This one is dedicated to a good friend whom I have come to know as one of the most honest and most trustworthy Indonesians I ever know. K, as I should call him in this post, lives in Batam with his wife and one daughter, their first daughter in the care of K's older sister in Bangka, a neighboring Island.
I was in "his" Island last week on a business assignment to attend an environment workshop at one of the hotels. The workshop itself was nothing special, but I was glad to be able to meet this good "long lost" friend.
About a couple of hours before I left Jakarta, I managed to get his sister's phone number in Batam. From his sister I got his official number. As I learned later, my friend had worked for a shipyard company called PT. Nan Indah in Tanjung Uncang, Batam. One of his colleagues gave me his HP number. In short, we promised to meet late after 9 pm that night at the hotel lobby.
K is older by several years than I am. When he rang my doorbell and showed up that evening, his younger looking appearance reminds me of that. I handed him a little something I bought at the airport for his daughter. Our discussion continued from Room 702 to the restaurant on the first floor.
It was where he told me about his work, when I almost couldn't believe him when he said that all these years he had worked for that same company practically without holidays! From Monday to Sunday, from 8 to 6, with overtime arrangement that makes him stay until 9:00. That explains why he saw me very late that night. Under the working environment, hundreds of other workers are being exploited like that. It was a good chat as ever, but I asked him to go home quickly; his family must have been waiting at home. When K left, I was inundated by mixed feelings. I have always admired him for his integrity. I always know he is one of the toughest men alive, now I learn he is one of the most exploited workers in the country. I am so sorry I cannot do anything to change his situation (how I wish, though, that the company management would by chance read this post and improve this killing situation).
Before I checked out from the hotel the next day, the concierge told me there was something for me: a small parcel of chocolates and two jars of tauco (soybean ketchup). For my family, he wrote.
(This post was retitled by Nad on Dec. 24)
