elementary school, and a few have been though secondary
and high school. Most report that they did not know how to read and write when they
came to the street, and that they have parents who are illiterate. Now, most of them are
literate thanks to NGOs, and people who have made the street into a classroom for the
children. Some also report that they were taught by other street children.
Bambang tells me that he was told by older street youth, when he got on to the
street, that he would not be able to make it in the world unless he was motivated to learn
new things, including reading and writing. And as shown, he says that it is the most
important thing in order to progress (maju). Bambang finished one year of school, but then
his parents did not have enough money and he had to quit. He also has two younger
siblings who have never been sent to school. In this way, Bambang feels that his life
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improved when he got to the street, because he was stimulated more to learn. This is in
accordance to a concept of progress (kemajuan) both framed by street culture and within
mainstream society.
Some people expressed that they are interested in learning everything, like
Bambang who wants to know about night and day. Others had a more pragmatic attitude,
and said that they mostly wanted to learn skills they could earn money on. That could be
occupational skills, like handicrafts, or English, a language used to communicate with
tourists who are potential buyers of handicraft, or potential romantic partners, which I
will discuss later in this chapter.
Workshops and courses are at times offered to the street children and youth
through NGOs. In the 90s, the organization Girlie organized a street university (Universitas
Jalanan) for street children from different cities of Java. The children lived on campus for
the whole academic year of 9 months, Monday to Friday, and had the weekends off. The
project aimed to strengthen solidarity and friendships on the street, and gave the street
boys self-esteem (c.f. Berman & Beazley, 1995). The Youth, who attended the university,
speak about the experience with nostalgia and pleasure. One brought me to campus,
which at the moment is empty and told me stories of how it had been. Doubtlessly, he had
many happy memories from the experience, but then went serious when he remembered
that he had experienced leaving the university as a trauma. He expressed that he was very
disillusioned when he realized that the university education did not change his life
afterwards. He was immediately back on the street, and the skills he learnt, he claimed
were soon forgotten. There had been discrepancy between the expectation of the boys and
reality. The NGOs have acknowledged this problem. As long as the street children and
youth suffer stigmatization it is difficult for example to arrange work for them after
training programs. Mas Kirik, a worker at the NGO Humana, explained to me that another
project which may be more fruitful in creating real change in the individual street youth’s
life would be to work for their opportunity to obtain formal education on their own
premises. This would give them official papers, and more opportunities later in life within
mainstream society.
Most of my informants expressed interest in going to school, and regretted that
they had not gone to school as children. Still, they admitted that the “normal” way of
schooling, where you have to be structured and disciplined would not work for them.
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Some had also been given the chance to go back to school, but had been unable to adapt to
the system. This makes it important to give the street children an opportunity to learn in
their own way. The government does not offer alternative schooling to children with
special needs such as the street children. A meeting with official schools is most likely to
leave the child frustrated and disillusioned.
A solution to feeling frustrated and low on self-esteem, is that the street children
and youth often articulate that there is no point in getting a higher education. One street
youth told me that the educated and most intelligent (pintar) people often are the most
stupid (bodoh) ones. “Just look at the politicians in this country!” he said. He also claimed
to be happy not to have an education because if he had to sit every day at the university he
would not have time to live a real life (hidup yang benar). I was also told that education
would be a waste of time, as many educated people in Indonesia are not able to find a job,
and may end up as a petty trader in Malioboro.
Love and Relationships
The fairytale about the poor stable boy, maid or pretty prostitute that falls in love with his
or her rich mistress or master, and miraculously is loved in return, is wide spread all over
the world. This is backed up by soap operas on television, movies, Eastern as well as
Western, and romantic myths about people who have “made it”. The street community in
Yogyakarta has also not escaped this unrealistic scenario.
Many of my informants have a dream about meeting a rich, or at least better off
person, who will love them and marry them, and take them away from a life of poverty.
As I have previously discussed, the street boys prefer girls from the neighborhoods
(kampung) as girlfriends rather than street girls. This is both because the street girls are
seen as immoral and materialistic, but also because the girls from the kampungs have more
money. Getting married with a Javanese woman from a kampung is difficult because of the
social standing of the street youth. Not all Javanese families would see a street boy as a
suitable husband for their daughters. In addition, the street youth would have to obtain
official registration papers in order to get married, which is, as discussed, difficult. Some
neighborhood girls are attracted to the street youth with all their differences, and some do
get married and move in with her family. In other cases neighborhood girls may leave
their families because they do not approve of her boyfriend, who is a street boy. The street
girls may also be taken away by neighborhood boys, and offered a place with his family.
