Chasing Christmas Trinkets At Asemka Market

JAKARTA - Christmas holidays have arrived. A number of DKI Jakarta residents are busy preparing for the Christmas celebration. Many things they do to prepare for Christmas celebrations, among them is by buying Christmas trees and knick-knacks.

Capital residents usually look for Christmas trinkets, such as Christmas trees - which are usually made from artificial pine trees - at Asemka Market. However, this year, the market is not too crowded with visitors, at least that's what the traders said.

One of the merchants for Christmas, Kim (37) said that this year there were not as many visitors to the shop as in previous years. He didn't know what caused it.

For this year, the most sought-after Christmas trinkets in his shop are decorative lights.

"Most of the lights are for decorating the Christmas tree. I ran out of stock of the colorful ones, like dangdut lights," said Kim, at Pasa Asemka, West Jakarta, Tuesday, December 24.

He added, one of the things that made the Asemka market quiet was due to changes in the buying and selling process in the digital era. Moreover, nowadays, there are also many online applications that facilitate the buying and selling process. The presence of a marketplace like this means that buyers don't have to come to the store and just wait for the order to be sent.

When met separately, one of the knick-knacks shopkeepers, Unge (27) admitted that his shop was still busy with buyers. Most of them are looking for decorations for the Christmas tree.

"This is already the last day, right? It's over Christmas. Yesterday there were many visitors," he said.

Unge explained, whether or not the shops are crowded also depends on how the service is and how to work around it. The strategy that Unge uses to attract buyers is to offer discounts of up to 50 percent.

"There are products that are being discounted. From yesterday the most sought after were decorations for trees, there were those who bought one get one," he explained.

The atmosphere of Unge's shop is different from Kim's. Most of the visitors at this Unge shop are busy looking for Christmas ornaments. Some buy decorative lights, some buy decorative flowers.

In this shop, many buyers are also looking for small and medium sized Christmas trees. The price offered varies depending on the type and size.

"For the small one, because it is already a package with lights and decorations, the price starts at Rp. 500 thousand. There are also trees that are only Rp. 1.8 million," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Jakarta Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo explained that the alliance of churches throughout Indonesia mandated this year's Christmas message with the theme of life as a friend to all people.

"This motto is appointed to invite Christians in Indonesia, especially to make Christmas meaningful in context," said Suharyo.

Suharyo explained why his party took the theme of the Christmas message. He said, the condition of diversity in Indonesia is currently disturbed by the problem of hate speech that separates the closeness between religious believers.

Not to mention, the heralded issue of identity politics has led to intolerance. Therefore, this year's Christmas message is intended to reduce any triggers for religious division.

"By celebrating Christmas, Christians are invited to nurture brotherhood, maintain harmony in life, nurture togetherness which is the original character of our nation," explained Suharyo.