Abdul Manullang -- The Stevie Wonder of Bekasi
By Johannes Simbolon
JAKARTA (JP): People who frequent the Bekasi bus terminal are familiar with Abdul Manullang, a 41-year-old blind singer with a deep voice who regularly performs with his young children near a Chinese restaurant there.
They don't perform everyday, but only when Abdul is in good health. He comes with his wife, Tiambun Marpaung, who carefully guides him on and off the bus. After arriving at the terminal they prepare their electric equipment while waiting for their second and third children, Unika and Radius, to arrive from their Bekasi primary school. Unika is in fifth grade and Radius in third grade. Once they arrive the show begins.
The children, still in school uniforms, sing with their father while their mother watches from a distance. Their repertoire is limited to Batak and Indonesian pop songs.
"Their show always draws a crowd," said a noodle seller whose business they perform near, although it may be some time before Abdul's fame exceeds Stevie Wonders, the famous blind American singer.
Once the show is finished Abdul's wife collects money from the listeners. This is the family's only source of income and they have to make it stretch to cover their daily needs and pay the school fees of five children.
"We don't beg. According to my religion, Catholicism, begging would be a sin because I can still make a living by singing. It doesn't mean we'd reject an offer of help. We surely need help but begging is taboo for me," he says.
Hailing from the small village of Bakkara, North Sumatra, Abdul was not born blind. He started losing his sight not after he finished primary school in his hometown. His eyeballs became sore and enlarged and he gradually lost his sight. His parents took him to Medan for medical treatment but it didn't help.
"It was very painful. My world turned from bright to dark. I considered committing suicide in the first years," he says.
A Catholic priest offered him an education at a school for the handicapped in Medan. But his mother said she loved him dearly and could not bear to be separated from him.
"In retrospect, what she did was a mistake. Had I gone to the school I would have learned braille and English, and English songs too. I should have traveled all over the world," he says.
Abdul started learning guitar at the age of 18 and began dreaming of big plans.
"I told my father 'I'll sing someday in Jakarta'. He retorted 'Stop dreaming too much'," he recalls.
His mother died when he was 21, leaving him free to leave his village. It was then that another episode of his life started, a time when he decided to make his dreams of a life full of adventures and challenges come true.
Jakarta
He went to Medan and joined a Batak musical group called Hula- Hula Batak. And before long his dream came true. The group sailed to Jakarta to play in several places, including the home of Vice President Adam Malik, Indonesia Hotel, Oasis Hotel.
After a year, in 1979, he left the group and returned to North Sumatra, following a dispute with the group members over the distribution of income.
In North Sumatra he started a solo street-singing career, traveling from town to town. It was during this time he met his future wife in the town of Tebing Tinggi.
"We eloped two days after we met. It was totally by God's will. No parents, including hers, would like their daughter, who is not blind, to marry a blind person," he said.
Abdul again tried his luck in Jakarta in 1986, four years after his marriage. His wife stood by him everywhere he sang. They moved, with their first two children, from one bus terminal to another and were constantly moved on by police and public order officials.
Abdul has often fought with the police. His wife has leant over the years what to do when there is a raid.
"I immediately save the money from the audience. Many times, the officers not only chased after us but also took away the money," she said.
An article in Kompas on Sept. 13, 1995, has helped their plight. In it President Soeharto was quoted as saying at a meeting with a group of disabled people that the disabled all have the same rights as other citizens. Abdul's wife started taking along a copy of the paper to every performance and showing it to law enforcers who tried to chase them away. Now police officers hardly bother them anymore.
"Also, they perhaps realize that I sing for the life of my family," Abdul said.
Abdul once became tired with singing and opened a tire repair workshop in Semper, North Jakarta, in 1993. He borrowed money from a friend to buy a compressor for Rp 1.5 million. Sadly, one week later a thief stole the machine in the middle of the night and he had to sing all the more to pay off his debt.
When he had repaid the debt in 1994, he opened another workshop on Jl. Cacing (Cakung Cilincing) on a loan from a friend. The workshop gained a lot of customers and Abdul started dreaming of a bright future. Yet, in February 1995, a group of robbers came and took everything they had, except for the compressor.
One week after, another misfortune came. Law and order officials came to demolish their workshop on the grounds that it was built on a green area.
"I protested because there were tens of tire repair workshops in the area, but why only two, one of them ours, were bulldozed by them," he said.
Abdul's protest fell on deaf ears. He then returned to his former profession. Singing and singing. At night, his wife reads Kompas newspaper to him, which he buys everyday at Bekasi terminal. In this way he keeps abreast of the latest news. His favorite is foreign news, especially about the U.S., a country he much admires.
He now has a big dream that his five children will receive a higher education, speak English, sing English songs and someday play a gig in the U.S.
"I have enrolled them in an English course, which starts next month. The school fee is actually very expensive for me. But whatever the price they have to learn the language because it is very important," he said.
Abdul is a blind man, but he sees a much brighter world than many of us who have the gift of sight.