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Other street youth preferred to date foreigners. One even proclaimed that he would
never be with an Indonesian woman again, as he did not want to live a life in economic
hardship with her, as he expected it would be. They hope to be swept away by a foreign
woman. Yogyakarta, as discussed, is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia
after Bali, and the active academic life in the city, makes it a popular place for foreign
students. It also has an active body of NGOs that attract social workers from all over the
world, in addition to the ex-pat community of business women and men who have set up
hotels, restaurants and export/ import businesses of Indonesian handicraft, textile and
furniture. Most of the foreigners that come to Yogya, are Westerners and Japanese. Some
of the students, social workers and tourists that come get to know people in the street
community. As Malioboro is the busiest street in the center of the city, also located close to
the popular tourist area, Sosrowijayan, many foreigners interact with the street
community. Some of the boys and girls actively seek foreigners as business partners,
friends and romantic partners. Some of my informants actively sought friendships with
foreigners because of the prospect of lucrative business deals through sales of handicrafts.
Additionally, foreigners can afford to take them to restaurants, buy them food, cigarettes,
drugs and alcohol, and take them on trips to nice tourist destinations where they stay in
motels (losmen). One informant told me that he believes that foreigners understand more
the core of street life than rich Indonesians do, and that they are less judgmental about
street life54 and more open to diversity.
Many street youth I knew have or have had foreign girlfriends. Some people from
the street community have also married foreigners, who have in turn bought a house in
Indonesia where they can live together. Some have been taken to live a richer, and
assumed better life in the West. They serve as role models for others, and prove that the
dream can come true. When they come back to the street community, they are celebrated,
and stories are exchanged. The stories are not always happy, as living in a foreign country
is a challenge, and it is not easy for the street boys to find work, and may experience
different forms of oppression in the West, such as racism. Often they have come to the
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From a foreigners perspective, I believe that the values of freedom and independence on the street are
shared by many Westerners. It is also easy to be attracted to street life as it is seen as an opposition against
more strict dominant values, and also as a foreigner one is granted more freedom within the street
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conclusion that the street is, after all, their home.
Being with foreigners is accepted, nevertheless, problems arise when someone
catches the “foreigner disease” (sakit buleh). This is a term jokingly given to a person who
dates a foreigner and who looses motivation to work and hang out on the street, because
he lives a more wealthy life with her, presumably eating in restaurants and sleeping in soft
beds. For some street youth, the condition does not end when the girlfriend leaves to go
home, as she most often does. He will then look for another foreign girlfriend. One street
youth, who was very opposed to this behavior of his peers, complained to me that some
street boys appear to be unable to have fun where there are no foreigners around. He was
also angry with foreigners for spoiling (manja) the street children and youth, as it goes
against the attempts to encourage the individual and community to be independent
(mandiri). He said that earlier people were proud of not having much, eating with their
hands, and sleeping on the street. Now, whenever there is a foreigner around, his friends
would jump around like cats (kucing), asking for things, food and money. He interpreted it
as lack of pride (harga diri) with his peers. The gurus on the street, also encourage the
street youth to reclaim their pride and become independent from foreigners.
Being with foreigners is by some of my informants described as an addiction. One
informant explained that being with a foreigner for the first time was a surprise. First of
all, he was puzzled that she wanted him because he is poor, and she was rich. He was also
taken into her house, where he could live and not worry about food and money for the
first time in his life. He has also not experienced living together with someone or being
with someone twenty-four hours a day, and in this way a relation with a Westerner differs
from one with an Indonesian woman. When she left, he said that he was traumatized
(trauma), and he compared it to loosing his mother again, and that he was not prepared to
miss her so much, and for the first time he felt very alone, vulnerable and dependent on
someone else. He said that it scared him to be dependent, because he had fought so hard
to become independent. He said that after the experience he came to the conclusion that
he will not be with an Indonesian woman again, because of the economical hardship. He
waited for his first girl to come back, but in the end started a relationship to another
foreign woman. He characterizes his second relationship with a foreigner as unfulfilling.
He felt that he had to be with her because she gave him food and things, and let him stay
community that dominant Javanese society.
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with her. He felt that he got into a relationship of debt, and that he felt uncomfortable with
it. When she left, he did not mourn as he did the first time, and quite soon met a new
foreign woman. He told me that he did not really like her, but that he had decided to try
anyway. Once again he was provided for with food and a place to stay. He would often
explain to me that he felt that his heart is dead (hati mati). He said, that women who leave
after a period of time have traumatized him.
Being with a foreign women even though it makes you feel dead inside for the lack of
love, is acceptable and wanted because my informant does not have to worry about
money the time she is around. It is a nice life (enak), and worth feelings of emptiness
afterwards. The same informant has told me that he is not willing now to give his heart
away, because he has been traumatized. Now when he meets a girl, he tells her that it will
only be a relationship for the time being he is not willing to sit around a wait. This
indicates that there is more to it than money and the potential option of marriage and a
better life in the West. It is also a matter of having fun, and enjoying the girls’ company.
Working with NGOs
As briefly discussed above, the street youth at times internalize the hierarchy of
occupations, in relation to progress (kemajuan). Work is an important part of a street child
and youth’s life. My informants are creative in how they use the street for income
generating activity. They are skillful entrepreneurs, who have a trained eye for seeing new
ways to make money on the street. Most street work is within the informal sector, and the
ways of income available to the street youth are stigmatized, as previously discussed.
