Rumah Sarni Sarnis House

HRVQ8
BENVGBU4 Housing Policy, Programme, and Project Alternatives

Rumah Sarni Sarnis House

The Call for the House

It was a hot-humid afternoon, when Sarni received a call from a familiar number. She was
waiting for customer to come across small barbershop where she works every day, when Pak
Hari- a relative who lives in same village in Sukoharjo- gave her important news concerning
her house. She almost could not believe the fact that she got 7 million rupiah from
government to upgrade her house in Sukoharjo. The sudden luck required her to go to
Sukoharjo as soon as possible to sign some documents to get her money allocated. Quickly,
Sarni asked for permission from her colleagues in barbershop in order to go to her village,
taking care for procedure.
Sarni took a bus to Sukoharjo from nearest terminal in Jakarta. After 15 hours long journey,
she arrived in Desa Kamal, a small village in Sukoharjo in Jawa Tengah region, consists of
approximately 20 farmer families. She was born there in 1960 as the youngest of 11
daughters of family in a decent house. As years passed, Sarni and her sisters moved to
Jakarta, leaving her parents to get a better livelihood. Only one of her older sister stays in the
village, living in her own house after she got married. In 2007, her father passed away,
leaving her 80 years old mother lives with her older sister to keep her company. From that
day onwards, the house lost its inhabitants, breathing through dark windows, locked doors,
collecting dust of time.
On the same day she arrived, she met Pak Hari, Desa Kamals leader to sign documents
needed. The land and house was given to her from her parents because she still did not have a
house back then. From the village leader, she got the clear story of the program. It was an
initiative from Kementrian Perumahan Rakyat (National Housing Authority) to upgrade
deprived villages in rural areas. Stimulant Grant for Self-help Housing Development or
Bantuan Stimulan Perumahan Swadaya, aims to allocate a sum of money for low-income
community to improve their houses in self-help process (Menteri Negara Perumahan
Rakyat, 2011). Sarni did not know what swadaya or self-help means, but the fact that she got
a subsidy from government was a big help for her saving, especially for house maintenance.
Since her son entered technical school and her daughter has to do internship to graduate from
university, her saving is concentrated to education expenses for them.

State of The Art: Self-help Housing in Indonesia

The notion of self-help housing gained popularity in 1960s, developed by Turner and World
Bank in 1970s. Later on Turner argues that the new generation of policies will not be based
on government programmes at all, in the conventional sense: they will be based on locally
self-determined, self-organised and self-managed programmes by the people who need the
goods and services that they effectively demand (Turner, 1983, p.209). This concept in
known as enabling, defining position of government as stimulator and actively respond for
housing demand. Therefore, the role of government in housing provision is supporting,
providing services that people could not create themselves, such as regulation, finance, knowhow, and land tenure (Payne, 1984; Wars, 1982 as cited in Mungkasa, 2011, p.5).
Self-help housing in the program Bantuan Stimulan Perumahan Swadaya is defined by
housing that is built upon community initiatives, individually or collectively, including
renovation, extension, or new housing construction with the environment (Menteri Negara
Perumahan Rakyat, 2011). The mechanism of the programme was through Provincial and
Local Level, requiring participation from community under coordination with community
leader. The programme implemented in 60 cities in 2013 (Heripoerwanto, 2012) and in case
of Sukoharjo, it was focused only on physical improvement of housing.
The story would have been different if Sarni does not have dual identity. She has two national
identity cards; one states her address in Sukoharjo as Jawa Tengah Province identity card, the
other one- DKI Jakarta Province identity card- states her address in Jakarta. De facto, she was
not eligible for the programme because she does not live in the house. Nevertheless, the Jawa
Tengah identity card stated her legitimation. Other criteria of the programme are the land
ownership and preparation for subsidy (op cit, 2011). Sarni entitled the land approximately
500 m2 and the house from her parents and saved some money for the house improvement.
Pak Hari conducted report stating the number of deprived houses, including photos of the
houses in need for the programme. The report was sent through local government to be
assessed by national government (Kementerian Perumahan Rakyat). The eligible houses got
the funding which was allocated in 3-6 months to local bank in the village. Bank officer came
to sub-district office and gave amount of money to be used only for upgrading houses.
Village leader will organize the money, connecting the money to construction materials

suppliers and the village members. That was the reason of lucky call from Pak Hari; bringing
Sarni back to her village soon to get her house renovated.
As the money was allocated, materials were ready, and Sarni realized that 7 million rupiah
could only cover roof cost. She asked additional funding from her sisters, but they were
barely interested to invest on the idle house. Other village members sold their assets such as
cow and goat to complete the cost of their housing renovation. Furthermore, the subsidy does
not include labour cost. Government assumed that the construction process is self-help with
gotong royong (mutual aid) as part of social capital within community. Actually, the builders
asked for incentive, whether it was half rate wage, free lunch, or cigarette.
Desa Kamal members agreed on Sarnis house was the first one to be renovated because she
needed to go back to work in Jakarta soon. It took one week intensively to rebuild the roof
and walls of the house before the builders went to renovate other houses. Sarni took part in
monitoring the construction, patiently looking after her only asset. Almost 8 million rupiah
has been out of her saving for wall cost using bricks and concrete. At the end of the day, her
money was not enough to buy window. On the last day of week, Pak Hari took picture of her
house after the renovation for the report about how the subsidy was used in the right place.
From Sukoharjo to Jakarta: Dwelling Story
At first, there was no single idea for Sarni to leave her house in Sukoharjo. When she finished
middle school, she was tempted to join her older sisters who got accepted to study in a
university in Jakarta. It was in 1984 when she stepped on the capital city, nothing specifically
to achieve and to hold. She tried university test, training, and applied for courses. Those
attempts did not work until she tried barber training in 1990 and finally accepted to work in a
small barbershop in eastern part of Jakarta.
In the early times, she lived with her sister, Sarwanti, in the area close to bus terminal named
Pulo Gadung. Most of relatives from Sukoharjo used Pulo Gadung, a sub district in border
between Jakarta and Bekasi, as arrival place in the capital city. In 1994, she met a man with
whom she married with and moved to a rental house with her husband, not very far from her
sisters house. In the same year, the new couple got a daughter, followed by a son three years
later. However, 1997 was a remarkable year that brought life upside down for Sarni. Her
husband left her and discreetly married with another woman. From this moment, she decided

to take care of her two children alone.

