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