Dominant society does not offer them many opportunities for employment. Budi,
discussed previously, who was rejected as a shoe polisher, asked me to assist him getting a
job somewhere. To him, in a state of confusion concerning what to do with his life he saw
work as a strategy to be able to leave the street and reach kemjuan.
When it is difficult to find a “decent” job, as defined by dominant society, making
handicrafts in NGO run production houses is seen as an alternative. As explained in
Chapter One, the street youth I was mostly involved with worked at a production house
run by an NGO. The NGO worked as a safety net for the street youth, as they had medical
expenses covered and would be able to get loans for starting their own small business
projects. Knowing how to make handicrafts generates self-esteem, and the street youth at
the NGO felt that they had reached a level of kemajuan because they were able to work.
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However, some would express dissatisfaction with working for an NGO. One of
these was Bambang who wants to have his own business. He realizes that he can make
more money by running his own show. He has made deals with foreign girlfriends and
friends, and he knows that a notebook that he makes can be sold for three times as much
money in Australia or Germany than in Indonesia. Several times he has sent books with
people overseas, and made heaps of money, much more than NGOs can offer. When there
are no foreign friends around, he sometimes takes books up to the university looking for
potential business partners. He does not seem to be as interested in negotiation with
Indonesians, also because he does not have access to wealthy Indonesians due to social
stigma, but also because of his idea about foreigners as wealthy and kind (baik hati).
There are different reasons why some of the street youth were not happy in their
relationships with the NGOs. One reason was a general skepticism towards NGOs. As
mentioned above, some street youth have been disappointed because the NGOs are not
able to bring upon structural changes in society, which the street youth believe would
improve their lives. “The failure” of the NGOs may be a core reason why the street youth
also question the sincerity of the organizations’ willingness to help. Many street youth
would tell me that NGOs are only interested in making profit and creating work for
themselves. Because of this they felt that the street child (anak jalanan) label was misused to
sell more and make more money for the social workers, and not for the children
themselves. The “proof” of the violations was that the social workers’ lives would
improve, expressed in mode of transport, clothing or housing, but the lives of the streets
stay the same. It was also pointed out to me that the office facilities of organizations would
improve, which was all paid for with money from grant proposals for the street children.
The skepticism of NGOs may also go together with a general skeptisism towards
institutions on Java in general, which was strengthened after the economic crisis and fall
of Suharto in 1998 (Ertanto, 2001, pers. com.).
The street youth at times would feel disempowered by staying with NGOs as it
contradicts the value on the street of being independent (mandiri). This seemed to be
especially felt by the oldest street youth, who felt a desire to become adults, which also
means independence. By having his handicraft sold through an NGO, Bambang felt that
people would buy his products out of pity, but because they like them. He says that he
does not want to be labeled a street child forever, and that he wants to be just “Bambang”,
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an individual respected for his skills.
Becoming an adult and independent is often felt with ambivalence. One the one
hand they argue that they want independence from NGOs, but in other situations they
complain that the NGOs are not taking well enough care of them. One youth expressed
anger in situations where NGOs or people treated him like an equal business partner.
Once he was angry because an NGO had refused to pay him full price for a necklace,
when it was discovered that the clasp was poorly made and did not work. He was asked
to make it over again, which made him angry. He complained that the organization used
to be happy with everything he made, but now they were only interested in making profit.
I argued that NGOs have to make sure that they do not loose money, and that the necklace
could not be sold the way it was. He agreed, but added that it had to be the problem of the
NGO if they lost money, and that he as a street child (anak jalanan) should not be punished
for it. In this case, he saw himself as a victim in relation to the NGO, and expressed that
the NGO should help him rather than make money, which is a contradiction in relation to
his need to be treated like an adult, and be independent, discussed above. In another case
the same street youth told that he was angry with several NGOs because they would not
help him now that he is already big (sudah besar). He claimed that the organizations were
only interested in helping the smaller children, something, which he found unfair. Then he
complained that the organizations tell him to be independent, but they never tell him how.
This ambivalence clearly expresses the frustration the street youth experience when they
make attempts to live up to an ideal of progress, which is defined by dominant society, an
ideal, which the same dominant society prevents them from living up to. In these
situations the street youth hope for the NGOs to help. It then becomes difficult for the
street youth to experience that the NGOs as well as mainstream society have different
expectations for them when they grow older. As Bambang expressed
When I was little I was delighted to be with the NGOs. I was so happy that there were someone to
care for me, and I was trilled to be able to learn how to read and write with them. I was little then,
and did not know better. Now I am tramatized (trauma) with NGOs. It has all changed, the NGOs do
not care about us anymore. It was better before (From my fieldnotes).
