Let them eat tempeh, all the ungrateful little people

My neighbor was not amused by the sight of scrawny Sodik shouting, "Merdeka" (freedom) as he grabbed the national flag from the top of the slippery palm tree trunk.

But his excitement was understandable: He and his four friends won Rp 500,000 (US$60) for their Independence Day exploits. It may not be much money for some of us, but for Sodik, who is a scavenger, it's a princely sum.

"This means that he will not clean up our garbage tomorrow because he is too tired and because he has extra money now," my neighbor grumbled.

I smiled, but that quickly disappeared when I thought of the stench from all our garbage baking in the sun.

I also celebrated Aug. 17 with President Megawati Soekarnoputri at Merdeka Palace. Only 6,000 of the very elite from the country's 210 million population were invited. Along with mementos of a tie and scarf, all of the guests received a voucher to be exchanged for a snack after the ceremony.

We all made our way to the hospitality tables, where at least one legislator was cramming cookies and soft drinks into his bag. Think positive: It must have been part of his pride in his country's products, not because of greediness.

I could only get my hands on a couple of donuts.

"Actually, I'm not hungry, but I'm taking these just to make sure that the state is fulfilling its obligation to give me these tiny cakes," I told the attendants.

I thought about that palace party a few days later when my friend was telling me about witnessing the eviction of vendors from around the shopping center and sports hall in front of an apartment building in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

"I'm just trying to earn a living, leave me alone," he quoted one of the old women selling drinking water as saying to the advancing public order officials.

Now, my friend, bleeding heart liberal that he is, just does not understand how things really work. The owner of that apartment building had been at the palace with me, one of the chosen few as a very famous businessman. While the vendors had been in the area for years, he probably thought that enough was enough, what with them cluttering up the sidewalk and creating an eyesore for prospective apartment buyers.

I can empathize with him: It's just another case where we get blamed for doing wrong to the "little people", those like Sodik and that old woman (and even those security guards and public order officials), who are dependent on us but are never grateful for what we do for them.

We expect our driver to appreciate our generosity, right? And how about all the other little people working for us? We do our best for them, but they don't even give us a word of thanks.

"If you were in their position you wouldn't do the same thing?" my daughter asked me.

She blamed me for the resignation of my driver Torik because, when I was angry with him, I often reeled off the names of several residents of Ragunan Zoo.

"Torik is not a robot, nor a slave. He suffered a lot working for us," my daughter said, adding that she believed that given the opportunity I would exploit more people.

My father often told us the story about how ordinary people had to learn to survive.

"Don't ever become little people, because they always become victims. And if you cannot avoid that destiny, make sure that you have enough endurance to take being a scapegoat or object of abuse and oppression by more powerful and richer people."

According to him, we should not demand a servant act and think as a secretary, nor a clerk as a business manager.

He knew what he was talking about: As the principal of a Catholic elementary school in the small town of Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, he often experienced the bitterness of life, such as having his salary cut on a number of mystifying pretexts by the Ministry of National Education.

I remember the face of the fat nun who always insisted on delivering my father's wage on Dec. 31, even though she knew we needed it for Christmas.

"Christmas is Christmas, pay day is pay day," the nun would say sanctimoniously.

Now, I see life from the other side. If you have people working for you, never let them dictate to you. Teach them to be grateful to you because you are the one employing them.

So what about my daughter's words, "If you were in their position you wouldn't do the same thing"? Forget about them -- she's just a teenager who knows nothing about how the world really works.

-- Kornelius Purba