On borrowing

On borrowing

I am a daily reader of The Jakarta Post and I particularly
liked the "By The Way..." column in your Feb. 9 Sunday edition.

The piece was titled "Blessed absentmindedness, misplaced
advice", by Chandrika Radhakrishnan.

Upon returning to Indonesia after living abroad for almost 40
years, I experienced what the writer described in the article. I
"lost" millions of rupiah, not just a few cents.

Some people came to me and "borrowed" money. Yes, the word
they used was "borrow", and they actually "talked big" also. Then
they just conveniently forgot about the "borrowed" money.

I can understand this from satpam security guards or the
people from surrounding villages, but as for those people from my
own housing complex with their big talk, I find mind boggling.

I forgot about such things, because I lived outside of
Indonesia for so long. I wonder what it is that makes people
behave in this way.

I am still puzzled.

TISNA DJUMENA, Bogor, West Java