In times of crisis many street youth will turn to the NGOs, and many youth expressed
gratitude to be with NGOs after times of stress and frustration. Endar, for instance, came
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back to an NGO after weeks on a drug spree. Once back, he swore that he was done with
drugs and now all he wanted was to work. The NGO was included into his own plan for
recovery. In another case, a street youth who was very expressively against NGOs one day
came and told me that now he was working in a production house again. When I asked
him whether he was not angry with NGOs anymore he said, with a sad expression
“working for them does not mean that I follow them (ikut-ikutan), but what else is there for
me?” He then expressed frustration that he had to compromise with himself and go to an
NGO, which he disagreed with and felt exploited by. He has failed to make it alone, and
he needed help.
When progress fails – alternative strategies
Bambang who succeeded in finding a house to live, told me that when he lived on the street he
thought that life in a house would be nice and easy. Now, that he has it, he is more worried about
money and confused (bingun) than ever. He has to pay rent, and plan ahead with his money,
something that is a contrast to living from hand to mouth on the street. (From my fieldnotes,.)
This shows that the quest towards progress (kemajuan) is difficult, and the ambivalence as
to how to get there is always underneath the surface. As discussed so far in this chapter,
the different ideal of kemajuan when framed by street values, leave the street youth feeling
empowered. When the street youth are judged or judge themselves through the eyes of
others based on the educated person as defined by mainstream society, he will feel
frustrated, confused and stressed out (stres).
Stres is a condition caused by worries. It should not be confused with the English
term ‘stress’, as the Indonesian ‘stres’ is a form of madness caused by worries and
troublesome thoughts. The condition is often described with words like headache,
dizziness and confusion (pusing and bingung). Verbally, there is also a connection made
between worrying and loosing weight, as in; “You are very skinny now, you must have a
lot on your mind (banyak pikiran)”. I observed talk about financial stres, but also emotional
stres, as previously discussed, the feeling when Bambang’s girlfriend returned to Australia
was stres. I understand that when they feel stres there is a feeling of not being able to
master one’s life, to stand still and not move forward. They fail to reach their goals defined
through the ideal of progress (kemajuan). It may come when my informants are tired of the
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life situation they are in, and when they feel that their efforts to take control of their lives
have failed. I witnessed this several times, and it seemed to be coming and going in cyclic
patterns in the lives of the street youth. The condition often brought them into a circle of
crime, alcohol and substance abuse on one hand, and lack of motivation, feelings of failure
and lack of initiative on the other. They tend to distance themselves more from
mainstream society during these periods, by over-communicating the characteristics of
and romanticizing street life. In the following I will discuss crime and substance abuse as
alternative strategies. Through crime and substance abuse they increase the claims of the
State and dominant groups within mainstream society, which in turns creates a negative
self-concept. Nevertheless, I argue that the acts may be seen as desperate attempts to gain
control of their lives, and created a larger room for their agency.
Crime
Most of my informants have been involved in criminal acts, and a majority has spent time
in jail in their lives, as discussed in Chapter Four. Considering how difficult it is to make
ends meet and the social stigma previously discussed, one would wonder why my
informants do not chose a criminal path more often, as do also Bourgios comments about
crack dealers in el barrio of New York (Bourgois, 1995). The alternative to an honest life is
established. There is a dark economy established and places to sell stolen goods. It is also
possible to make a living as a gangster or a drug dealer. Crime is seen as a solution to
financial problems. As discussed, the laws are seen as refined (halus), in the Javanese
culture, and made by the rich (orang kaya). Breaking the law is hence seen as a statement to
underline the community of the poor. Crime is therefore a legitimate means to solve
problems, as long as the crime does not affect friends. Crime may be seen as an established
alternative. Yet, most street youth argue that they want to stay out of such trouble. When
this topic was debated I noticed three arguments against becoming a criminal. One line
was expressing a desire to become a good person (jadi orang baik). As discussed above, jadi
orang baik may be seen as an attempt to live up to the ideal of the educated Javanese,
which involves a project of being refined (halus) and progressive (maju). As breaking the
laws are seen as rough (kasar) as the laws in themselves are halus.
Many street youth, will at times turn to God and religion and ask for help in over
coming the hardship of the street. This I see in connection to a general moral scale
internalized in my informants, connected to religion and moral conduct as set out by
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society. When things go wrong they would turn to God, and aspire to live more in
accordance with religion, that means praying, fasting, and staying clean (bersih) of alcohol,
drugs and crime
Another argument against being a criminal, is that crime will not lead to progress
(kemajuan). Even though some of my informants would talk about life in jail with some
nostalgia (c.f. Chapter Four), most street youth that I knew expressed a clear desire to stay
out. As already discussed, the conditions in jail are harsh, and the loss of freedom is in
sharp contrast to street values. Those who had experienced it expressed that they did not
want to go back for the sake of progress. One of the street youth often asked me to watch
American movies about prison life with him, as this was his favorite movie genre, because
they describe how he felt when he was in jail inside. While other American movies where
hard for him to relate to, this was a situation he was familiar with, and I interpreted is like
he really had a defining experience in jail, that truly made an impact in his life.
