Very few Indonesian police officers command the nation’s respect the way officer Bripka Seladi from Malang, East Java does. You may remember him as the traffic cop who refuses to accept bribes and instead works an extra job as a trash scavenger to make ends meet for his family.
Seladi continues to impress us all by showing that he is among that rare breed of people who are both honest and charitable, even though he is far from wealthy.
Yesterday, Seladi went to the Lowok Dara landfill in Malang – not to scavenge trash, but to hand out money to his fellow scavengers working there. He said he received the money as a donation from high-ranking members of the House of Representatives (DPR).
“I received this money from the head of DPR Ade Komarudin and the head of DPR’s Commission III Bambang Soesatyo, who pledged their monthly basic salary to me. This money is not mine, but it’s all yours so you can all use it,” he said to around 100 scavengers at the landfill, as quoted by Kompas.
Seladi said Ade Komarudin and Bambang Soesatyo pledged Rp 4.2 million every month to him.
“Instead of enjoying (the money) on my own, it’s better that it’s shared. I want everyone, my scavenger friends, to enjoy (the money),” he said.
Seladi’s story was widely covered by the news in May and he instantly became beloved for proving that there were indeed some honest cops within Indonesia’s notoriously corrupt police force. Seladi said he receives Rp 25K-50K (US$ 1.90-3.81) from scavenging and selling trash each day, which is a meager amount compared to what he could earn get from accepting bribes.
“As long as what I do is halal and I’m serious about doing it, I don’t care about what people say. I know there are those who mock me. In that case I’d say to them, ‘I can be like you (corrupt), but can you be like me?’” he said back in May.
