Category Archives: Business

Indonesia now boasts one of the largest groups of Facebook users in the world.  Not all of the users are wealthy people, but most of the Indonesian members seem to use the service for pretty much the same reasons that people in the West do – for meeting new people, staying in contact with friends and family.

In this clip, we see another use, more creative than most – marketing through social networking – by this tukang becak (bicycle rickshaw driver).  Ana has summarised the contents:

The name of the tukang becak is Hariadi or Haryadi? It’s pronounced the same anyway.
His family home also came from Facebook. It was given to him by an English tourist. Hariadi may have told some of his customers his unfortunate life story. His wife died in the great earthquake which hit Yogyakarta on 27 May 2006 and his house was destroyed.  It was an English tourist who funded the development of his new home.

He’s a typical tukang becak who operates in Yogyakarta (friendly personality, will show you the touristry places, places to buy souvenirs etc), the difference is that he’s connected to Facebook and is actively using it not only for social networking, but also to market his services.

When he’s waiting for customers, he connects to facebook thru his mobile phone and makes friends from all over the world (the reporter says he has more than 800 facebook friends). While making friends, he also offers his services for taking them touring the city, when they visit Yogyakarta.

From Facebook, he learnt how to speak English and how to communicate with tourists. The cost of maintaining his Facebook friendships is expensive, but he accepts that extra cost knowing that the benefits are far greater. From his facebook friends he gets many recommendations (especially from foreign tourists) and his income is much more now than when he started.

My opinion : he’s a very smart, open-hearted and optimistic person who embraces new technology and has the courage to seize the opportunity to use facebook to market his services. He doesn’t feel malu (shy) in practicing English on the tourists, unlike many other Javanese.

As a Javanese, I notice a tendency for people to ’sell’ their poverty to tourists every time they get a chance. I remember when I was in Yogyakarta and Borobudur years ago. When we rode a becak, the story was typical - he’s poor, needs more money to send the kids to school, and income from becak was just not enough. When we rode a delman (horse cart), the story was the same.

The typical thinking of treating foreign people as a cash cow is totally unacceptable! But maybe it’s because they just do not have access to facebook, eh? Hehe… From Facebook they should learn more about global friendship and
how to appreciate and value themselves.

Indonesians generally have a tendency to ‘cry poverty’. It’s one of the less appealing habits. They seem to want to present themselves as being from a ‘poor’ country, when in fact the middle classes and elite are generally far more wealthy than people holding similar status in Western countries. Even the poor, in Java and Bali, are in much more comfortable circumstances than those I have seen in the Phillipines, Vietnam, India.

I notice a big difference among becak drivers. It’s a common sight in many small cities to see them sleeping in their rigs by the side of the road. Sometimes they don’t even want to stir if I need a ride. Of course, they may be resting after a hard job, or they may be waiting for a regular customer who would be put out if they weren’t there when needed. But there’s also social pressure to be seen not to be making too much money.  There are only a few like Pak Hari who find creative ways to build their businesses. Even without the house being donated to him, I’m sure he is one becak driver who will make good.

My first exprience with a becak was in Yogya, many years ago. The driver was rake-thin and sported a diamond in his front tooth, which was made of gold. He worked hard and was obviously doing well from it.