Nevertheless, despite the arguments and motivation to stay out of trouble,
sometimes life is too difficult to manage. As the following empirical example shows. It is
about 21 year old Wiwit who aspired to become an artist and who was working making
handicrafts.
Wiwit always had money problems (pikiran uang), and often complained that he was confused
(bingun) and stres. The situation got particularly bad when he got a girlfriend, who was a street girl.
He was expected to keep her with food and gifts, something he found unreasonable because the girl
should know that he did not really have money. He wanted her to understand this, but she was
demanding, and because he liked her, he did his best to live up to her expectations. He cheated
friends for money, and I heard a rumor that there was a price for his head on the street, something,
which was never confirmed, but it was clear that many in the street community were angry with
him. He also borrowed money from food stall (warung) owners too and ate on credit. In the end, he
had to stay away from several areas of the city, because he risked running into people who were out
to get him. At the same time he made efforts to sell handicraft and paintings. He told me that he
experienced the situation as very stresful (banyak stres). He said that his thoughts always circled
around money problems. The girl also left him, after he complained to her because she was too
demanding. He argued that she was a material girl (perempuan materi), but it still caused him
emotional stres because, he told me, he really liked her. One day, he stole a bike from a friend, and
that made the community around him, who were already tired of his lies and scams, turn their backs
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to him. Finally he disappeared, and we later heared that he had been arrested for stealing a
motorbike, and sentenced to prison.
This case shows that economical problems may lead to crime. Parts of the economical
problems came when he tried to live up to society’s expectations of being a man and a
boyfriend. Being a boyfriend means that he should be able to provide his girl with
protection from other men, food, clothes and small gifts of love. The boys make a
distinction between the material girls (perempuan materi) and girls who are less demanding
and more capable of true love. Still, Wiwit had to accept her demands because he liked
her, and in order for her not to leave, and to provide him with attention and sex, he had to
show that he is a good man, by not being stingy (pelit). When he complained to her, the
girl told me afterwards that she broke with him because he was exactly that, pelit. Wiwit
told me that he was disappointed because he wanted to find a girl who is able to see that
there must be a dual effort to make ends meet.
Wiwit tried other ways than crime to turn his fortune, by asking friends for money
and selling artwork, but that was not enough, so he began to steal from friends. As
discussed in Chapter Four, friends are crucial to one’s survival, and Wiwit made the
mistake of making his friends, who would have been allies, his enemies. In the end he was
left with no option, but to leave. Being alienated by his own community, and without a
family to turn to, he may have seen the theft of a motor bike as a fast way out of the
situation. The successful theft of a bike could bring in enough money to repay debts and
start over with friends. The risk was outweighed by the potential gain.
Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Crime
As previously mentioned, drug abuse and crime are interrelated factors in some cases.
Alcohol is a substance that is available as long as someone can pay for it. Mostly bottles
are bought with a joint financial effort, where everybody puts in with what they can
afford. Then the bottle is shared amongst everyone. Drinking with friends is a highly
appreciated activity, and the act of sharing and drinking from the same glass and sharing
while playing the guitar and singing, is seen as a community enhancer. Drugs are not as
readily available as alcohol, although I was told that there are more drugs around now
than a few years ago, and that the street children and youth have become more regular
consumers of drugs. The availability of drugs varies from time to time, as it depends on
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how much cheap drugs which is in the city at the time. During some periods, the police
are more active searching for drug smugglers and dealers, and in those times there are
also less drugs around. The times when the drugs are accessible are called drug seasons
(musim obat). The drugs are cheaper then, and the season is characterized by more social
turmoil than normal, as I will show in the following.
My informants told me that they enjoyed drugs because it takes care of stres
(kehilangan stres). In that way it can be seen as a strategy to cope with a situation that
seems hopeless. I was also explained that drugs and alcohol was good in order to sleep
well on the hard sidewalk. On the other hand certain drugs can be taken in order to be
able to work non-stop, and in that way be perceived as a means to reach progress
(kemajuan). Taking drugs before work, is a way to rid oneself from feeling embarrassed
(malu), and to work better, and feel brave. Drugs are still used although the street youth I
know expressed knowledge about the dangers of drugs, and most have experienced
themselves and seen others have hard times because of drugs.
As I discussed in Chapter One, earlier studies of street children and youth have
tended to see the use of drugs as a rational choice to fulfill needs (Bennet, 1986; Becker,
1963). A rational choice approach does not offer a complete understanding of the issues. In
Chapter Four, I discussed how there is a peer pressure to use drugs because it gives
experience (pengalaman) and an expression of the freedom of street life, and an aspect of
the carefree attitude of street life. As Bambang expressed it: “I would like to try all the
drugs in the world because no one knows what will happen anyway. We are all going to
die, so why not enjoy life while alive?”