During struggle times in Jakarta, Sarni still sends remittances to her parents in Sukoharjo.
Most of times, her salary as barber in barbershop was not enough to cover all living expenses,
so that she worked overtime on herself to meet her regular customer on private call basis.
Since she inherited the house in Sukoharjo from her parents, she started to save money from
her salary for the house maintenance. There is also community saving in Desa Kamal that she
could get a small loan without interest. Similar to any other migrants in Jakarta, she makes
annual visit to her relatives and stays in her house in Sukoharjo for a week during Idul Fitri
break . That is the time when the capital city remains empty, forgetting about economic
pressure for a while.
Kampung as Arrival and Survival
Before the lucky call in June 2011, Sarni has not been aware about anything related to
housing programme from government. During 1994 to the present, Sarni noted that she has
been moving around in Jakarta for eleven times. I moved a lot because I looked for cheaper
rent. Other times, I moved because of flood affected the house. Some house owners are
tolerant if Im late paying the rent. she said, elaborating the stories behind her transitory life.
For a barber with below average salary, her relation to house in capital city is a basis survival
from one phase of life to another.
All the rental houses she has been through is privately owned, located in kampung areas,
which persist as permanent enclaves for the poor, the working class, and an emerging middle
class within Jakarta (Silver, 2007, p.151). Only houses in kampung can meet her ability to
pay monthly rent with some flexibility to move in and out. She chooses to live where the
employment is most certain, not necessarily where expected incomes or wages are highest
(Temple, 1975, p.8). Kampung, in spite of informality, irregularity, and illegality that revolves
within (Tunas and Peresthu, 2009), has been the key of urban process for Jakarta.
Today, she lives with her daughter and son in rental housing owned by private house owner
but not necessarily legal land owner. It is located in Duren Sawit district, in the periphery of
capital city which the population reached 9,1 million inhabitants in 1995 (Firman, 1999).
Even though standard from government for house size is 36 m2 per unit (Undang-Undang
Indonesia Nomor 1 Tahun 2011, 2011, p.12), the size of her rental house is 3 m x 4,5 m.

There are 1 room for living room in the daytime and bedroom at night, and 1 squeezed
kitchen and toilet. The rent is only 500.000 rupiah per month, including water and electricity
cost. The rent expenses must be compromised with education cost for her two children, daily
meals, transportation cost, and saving for visiting her house in Sukoharjo every year.
Village trap
Sarni does not remember in detail how much money had been allocated for the house, but she
was grateful for village members who considered her as priority to be helped. I am also
grateful for this subsidy from government to renovate my house. she added.. Yet, what
tomorrow will bring to Sarni? It is true that she has a property; land and house. It is true that
she can enjoy her house every moment she visits her relatives there. Nevertheless, Desa
Kamal is located in remote area in Bulu District with 24.057 poor inhabitants from 51.267
total inhabitants (Empat Puluh Satu Persen Warga Sukoharjo Miskin, 2010) with no public
transportation, lack of water, even the forest got dry and monkeys invade the village. Lately
the village is disturbed by news about theft. Only seniors stay in the village, living day by day
depends on remittance from their families who live in the city.
Reflecting on existing village life, she considered two choices. First, she would live alone and
insecure in the house in Desa Kamal because her children most likely will look for work in
Jakarta. If my house is finished, I think I will sell it and move closer to the city with good
water provision, public transport, and secure environment. Maybe I will open a grocery or
barbershop. In Desa Kamal, there is no work other than farmer. For a single mother in the
late fifties with no pension, physical work is no longer suits her. The case of subsidy for selfhelp housing does not directly keep her live in the house for better livelihood.
Self-help housing has been theorized since Turner and gain ebb and flow as discourse for
housing as a verb for the poor. If the solution from government is providing subsidy, it is
likely only for short term improvement for the house per se. Tunas and Laksmono (2014)
argue that, self help housing consolidation should be based on a long term vision and clear
socio economic and environmental considerations. Related to migration, Speare and Harris
(1986) conclude that government need to take into considerations the location of job creation
with specific education in order to influence the rural-urban migration flows.

Counting Houses or Reality?

Sarni lives in a passage of two lives; her livelihood in Jakarta and her house in Sukoharjo.
When she was asked about the future of her life in Sukoharjo, it took a moment of silence
before she finally answered, My life relyies on my daughter and son. I would follow them
where they live with their livelihood. Her daughter, will graduate from university this year,
while her son who studies in technical school, still has another year to finish. Both of them
likely will follow her mother step: make a living in the capital city.
Sarni is a portrait of both rural and urban life. Life for her is a stretched moments, one to
anotherr. She may be has a decent land and house in the village to spend her holiday, yet she
shares her bedroom with her children every night in Jakarta. The self-help housing subsidy
created her a momentum to upgrade her house. Nevertheless, it would be more
comprehensive if government also take into account the rural-urban migration process that
illustrate flows of people and capital. In the end, it is more than about houses. It is
accumulation of reality that counts.

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