Where there’s good, there’s also evil. And if Tuhan exists, so too must Saiton.
We all know about the 42-year-old carpenter named Tuhan (which translates to ‘God’ in Indonesian), but now it’s Saiton’s turn to go viral. In case you didn’t already know or guess by now, Saiton directly translates to ‘The Devil’ in Indonesian.
Unlike Tuhan, who claimed that he didn’t know why his parents named him that way, Saiton’s back-story is decidedly sadder.
The 37-year-old teacher from Sukarami, Palembang said his parents were depressed when 10 of his 13 siblings died. So when he was born, he was named Saiton because his parents didn’t think he’d survive either.
But survive he did. When he was three, Saiton wanted to change his name. Strangely, he’d always fall ill every time his parents were about to change his name, and would miraculously recover whenever they decide to keep the name. So the name stuck forever.
Say what you like about his name, but Saiton is determined to be a good person.
“I have a principle that even though my name is like that, it’s important that I don’t behave [like the devil]. Many people are named Muhammad but they behave [like the devil]. Like people say, what’s in a name?” Saiton said, as quoted by Malesbanget today.
Tuhan, who is currently in Jakarta, said he didn’t like the capital’s crowds and polluted air. Perhaps Saiton would feel more at home in Jakarta’s ‘hellish’ conditions then.
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