Drugs are seen as a community enhancer, something which strengthens the
community. My informants told me that they felt so good (enak) when they would do
drugs together with friends. They would underline the importance of being together in the
act. I also observed that when drugs was taken, the involved parts would make sure that
everyone was in, and certain that they wanted to, and an agreement was made before, e.g.,
swallowing the pills (ngepil), and then they would hang around together and enjoy the
high in each other’s company.
Although perceived as glue in the community, the use of drugs often causes
conflicts. I was told that normally friends do not fight with friends, but when they take
drugs some become more aggressive, and the atmosphere changes. Once I was out with a
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group where three of them had taken the drug Lexotan55, and the rest of us had not. They
talked loudly and were seen by the others as vulgar (kasar) for talking a lot and taking up
too much space. They also rudely took cigarettes and more alcohol than the rest, and
violated in that way the rules for sharing. Their friends sat around quietly, and in that way
signaled that they did not approve of their behavior. When the boys on Lexotan had left,
the discussion about them started, where their friends said that they were very tired of the
way they acted, and that they are always on drugs these days, and never wanted to share
expenses for food and alcohol.
Another case, Bambang lived in a boarding house (c.f. below) in a neighborhood
(kampung) one day I met him, he told me that he was angry with his friends. They were on
a period of drug use, which had lasted for a few weeks. Lately they had also spent a lot of
time in Bambang’s house, which put him in a dilemma because his landlord, who thought
Bambang was a student, did not approve of his street friend. As described in previous
chapters the street children and youth are seen with suspicion when they enter a
neighborhood, and this time the problem escalated when a pair of jeans went missing
from the room of some of the other boys at the boarding house. Bambang’s friends were
accused of stealing, and Bambang knew that the accusations were right. He explained to
me that they did it because of drugs. He said that normally his friends would behave in
respect of him and his hospitality, but with drugs one becomes unpredictable and does
not care about anything but oneself. Still, he was afraid to tell them to stay away because
then he would be accused of being arrogant (sombong) and of thinking that he is better
than they, and for being “already rich” (sudah kaya), which I explained in Chapter Five is a
serious insult.
In Chapter Five, I told the story of what happened when Endar made an attempt to
get official registration papers but was chased by the fear of his stepfather when he
returned home to get his birth certificate. Just a few weeks after this Endar hit a bottom.
Endar, Suvil and Coki were on the drug carousel, and had been for weeks. Their friends worried
about them, and they got into conflict with them on a couple of occasions for acting threatening and
unacceptable. Finally, Suvil and Coki suggested to Endar that they should break into a house.
55
Lexotan is a prescription drug given to psychiatric patients, and is meant to help against anxiety. It makes
the user feel brave and invincible, and may loose memory.
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Braved by drugs, they wanted some adventure, but Endar did not want to join them in this. He
claimed to see that they had gone to far this time. Suvil and Coki ended up in prison for stealing two
motorbikes. Endar walked free, but was for a few weeks terrified that his name would come up in
police interrogation, and that they would catch him too. He told me that he had done something
with Suvil and Coki before the motorbike situation, and he feared that the others would take
revenge because he had gotten out of the situation in time. He moved to the beach for a while, and
told me not to tell any of his friends this. He wanted to be by himself to get his life back on track,
and to have peace to resume back to work. There he meditated, prayed and followed food taboos, to
get clean. Every morning he took the bus into the city to go to work, and in the evening he went
back to the beach. I went to see him there, and he talked a lot about how he wanted to become a
better person, and how he was sorry for the things he had done while on drugs. He indicated that it
had a lot to do with the stres he had experienced when his girlfriend had left for Australia.
Coincidences had it that this happened in a so-called drug season (musim obat), meaning that here
were a lot of drugs available on the street. Turning to drugs was therefor an option, because prices
were low.
Endar went from being motivated to get official registration papers to a drug spree in just
a few weeks. I argue that through his practice within this time frame the models of the
educated Javanese” and the “educated street person” articulated with each other. The “on
the street” vs. “off the street” ambivalence of Endar was triggered when he once again
failed to live up to the expectations of mainstream society.
Working One’s Way Up
After a period of stres and being messed up (kacau), the individual tends to pull himself
together. In Wiwit’s case this happened when his friends turned away from him. In
Endar’s case it happened when his friends turned away, and he had no money to support
himself. Working one’s way up after a vicious circle that has brought the individual as far
down as one can get, takes a lot of will power and a time of contemplation.
Wiwit came to me with a philosophy after he had been in a lot of stres. We were sitting at a table in
Milas, and he took a glass, a salt shaker and a napkin. With these as props he explained to me, that
he had realized what he had to do in life to make things work. He had to prioritize. He put the glass
in front of a line and said that the glass symbolized work. Work had to be number one. Second in
158
live was the salt container, symbolizing having fun with friends. That had to come after work, but
before the napkin, symbolizing love and relationships. He made thought experiences changing the
objects places and explaining that if love or having fun with friends came in front of work, that
would cause stres. The same would happen if he placed women in front of friends, as friends are
always there to support you, but women were less reliable.
