Macabre profession an old man's way of life
Macabre profession an old man's way of life
By Joko Sarwono
BOGOR, West Java (JP): In Islamic teaching washing the dead is
a responsibility of the living. But just looking at bodies,
especially those which are barely recognizable as humans, can be
unbearable.
This is why we need people like 82-year-old Maat -- who will
take care of any body entrusted to him. Whether they have
relatives or not, they are prepared for burial and to meet God.
Maat has prepared the dead for 20 years. Maat retired from the
Red Cross hospital in 1971, but the hospital's morgue management
employed him when their employee died.
Maat has been a kitchen boy, gardener, and laundry man before
he began washing bodies full time in 1976.
"It's quite natural for low ranking people like me to get
moved around a lot," he said.
He is the hospital's only corpse washer proficient in the
necessary Moslem prayers. But whether Moslem or not, the hospital
calls on Maat almost every time corpses arrives.
Along with, Yusuf, who mainly handles non-Moslem bodies, Maat
handled the corpses which made last year's headlines: those
killed in the Bogor market fire and the 31 passengers killed on
the Jagorawi toll road.
"Other people can barely look at the remains," Maat said.
They were all handled as well as possible. But Maat decided
not to wash the traffic accident victims because they were
charred. Most had been trapped in an inferno when an intercity
bus exploded after crashing into other vehicles.
Maat also bathed the Tjetje Tajudin's body, the main witness
in an armed robbery on the Jagorawi toll road who was tortured to
death in police custody.
Several years ago people were shocked when they opened sacks
floating down rivers and found tattooed bodies. Their identities
were never discovered but Maat cared for them like the rest.
They were later reported to be habitual criminals' bodies.
Security officials reportedly killed them as a warning to other
criminals.
"There were so many of them," Maat said. "The remains were
already decomposed and full of creatures. People threw up at the
sight of them, but I washed them as usual."
Maat can no longer count the thousands of bodies he has
washed, maybe about 14,600 if two showed up daily for 20 years.
Maat has handled so many bodies he no longer questions how
people could end up in his hands in sacks after gruesome deaths.
His spoke crisply and a little coldly.
Maat said he was illiterate. "I was too busy working to
learn," he said. This was probably why, despite being so busy, he
remained a lower ranking civil servant with a small pension.
He receives Rp 15,000 a month which he said was the rate for
pensioners of his level in 1971.
He said he was content to work at the hospital although the
wage was small because he did not have any other skills. His
wife, Rokayah, 65, has never taunted him about his low paying
work.
However, he did sound regretful about the small pension. "I
worked there for so long," he said.
Maat gets Rp 10,000 for each body and is paid monthly. His
five children and in-laws help him make ends meet. One son-in-law
works at Bogor's Unitex factory.
He said the corpses never haunted him.
"I always say to myself, this is what I'll be when I'm dead."
None of Maat's offspring intend to follow in his steps.
"No, I'm scared," said his nine-year-old grandson, Irfan
Fauzi. Irfan said he wants to be a soldier.