The Jakarta Post
There were no papers to be delivered on Monday's national holiday of the Ascension Day of Prophet Muhammad, but newspaper salesman Juhadi still had to leave his house in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, before dawn.
For he had a different route to take on a day devoted to him and the estimated 30,000 paper sellers in Greater Jakarta.
"I've planned for a week to join the run," said the 46-year-old employee of a newspaper agent in Jl. Budi Utomo, Central Jakarta.
After 29 years in the business, he was excited to gather with his fellow sellers in a special Fun Run.
"This is my first time to join an event like this;" he added. About 13,000 newspaper deliverymen - or loper in Jakarta slang - newspaper agents and their families enjoyed the four-kilometer run on a special day for them, which is always held on one national holiday every year.
They gathered at the west plaza of Senayan Stadium for the race's 7 a.m. start. The route took them along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Gerbang Pemuda, before reaching the finish line in Senayan. The event was followed by performances by dangdut singers and other entertainment.
The National Sports Concil and publishing companies sponsored the event and provided Rp 20,000 in transportation money, a T-shirt, a cap and lunch for each deliveryman, as well as door prizes, such as motorcycles, televisions, bicycle and other for participants.
Supri, who read about the event in a newspaper last Friday, usually sells papers and magazines at Grogol intersection from 5:30 a.m. until noon. He takes a one hour break before starting a delivery route to housing complexes until 5 p.m. "I've been delivering papers since I was in the fifth grade of elementary school," the 25year-old said." I don't think I'll find another job because I like selling things."
PAPER CHASE: National Sports Council chariman Agum Gumelar (second from right) accompanied by the head of the Indonesian Paper Sellers foundation Laris Naibaho, flags off paper sellers Monday at the start of the 2006 FunRun at Senayan, Central Jakarta.
Other sellers have been eager to try something different from pounding the street for buyers.
Kabul, also a participant in the race, was a deliveryman until two years ago, when he established a newspaper agency in his house in Tambun, Bekasi. He and other newspaper sellers in the area agreed to open their own agency so they would not have to go to an agency in the center of the city, many kilometers from their houses.
"The Loper Day was aimed at giving time for the deliverymen to have some entertainment for themselves;" said Indonesian Paper Sellers Foundation secretary Dicky Ariano said.
Dicky, who was a deliveryman before running a newspaper agency in Pancoran, South Jakarta, said people often overlooked the important role played by newspaper deliverymen - estimated to number about 30,000 in Greater Jakarta - in the newspaper business.
"Deliverymen do not have an institution to safeguard them. A publisher may want to look after them, but the problem is that they also distribute papers from other publishers;" he said.
"There will be confusion about safeguarding deliverymen among publishers." (02)
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