This shows Wiwit’s rational effort to solve his problems and the stres. He saw, that work
had to come first in order for both love and friendships to follow in a healthy way. Still, in
reality he failed to live up to his plan, and ended up in a difficult relationship with friends,
no girlfriend and in prison.
Endar moved to the beach after Suvil and Coki were caught and sent to prison. He told met to keep
it a secret, because he needed to be away from his friends to stay sober and clean, and to get back
into the habit of working. On the beach, he spent time praying, running on the beach and swimming
in the ocean. The beach is a powerful place to the Javanese because of the myth that the Queen of the
South Sea controls the ocean. Endar told me that he found it very refreshing to be there, and that he
was better able to focus his mind and get rid of stres (kehilangan stres).
Searching for spiritual awareness and power is a strategy to get out of a bad circle.
Bambang also told me that he was given a magic stone to gave him the strength to work
better. This happened in a time when he was not working and got drunk and high every
night.
A Lost Son Returns to Homelessness
To sum of this chapter, I will give an empirical example, of one street youth’s way from
the street – into a house – and back. It is a journey of an individual who had progressed,
but had to regress. It is a story, which illustrates the ambivalence of the street youth in
relation to their own futures, and shows how different ideals of the “educated person”
articulates with each other through the practice of the street youth. Most of all, the story
illustrates that life is a roller coaster ride, and that the street youth have an amazing ability
to adapt to change both through actions and through mechanisms of construction of self.
When Bambang met Dutch Elizabet, he was playing music at cross roads (mengamen) and she was a
foreign student and a volunteer at a project for street children. They became friends. They fell in
159
love, and Bambang, told me that he was surprised that she wanted him, as he was just an
uneducated street boy and she was a university student. They started to date, and soon he moved
into her house. They spent 24 hours a day together, he told me, and for the first time in his life
Bambang did not have to worry about money. He got food, and was taken to restaurants and places
with her. The semester ended, and Elizabet had to go home to Holland. They promised that they
would stay together and meet again, and Bambang swore that he would wait for her. He was
shocked when she left, when he realized how much it is possible to miss another person. He was not
prepared for the heartache, as he had never in his life felt so dependent on someone else, he
explained to me. Months went by and Elizabet did not come back, the relationship ended, and
Bambang dated a couple of other foreigners. One of them helped him get a room in a boarding
house. He needed the help because he does not have official papers. Together with this girl, he also
ate well. He stopped working in the production house, as he did not need the money anymore. The
others teased him saying that he had the foreigner disease (sakit boleh). Some said that he was
arrogant (sombong) and too rich (kaya) to hang out on the street with his old friends. Bambang was
hurt by this and after a while also a little embarrassed to meet his old friends. He started to hang out
with the other boys in his boarding house, who were mostly students, and who had money from
home that could feed Bambang too. At times he came by the production house, but not so often as
he and his boarding house friends were often drunk or high on drugs. Bambang had one problem,
and that was his rent. One day he told me that he had not paid rent in six months. He did not have
the money. Now the landlord wanted him out. Bambang ignored it for another few months, and
tried to avoid meeting the owner of the house. He did not have anywhere to go, so he could not
move. Finally one day he came to me. He was high on drugs (mabuk) and clearly upset. He told me
that he would end up back on the street. He was looking at going back to play music on the street
again. He was not sure if he would be able to sleep on the concrete, as he was now used to his own
place and bed. He said that he would get used to it, but it would take a while. He also worried that
his old friends on the street would laugh at him, or worse, neglect him. They had seen him as
someone who had made it, someone with success, and they would wonder how he had ended on
the street again. He would tell them that he was just like them, he had not changed. Even though he
had lived in a house, life had been exactly the same. He had only had food once or twice a day, just
like on the street. He would be embarrassed to go back to play music, and he was afraid that he
would meet some of the boys he had shared a house with, who believed that he was a student at the
art school. Even though he was embarrassed he had to do it, and in fact he knew that he did not
160
actually have anything to be ashamed off. He played out the scenario that someone would recognize
him on the street. “Bambang, is that you?” they would say. He would then answer “Yes, it is. What
else do you want? (Ya, ini saya, kamu mau apa lagi?”
This story sums up several aspects of this thesis. It shows the importance of loyalty
towards friends, and it shows how friends are difficult to maintain when the individual is
given opportunities within the mainstream world. It shows how the individual is caught
between two realities, the street and “normal” life, and it shows how structural oppression
makes it difficult for the individual to maintain in control of his life. To Bambang, getting
something means that one risks loosing it, and Bambang experienced stress and
frustration once he saw that his efforts were about to fail. His only option then was to
search out old friends, and communicate the similarity between them, and stress that he
was still the same as he had always had been. In the end he projects the self (Ortner, 1999)
towards the situation, and decides to take pride in himself also as a street boy. The identity
that he had tried to escape eventually caught up with him.
