Bukit Asam Part 2

We get a house in the Base Camp near the public service office, the Fitness Center, the front office of security guard and the recreation hall (it’s also the place where the swimming pool is). To reach the Mess Hall, where we dine, we can reach it in 5 minutes with brisk walks (if you are really THAT hungry… ) or with a ten-minute stroll (if you’re tired or still full of the morning/ afternoon snack they serve at the Bangsal Diklat). Quite a convenient location, and difficult to miss the house.

The house has two bedrooms and a master bedroom. Each is equipped with air-con, a big closet and a spring bed. There are a living room, a dining room and also a big bathroom. When we first came, there’s only TV and refrigerator. A water dispenser came after we requested it. Too bad that there’s no stove.:-( Many mentioned of sightings and unexplained incidents about the guest houses here but I haven’t experienced any. I don’t ever want to as long as I’m here. There’s something weird in the kitchen, though. My ears rise, I have goosebumps and ‘something’ drives my eyes to a certain spot in there. I ask my housemates to keep the lights on there at all times. It’s just a feeling I can’t explain.

At times, the guest house complex is full of other occupants. You can tell by the porch lamps. Porch lamp in a house means an occupant lives there. At least for a while. I rarely see houses with the same occupant for more than a week. They’re usually here for training or project. It’s no wonder. PTBA has five offices and a HQ in Jakarta and they send employees from other offices here.

Most of the ‘local’ employees stay in the Town Site, a five minute-drive from the Base Camp. I heard that the employees receive a lot of fringe benefits besides housing. They get bonus, mileage, sick pay, schools, insurance, and many more. I’m not surprised. It is one of the richest state-owned companies and coal is the second alternative of energy resource, second to oil, so the deposit must have brought a lot of prosperity to the people working here or to those living near the area.

With all the good this company brings to our people, I just hope that someone is not stupid enough to sell it to the foreigners. Not the mine, not the stock. We deserve to have, to explore and to benefit the resource. No more Cepu or Papua case. No more.