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Letter from Jakarta
Coffee, sewing and repairs: Indonesia’s mobile vendors offer at-home services
Travelling vendors, or “jasa keliling”, who zip about on bicycles or motorbikes have long been a mainstay in Indonesia.
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Travelling vendor Zainal Abidin cycles daily around an area in Jakarta to sell coffee to an average of about a hundred customers a day.
ST PHOTO: AQIL HAMZAH
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JAKARTA - Amid the delighted shrieks of children playing catch on a hot weekday afternoon in a narrow alleyway in North Jakarta, one man perches on his bicycle seat, unperturbed by the noise, absorbed in his task.
Holding a torn garment in one hand, Mr Subhan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, rifles through coloured spools of thread and eventually settles on dark blue. Next, he sets up his sewing machine, working the pedal with one foot while sitting down.
