A Big Lie

By Sori Siregar

Recently people had been so kind. When I wanted to pay the remaining balance of my loan to the bank, the head of the credit department said that it had already been paid. I insisted that the balance of my loan was still five million rupiah.

That's the amount I intended to pay. As a matter of fact the head of the credit department was as stubborn as I was. He kept on saying that the total loan had been paid. He didn't only say that but also showed me the computer print-out to prove that my loan had been fully paid.

I left the bank in great disappointment. At the same time I was also so happy because the five million rupiah that I should have paid was still in my hand. It was at that moment a good idea came to my mind. I wanted to use the money to buy a very modest house which in Indonesian is called rumah sangat sederhana or RSS, meaning exceptionally small house. I happened to have no house of my own.

The following day I went to see a marketing staff of a construction company commonly known as a developer. I was then introduced to the director of the company when I told the marketing staff that I wanted to buy a very modest house. The director gave me a very warm welcome and told me I could have a house without having to pay anything. I was surprised. It was crazy. It was out of the question. But it was a fact.

After listening to the director's explanation I fully understood why I was so fortunate and was able to get such a bonus. Hundreds of units of the very modest houses which had been built by the developer were offered firstly to the employees of the company. Profit making was not the idea behind the construction of the houses. If there had been any profit it was only peanuts for the giant construction company. The company only made profit from the very luxurious houses it had developed.

Most of the luxurious houses had been bought by people who had "hot money," whose numbers were big enough in this republic. After they bought the houses, they left them empty to be haunted by ghosts. How lucky the ghosts were.

Because the construction company adopted a policy of social equity, it built very modest houses for its employees, to allow them to have houses of their own near their office. That way they did not need to spend anything to commute to work. What a noble deed. The complex of the very modest houses was only two hundred meters away from the site of the very plush houses the majority of which had become "haunted buildings."

Then why should the company award me the very small house for free? The director of the company displayed a very fascinating smile when he said: "The very modest house awarded to you coincidentally was the only one which was not sold. The others have been bought by our workers. Actually we had constructed one house more than was planned. Since you are badly in need of a house and we don't know to whom we should sell the only remaining house; therefore it is our pleasure to give it to you. What is important is that the house will be inhabited by someone who really needs it."

I was amazed at the generosity of the director. It refuted the belief that the cynicism modern city living brings had killed people's concern for others. The proof was this kind director. He was fully aware that people who were living a little above the poverty line should be helped. His partisanship was also clear. A very modest house should be inhabited because many people needed it. What about the luxurious houses? He thought it was none of his business.

You may think that I have exaggerated what I have told you. How come with five million rupiah in my pocket I can say that I am living a little above the poverty line? In order to prevent your suspicion from growing I feel obliged to tell you this.

Last year when I was caught red-handed in a practice that could be categorized as small-scale corruption I was fired from my job. I was terribly confused and frustrated.

The contract for my house rental was to be renewed in two months, my eldest son would go to university and I would have to work full time in order to survive. For that purpose I needed money. Where could I get the money from? Later I summoned up the courage to borrow ten million rupiah from a bank by submitting an application enclosing false documents and data.

A week later I was informed that my application had been approved. It refuted the common perception that ordinary people like me found it difficult to get a loan from a bank. It was also contrary to general opinion that in order to get a loan anyone should put up collateral much bigger than the amount of the loan. It also refuted the perception that if someone needed a loan he should give a big amount of money as a bribe.

With the loan I could pay the rent on my house for another year, I could settle all my son's academic tuition and I used the rest as capital to open a sidewalk business in the form of a food stall. My capital would have been bigger if my son was accepted in a state university. But as everyone knows it is very difficult to pass the test to enter a state university. According to my son, taking part in the test would also mean joining a quiz. Since the very beginning he was not sure he could past the test. He was right. He failed.

That was the reason why I enrolled my son in a little-known private university. I did that because of its lower tuition fee compared to that of noted private universities. Whether or not my son would succeed in his study and whether his degree would later be beneficial for getting a job that would be another story. I would think about it later. For me, I had to think pragmatically rather than imagine future hardship.

Selling food on the sidewalk was something not to be scoffed at. The monthly income from that kind of business was bigger than the salary of an honest director general in any government department. That's why the installment of my bank loan could be paid on time. Last month my profit was unexpectedly high so I decided to settle the balance of my loan. That was rejected by the staff of the bank's loan department as I told you earlier.

As long as I was living in a very modest house with the construction size of 4 by 5.5 meters and with a yard of 15 by 4 meters and I was still selling food on the sidewalk why shouldn't I call myself living a little above the poverty line. You are right.

You are right. I actually told you a big lie. It was me who told you that the monthly income of a sidewalk vendor was bigger that the monthly salary of an honest government director general, wasn't it?

I am awfully sorry about that. At the same time I would like to say that the majority of government director generals, if not all of them, were honest. We are not allowed to be prejudice about them. Of course there is nothing wrong if you have any suspicion about their honesty, but you should keep it to yourself. Accusing someone of dishonesty is really not recommended and it is against the national cultural identity.

The letter I had just received threw me into a confusion. Why shouldn't I? I was invited to come to the university where my son was a would-be student. I was asked to collect all the money I had paid as my son's academic tuition. What was the fault of my son who had seriously taken part in the hazing activity prior to joining the real class? With an irregular heart beat I came to see the head of new student admission department. He gave me a polite welcome and informed me everything I would like to know before I asked for it.

"The rector asked me to return the tuition you have paid"

"Why?' I asked him curiously.

"This is a habit of the rector. Every year there was a new student with such a luck. But only one student were given the privilege. I really don't know what was the base of his consideration. The fact was, the rector made a selection at random from the list of names of new students and decided that the new student could join the class without having to pay the tuition"

Luck was something not to be pushed. It would automatically come if it was ours.

The confusing circumstances which came one after another brought me to a question which I had never been able to answer. Did I still live on earth or on another planet? Was it a dream or a reality? Was it a fiction that appeared and developed uncontrolled in my mind or it was a concrete events? Try to imagine. Following my earlier lucks then came another luck I had never expected.

I was summoned by my former office which fired me. I was asked to return to my job with an offer of a better salary. In a letter sent to me, two sentences were printed in bold characters.

"Your small-scale corruption has been forgotten and you are forgiven for that minor mistake. Small-scale corruption is nothing out of the common in order to survive,"

"Crazy", I shouted. I read the letter signed by the president director over and over. The sentences in bold characters were still there triumphantly. This was to much. I had to do something. As an urbanite who is used to move quickly I made a surprise to many when the sun set, particularly to my customers in the sidewalk food stall. All customers dining in my food stall could eat and drink everything for free.

The next day and night I did the same. So were the other following days and nights. When my capital was only enough for one more day of business, I stopped the "free service."

Then I whispered to my wife: "The crazy circumstances and events should be welcomed by crazy deed." For me, that was the only way to maintain the balancing factor in life. ***