SISWANTO was a down-on-his-luck mechanic until his improbable pivot to internet videos turned his neighbours into stars and vaulted his poor farming community into the limelight as Indonesia's "YouTube Village".
The rags-to-riches tale begins four years ago as he struggled to keep his auto shop business afloat in Kasegeran a remote town in Java that most Indonesians would struggle to find on a map.
He was cash-strapped and desperate for extra income to feed his growing family, but side jobs scavenging junk and soybean farming were not earning enough to pay the bills.
Siswanto eventually tried publishing short comedy routines over Kasegeran's glacial Internet connection after watching a TV show about an Indonesian influencer who made big money through online videos.
"But nobody watched them so I stopped," said the 38-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
He decided that it wasn't his "fate to earn a living" that way until, one day, he was struggling to fix a customer's pricey motorbike and turned to online videos for help.
"Even as a mechanic I couldn't understand them," he told AFP. "They were too complicated."
A light bulb went off Siswanto decided to make his own easy to follow fix-it videos.
Pawning the cellphone he shared with his pregnant wife, the mechanic upgraded and started filming non-stop.
"I was shaking and talking gibberish," he said of his early videos but after a few years, Siswanto had built up an audience of more than two million YouTube subscribers.
He keeps up a hectic schedule with a small editing team, pumping out videos of him fixing bikes or idyllic fishing trips at a local river.
Siswanto's booming business, which he said can make his family up to 150 million rupiah ($10,000) each month, didn't go unnoticed for long in the village.
Rumours swirled that the cashed-up mechanic was dealing in black magic, and some parents barred their kids from his shop fearing they'd be sacrificed for the dark arts.
"So there was a sit down in the village meeting hall and I explained that I have this business called YouTube," Siswanto said.
"Most of them had never heard of it."
He offered free lessons to prove his story, and now at least 30 others in Kasegeran have built their own channels, some with hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Among them was Tirwan, a 45-year-old snack seller who used to make 50,000 rupiah ($3.50) a day hawking doughy dumplings known as cilok.
These days, he films himself showing off his cooking skills or hunting for graveyard ghosts, a big hit in the Southeast Asian archipelago where supernatural beliefs are widespread.
But he didn't immediately take to the spooky job.
"I was scared to go to the cemetery even during the day, let alone at night," Tirwan said.
'It's not an empty dream'
The extra earnings bought a faster Internet connection for Kasegeran, helping kids take classes online after Indonesia closed its schools to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
It has also been a big boost for local pride.
"Kasegeran was the poorest village in the whole sub-district, but now we're able to compete with other villages," community head Saifuddin, who also goes by one name, told AFP.
"It's an inspiration for the young people too. They're not using their cellphones for useless things anymore. They can earn money from them," he added.
Kasegeran's homegrown heroes say there's no magic to their success.
"It's not an empty dream as long are you're willing to learn and work hard," Siswanto said.
"And you have to be consistent."
ETX Studio
Sun Aug 22 2021
Siswanto was a down-on-his-luck mechanic until his improbable pivot to internet videos turned his neighbours into stars and vaulted his poor farming community into the limelight as Indonesia's "YouTube Village". - ETX Studio
Kerajaan rangka hala tuju beri lebih banyak perlindungan kepada kanak-kanak
Kerajaan akan merangka hala tuju bagi memberikan lebih banyak perlindungan dari segi undang-undang kepada kanak-kanak di negara ini.
Tiada tepung di pasaran tempatan mengandungi benzoil peroksida melebihi kadar dibenarkan - KKM
Tiada mana-mana jenama tepung di pasaran tempatan mengandungi benzoil peroksida melebihi paras yang dibenarkan di bawah undang-undang.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Semua delegasi diminta pulang, FFC akan maklumkan tarikh baharu misi
Menurut Jawatankuasa Pemandu FFC, Ann Wright, pihaknya akan memaklumkan perkembangan terbaharu kepada semua delegasi terlibat sekiranya tarikh akhir pelayaran ditetapkan.
Bytedance enggan jual TikTok di Amerika Syarikat
BYTEDANCE kini mengatakan mereka tidak akan menjual perniagaan TikTok di Amerika Syarikat (AS).
Malaysia komited tingkat hubungan dua hala bersama Libya
Malaysia terus komited mempertingkatkan hubungan dua hala yang berterusan bersama Libya demi manfaat bersama dalam pelbagai sektor.
Cegah jenayah: Kerjasama komuniti kekang jenayah secara holistik
Jelasnya, program seumpama ini diharap dapat memberikan pendedahan tentang pencegahan jenayah dan menzahirkan aspirasi PDRM untuk penglibatan aktif warga komuniti dalam memerangi aktiviti jenayah.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu: Boon Lai tarik diri saat akhir
Hasrat Chng Boon Lai menjadi salah seorang calon Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Kuala Kubu Baharu tidak kesampaian.
PRK N06 KKB: Kerajaan Perpaduan akan dibebani dengan isu semasa - Muhyiddin
Pilihan Raya Kecil Kuala Kubu Baharu kali ini akan menyaksikan Kerajaan Perpaduan ‘dibebani’ dengan isu-isu semasa yang dilihat membebankan rakyat, tegas bekas Perdana Menteri yang juga Pengerusi Perikatan Nasional, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
PRK N06 KKB: UMNO, BN dukung calon PH demi Kerajaan Perpaduan – Ahmad Zahid
UMNO dan Barisan Nasional berpegang kepada prinsip mendukung calon yang mewakili Kerajaan Perpaduan, iaitu Pang Sock Tao, biarpun beliau berasal daripada parti DAP yang pernah menjadi seteru mereka satu ketika dulu.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu: Isu akademik, Khairul Azhari mahu fokus pilihan raya
Calon PN bagi PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu, Khairul Azhari Saut enggan mengulas kontroversi melibatkan kelayakan akademiknya yang tular.