A Big Lie

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. ***