Fairy Mahdzan: Ketok Magic: The Cheap Alternative to Expensive Car Repair!

While driving around the city, I snapped this picture of the Pancoran Statue in South Jakarta; former president Sukarno had a thing for tacky statues

Ketok Magic: The Cheap Alternative to Expensive Car Repair!

by Farah 'Fairy' Mahdzan

(1-Mar-2002) | Readers Say

What do some Indonesians do when they accidentally dent their cars and don't want to send them to a workshop? They go to the guys by the sidewalks, orang tepi jalan. Who on earth, you ask?

Tukang ketok magic!

While I was in Jakarta recently on a bus ride, I passed an area up North where there were groups of men by the sidewalk with spray paint cans and some metallurgy tools, just squatting away and smoking (some of course sipping teh botol). Curioused as a cat, I asked Evita what these men were up to with all that equipment, it seemed kind of strange to me to see so many of them around. She then told me these were so called car mechanics who did cheap mechanic labor and can ketok (ketuk) your car, spray paint and fix it before you bring your dented car home to your parents and get into trouble. Apparently most Indonesian youngsters utilize their service when some kind of unplanned accident happens.

It is claimed that it's cheaper to send your car to a ketok magic for minor body work repairs. So if it's just a dent that's not too major, just look around for these fellas.

So I thought, wow, cool! We don't have these things in Malaysia, people conducting business baiki kereta tepi jalan macam tuh; we only have durian sellers and orang jual kuih! What we do have are small bengkel haram who do cheap work to fix your car. But then again people in Jakarta are always looking for ways to earn a little bit of money however way they can, since money is something hard to get in large amounts (unless you pegawai kerajaan *grin*). Be it by singing and strumming their guitars at the traffic light when it turns red and you're in your car (I wasn't too fond of that, kind of annoying) or by being a skillful tukang ketuk badan kereta when some kid screws up their parents' vehicles, Indonesians in the lower class range are aggressively looking for money. Some even mine in longkangs looking for spare change.

Fibi filling her tyres up with air. Aahh...

Are you driving around Jakarta and your tyres are out of air? No worries, there's always some dude with air pumps ready to pump air into your tyres for about Rp.1,000 (RM0.38). Similar to the people by the roadsides who can do quick car body work, there were plenty of these ngisi ban (isi angin tayar) guys around. Most of us in Malaysia would just drive up to some authorized petrol kiosk and fill our tyres with air there. Charge a Malaysian for something like air and hear him curse throughout his drive home!

WHAT READERS SAY ABOUT Ketok Magic: The Cheap Alternative to Expensive Car Repair!:

#25. FIBI: Mobil yang telah banyak berjasa.

Posted by Fairy on 16-Jan-2009, 13:12 MYT

#24. jadi inget mobil starlet yg cuantik
Posted by FiBi on 15-Jan-2009, 21:44 MYT

#23. FIBI: Foto2 itu diambil awal tahun 2002, waktu pertama kali saya ke Jakarta (sejak 1985).
Posted by Fairy - Website on 15-Jan-2009, 11:08 MYT

#22. hah? kok ada foto gue? gue aja ga inget ini kapan...
Posted by FiBi on 14-Jan-2009, 20:57 MYT

#21. apa sebenarnya KETOK MAGIC NIE? DISINI TAWAU PUN ADA. kawan saya pun dah melanggan!

tapi kabar anginnya; dia mmg pakai ilmu magic kata diaorang. yang mana benar nie. betulkaa jin pandai bikin kreta?
Posted by thuuntraat on 30-Nov-2007, 20:46 MYT

#20. HAZRUL: My creative juices are on hold, I'll start again in the new year! Thanks.
Posted by Fairy on 22-Dec-2006, 12:03 MYT

#19. how come u dont write new articles ah?
Posted by hazrul - Website on 21-Dec-2006, 11:24 MYT

#18. GILDAM: Yes indeed supernatural powers is what they make people believe they use. We'll never really know. But thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Posted by Fairy on 21-Dec-2006, 09:50 MYT

#17. For information, ketok magic is not a Tukang Pinggir Jalan, it is diffrent, ketok magic has a work shop but not very big in suburban of the city. it is realy magic, they work using supranatural talent, and it is realy magic. usaualy the dont aloowed customer to see when they working, and usualy they give strange amount of the bill eg: Rp 273654,-
Posted by gildam on 20-Dec-2006, 13:02 MYT

