Seeking a Slumdog Millionaire

Thu, 03/19/2009 4:59 PM  |  Dalton Tanonaka

The voice on the phone was vaguely familiar.  And weak.

“Dalton, can you help me?” she said.  It was a woman I had met a year earlier at a nightclub in a five-star Kuningan hotel.  We shared a few drinks and nothing more.  I hadn’t seen her since.

“I’m sick and have to go to the hospital.  But I don’t have any money,” she said.

I paused and waited for the next sentence which I knew was coming.

“Can you give me some money?  I’ll pay you back,” she continued.

What to do?  If this were a good friend or close office colleague, I would immediately ask how soon and where I could deliver the cash.  But this was someone whom I barely remembered.  I didn’t even know her full name or where she lived.  But she sounded ill, and I’ve always tried to help a truly needy soul.

“OK, please call your doctor and get some details for me, like what you may have, how long you have to be hospitalized and how much will it all cost,” I said.

“I’ll call you back,” she said.

Five minutes later, she had the information.

“They don’t know what it is, maybe typhus.  The doctor said no longer than three days in the hospital, and that it should cost no more than Rp.2-million.”

“Let me get back to you,” I replied.

As a higher wage-earning expatriate, I’ve been cautioned about monetary requests from domestic helpers, drivers and co-workers.  The advice was always “if you give, don’t expect it back.”

“One of my lawyers even called me up recently, saying his daughter was sick and asking for a loan,” says a drinking buddy.  “I told him he should ask his family before he asked me.  You just can’t give like that.”

But I’ve always believed in the goodness of people, avoiding blanket cynicism and seeking to do the right thing. Especially in this country where 34 million people live below the poverty line, and a monthly salary of Rp 5 million (US$416) is considered better than average.  

I asked one of my younger staff members what she thought I should do.

“Don’t!” shouted Kartika.  “Don’t even think about it.  She knows you’re a foreigner who has money and is just trying to take advantage of you.”

Another older colleague said if I really didn’t know if she was sick and wasn’t her good friend, I shouldn’t give the money.  

“These kinds of girls can be tricky,” she warned.

As I discussed my dilemma, a text message beeped on my cell phone:

“Dalton…” was all it read.

I could almost hear the desperation in her SMS, and my guilt for questioning her sincerity was rising.

But there was work to be done, my attention diverted, and I soon forgot about this discomforting plea for assistance.

Driving home that evening, I passed the usual mother-and-baby roadside beggars.  Young boys strummed their ukuleles at stoplights for coins.  And dishes continued to be washed in putrid city streams.

I would’ve almost put the needy request out of my mind if I didn’t run into a friend a few weeks later who worked at the same luxury hotel where I met the woman.

“Hey, I have to tell you about someone from your hotel who called me to ask for money…” I began.

He stopped me right there.  “She called me, too,” he said.  

What?

“I hired her, so I kind of looked after her.  She’s not dumb, speaks a couple of languages and worked overseas for while,” he said.

“So did you give any money?” I asked.

“No, I told her I wasn’t in a position to do so,” he said.

“What did she tell you?”

“That she needed the money because her brother was sick.”

“Her brother was sick?”

“Yes.”

Right then, I felt less than well.  I had spent a considerable amount of time in anguish over a situation that played on my emotions.  In the end, I would have been the victim of a “tricky” girl.

Lesson?  Consider getting involved only if you could ask for the same kind of help from that person.  And if they’d give it to you without hesitation.

Hawaii native Dalton Tanonaka is the co-anchor of Metro TV’s "Indonesia Now" program, seen on Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 1 a.m.  He can be reached at dalton@metrotvnews.com.

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