Jogja after the earthquake 2

My taxi driver, who is an earthquake survivor in Jogja, told me his stories. One morning, few weeks after the earthquake, he had two passengers. They stayed at a guesthouse belongs to a reputable university in Jogja. Both were civil servants and sent down to Jogja to assess the impacts of the earthquake. One of those ‘respected’ men, told his colleague that media was overexposing the situation. That guy said that the real situation is not as horrible as seen on TV or newspaper. He even mentioned that the people could get some money because of the earthquake. They could be richer than before. The more disaster they have, the more money will come. It can be sort of ‘business’.

My taxi driver told me, ’I may not as rich as them, less educated. But I have dignity. What’s so good about having some amount of money, but we lost our loved ones. More than 5000 people killed. And it’s nothing to him. He wasn’t here with us. He didn’t know how horrifying it was. Mbak, we don’t need that kind of officer. He could do anything at his own hometown. Just leave us alone here.’

I didn’t know what to say. I understood his feeling. Hey…respected officer who went to very high respected schoolssss and holds so many degrees….don’t you have a feeling? Think before you open your mouth.