#16. Riga, thanks buat infonya. I thot the rate was standard like Rp.1,000 gitu jadi memang bisa kasi sebanyak mana kamu mau gitu? Wah kalau orangnya pelit gimana... hehe.
Posted by Fairy on 6-Mar-2002, 10:55 MYT

#15. Fai, those guys don't actually set a fee for filling your tyres. They'll accept whatever you give them. Just think of it as a labor fee.
Posted by Riga on 6-Mar-2002, 10:31 MYT

#14. Kalau kasi free, orang yang dok pumpkan angin tu dalam tayar awak tu nak kasi anak dia makan apa? Hehe.
Posted by Fairy on 4-Mar-2002, 16:51 MYT

#13. eheheheheh.. takde ler tapi kalo leh dpt yg free punya.. sure semua org go for free kan kan kan.. eheheheheh..
Posted by eLLieZ de`HearT - Website on 4-Mar-2002, 16:34 MYT

#12. angin pun duit jugakkkk hahahahaha
Posted by Rafthah on 4-Mar-2002, 13:21 MYT

#11. Oi, nak bayar 38 sen nak isi angin pun nak berkira ke? kekek. and betul cakap kaezrin, what if you happen to have tayar tak berangin at that point in time, apa lagi, cari tukang isi angin tepi jalan. Tapi ye lah, kot kalau ada service ni kat Malaysia kita kena charge satu ringgit kot. Tapi tayar ada empat (unless you bawak lori lah!), so kira 25 sen untuk satu tayar? Nak upah orang tu mencangkung dan isi angin lagi. Hehe.
Posted by Fairy on 4-Mar-2002, 12:39 MYT

#10. tapikan..kalau sis angin and kena bayar with a cheap amount ok gak kan..tak yah nak kena turun2 dr keter..pusing2 tunduk sana sini nak fill in teh air..and this is cool.i mean benda nih tepi2 jalan..silap2 time tuh tayar takde angin..ok apa..!!!
Posted by kaezrin on 4-Mar-2002, 12:10 MYT

#9. isk isk iskk.. kan syok kalo kat msia pun ada camtu.. takyah bayar mahal2 kat bengkel yg sentiasa mencekik darah tuh! isk isk iskk....! tapi nak isi angin tayar pun kene bayar.. glurp..! tak syok nyerrr..!!!
Posted by eLLieZ de`HearT - Website on 4-Mar-2002, 11:33 MYT

#8. Some gas stations in the US while I was there as a student made you pay like a quarter (25 US cents) to use their air pumps. Dunno, I guess for maintaining the air pumps who knows.
Posted by Fairy on 4-Mar-2002, 10:02 MYT

#7. Ai? Isi angin pun kena bayar ke?
Posted by MK84 on 3-Mar-2002, 23:48 MYT

#6. hahahahah adakah pegi amik ilmu kat indon! awat jauh sangat! hahahahaaha well way before this, mmg dah melekat kat siniehlah kan.

whatever layout it is, u never fail to surprise us and yes, this webMag layout really rocks!

pi-mon bila kau nak tukar layout kau? hahahaha
Posted by Rafthah on 2-Mar-2002, 11:30 MYT

#5. yalah..kedai kopi nih best jugak kan!!!
Posted by kaezrin on 2-Mar-2002, 10:20 MYT

#4. Weh, tau lah I suka ke Indonesia but it's not to acquire some ilmu to make you guys keep coming back to site! Apparently this site has some sort of attraction factor that keep reeling you back lah Rafthah. I know I keep wanting to come back and update! So much to share.
Posted by Fairy on 2-Mar-2002, 09:34 MYT

#3. mauhahahah setttt aku lelong lupi-mon and fairy-mon sure laku!

singkong bukan ubi kayu ahh i dun think so, hah fai??

btw site nieh ada guna pengeras ke? hahaha menarik2 org mai sineih dok lepak slalu (besides than lupis kedai kopi)
Posted by Rafthah on 2-Mar-2002, 06:19 MYT

#2. rafs.. ko buat aa kat sg.. sure laku.. ha ha..
Posted by lutfi on 2-Mar-2002, 04:20 MYT

#1. this is quite fast. but pretty good information bout how things going on in indon yah. bet i wont say anything like this in singapore at all. *boring*
Posted by Rafthah on 2-Mar-2002, 04:09 MYT

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