The perplexity of a 'sate' vendor

From Neraca

The current economic turmoil is affecting not only the higher layers of the community. It turns out that the whole of society is suffering from severe headaches as a result of the crisis.

That was my impression when I chatted with a roadside sate vendor. He cannot grasp the present situation with common sense. He has no ways of solving his problems.

Steep increases in prices not only hit raw materials, they also affect wrapping materials. The sate vendor does not know how to make a reasonable profit anymore. For him any profit is now a boon and some days he makes a loss.

What is beyond his understanding is the uncompromising prices. Price hikes occur daily and the amounts are unpredictable. Consequently, the sate vendor can only live in a stupor, resigned to his fate.

He has lost any resistance to the crisis. But if he does not do his daily rounds, his family will have nothing to eat.

The sate man feels amazed by the behavior of the crisis. Why has the market suddenly become unpredictable? It is beyond his understanding.

These people do not know how to solve their daily problems. They also do not know where to look for an explanation for the situation.

Maybe the sate vendor's voice represents the question uppermost in the minds of the majority of Indonesians. They want to know when the crisis will end.

KRISNA PURWANA

Jakarta