Corpse gets a free ride

Corpse gets a free ride

JAKARTA (JP): A North Sulawesi teacher moonlighting as an ojek
(motorcycle taxi) driver came home a hero after he took a corpse
on a 150-kilometer, midnight journey through a jungle.

Wahab Daulima said his strong desire to help a neighbor had
helped him overcome the fear of having a stiff body pressing
against his back, something that would send a chill down his
spine under "normal circumstances".

DR magazine reported in its latest edition that Wahab refused
the Rp 100,000 (about US$10) that the dead man's relatives had
offered him for the ride from Gorontalo to Marisa in November.

"That night, my spirit was so entwined with the deceased's
that there was not the slightest bit of fear in me," Wahab
recounted.

Ramli Lihawa, the deceased's son, said he was too broke to
hire the Aloei Saboe Hospital's ambulance and Wahab was the only
one who agreed to transport his father's body home.

None of the ubiquitous bus and van drivers around the state-
run hospital were interested in taking him up on his offer for
the obvious reasons, Ramli recalled.

The only problem that the motorcyclist had to work out was how
to carry the body, which had started to stiffen, DR reported.

It took some time before he decided to put the body on the
back of his motorcycle saddle and wrap the hands around his chest
with plastic robes.

The report did not mention if the deceased wore a safety
helmet. (pan)