On a final note, where does this story leave the street youths’ possibilities to furnish
their future? Are there no reasons to be optimistic? As discussed throughout this chapter
the street youth orient themselves towards different models of progress (kemajuan) and
refinement (halus). Supported by positive forces within the street community they
demonstrate a fascinating ability to adapt to different situations in a life which at times is
both crazy (gila) and messed up (kacau). This is also why there is hope. The efforts of the
street youth to reach progress on their own terms should be acknowledged. At the same
time, work has to be done within mainstream society to end political and structural
oppression, and to offer more opportunities for the street youth.
161
Chapter Seven
Some Concluding Remarks
My admiration for the street children and youth, who became my friends in Yogyakarta,
has kept on growing throughout the process of writing this thesis. I have learned that
human beings have an amazing ability to survive despite poverty, violence and abuse, and
it has become obvious to me that survival means so much more than just fulfilling the
need for food, water and air to breathe. Just as important are the needs for dignity and
self-respect – to be someone and to be recognized. In this way, my thesis offers a criticism
of the influential psychologist Maslow’s (1971) hierarchy of needs, a theory, which
suggests that human needs are ordered and attended with different degrees of urgency.
According to Maslow, a child will for example, not seek to fulfill needs for love and
belonging or self-actualization, before his or her hunger is satisfied. With this thesis I hope
to have shown that the main projects of the street youth are to gain control of their lives
and maintain and strengthen their dignity and self-respect.
A central theme of this thesis is the street youth’s efforts to maintain and expand
the field between their agency and the structure of society. The gap between the life
situation of the street youth differs radically from dominant and State ideology. In relation
to this, I have argued that their self-concepts and worldviews at times seem ambiguous
and conflicting. To understand the ambivalence that the street boy expresses in relation to
his life situations and actions it is crucial to explore power relations and issues of
oppression within the Javanese society. Furthermore, I have argued that the marginalized
and stigmatized position of the street youth within the Javanese society plays an
important role in the street youth’s construction of self and identity. By exploring street
youth agency, I argue that the street youth are not passive victims, but active agents of the
162
social and cultural processes, which they are involved in.
Throughout this thesis, I have argued that the street youth are active cultural agents
within that which I have defined as two social fields: the street social field and the
dominant social field. This has proved to be a fruitful approach to describe the social and
cultural worlds of the street youth, who undoubtedly are an oppressed minority within
Javanese society. Through describing the street youth’s social interactions and activities in
different contexts and situations, I have shown how the street youth are active agents in
constructing their own social and cultural universe. This is in contrast to the previous
ethnography on Java, which has not been able to account for creativity and change within
the Javanese society in general, and of the Javanese youth in particular, as youth have been
a “muted” group in Social Anthropology. As discussed in Chapter Two, previous studies
of Javanese youth described them as outside of Javanese culture, and underplayed their
importance in cultural (re)production. By presenting the street youth as being within
Javanese society, although marginalized, rather than as being outside, I hope to contribute
to a description of an “alternative” Javanese reality, which challenges the rigid notion of
Javanese culture as the closed and static system criticized in Chapter Two.
The title of this thesis “Vagrants cannot have success” (Kere tidak bisa suksess) is a quote
borrowed from a passage in Jejal written by JAD.
To talk about success is not that easy. Being a vagrant says enough. Yes, it is very clear that vagrants
cannot have success. Where should they get it from? We never went to school. Even students with a
bachelors and masters degree often are not successful. So my opinion is that vagrants can only have
success in becoming a vagrant. As a vagrant we consider finding food every day a success.
Moreover we don't have any responsibilities and no boundaries. So the only option is to wait for a
miracle. Look at the rich people around us. Even they just do common things. Vagrants cannot have
success, yes sure, success in becoming a vagrant. (JAD, Jejal, 1997).
The street children and youth are products of the world they live in. As JAD notes,
Indonesian society struggles to provide everybody with opportunities to survive and
control their lives. This is not just the situation for the street children and youth, but for
millions of other Indonesians. Since the fall of Suharto in 1998, the country has
experienced increasing waves of ethnic and religious tensions amongst her diverse
163
population. Political and economic crisis has led to disillusions and frustrations on the
street as well as within mainstream society. Recent developments in the world, which
have occurred after my stay in Yogyakarta, such as the bombing of a nightclub on Bali in
October 2002, have for the moment paralyzed an important tourist industry as well as
foreign trade and investments. Indonesia has come into the global spotlight, and the
pressured government’s handling of terrorism is closely monitored by groups inside
Indonesia and internationally. In times of unrest, marginal grous are vulnerable and
human rights fragile. Yet, I hope that the street children and youth in Yogya will succeed
in their quests towards freedom, dignity and respect.
164
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