A Jakarta Blok M thug makes good, at Blok M in Melbourne, Australia.

Blok M in south Jakarta is complex of shopping malls, markets, and in Pelatehan street, so it is said, a number of bars and nightclubs of a dubious nature. Until 1996 Mak Lampir, alias “Sisco” or “Pak E”, roamed about the area as a “preman”, or thug, and a drug user, beggar, and composer of protest songs. Some of this activity saw him run afoul of the law and landed him in prison, such as this little ditty he is said to have composed, which makes some rather biting remarks about government officials, and how they sell themselves so that their fat bottoms can be comfortably placed in Mercedes Benzes, as they cruise about Jakarta paying no heed to the woes of the little people all the while:

Kalau jadi seorang pejabat
Jangan suka disuap
Lihatlah rakyat masih banyak yang melarat
Pejabat penjahat yang hebat
Hidupmu penuh ambisi
Duduk di kursi menjual diri
Agar pantatmu bisa diganjar Mercy
Maka rakyat kecil janganlah iri
Kalau pejabat naik Mercy
Kalau Pak E bilang
Hasil korupsi amit-amit jabang bayi
Ya pejabat ya penjahat.

Australia may or may not have been keen to take in such an immigrant, but it had no choice, because Pak E married an Australian girl, Kathie, after he had left the mean streets of Blok M for Bali, and thereafter moved with his wife to Melbourne, Victoria. At some point afterwards they opened an Indonesian restaurant, catering to the legions of Indonesians resident in Melbourne hankering for home style cooking. The restaurant, called “Blok M”, in the suburb of Prahran, makes about AU$7000 a month, or about 50 million rupiah.

Cooking up an oily, nostalgic storm at Blok M Melbourne.

Liputan6 says Pak E is proof that hard work and faith in God can lead to much success. In Blok M Melbourne perhaps, in Blok M Jakarta it may be a tougher road.