Suhandri, I call him Andri, is one of my best friends in my hometown, Belitung Island, especially in East Belitung. The guy I first met when I was in junior high school when we were together in the Quran recitation place of Mr. Susah Kasan Mustajab (my role model, Ajarn, and the best person I’ve ever met in my life). Andri is my junior in junior high school (SMPN 5 Manggar) and senior high school (SMK Handayani Manggar). I like him because he has a good brain to kick a*s of the other students.
The thing that always remembers is that about the weekends during year 2000-2005, we always spent the time together, and cycling around the town by bicycle, yes, one bicycle for two persons (wait, this was not a mountain bike with modern accesories, it’s an old bike instead). What else that you think was great during your kid’s period of time. It’s great moment I had by laughing at each other without thinking any problems. There was no gengsi (thinking about prestige) at all, never thought about having a motorbike or a car.
If you visit East Belitung, Manggar city, the city of a thousand of coffee shops, you might think this city is a very small island, indeed, I don’t argue about that. That’s why we just walked around the city by riding bicycle and ended-up with drinking coconut water (Warung Sobar, as long as I remember). We could even choose what kind of color you want for the coconut water. It’s more than delicious.
When I met Andri, I was still staying in my grandma house and he some times stayed with me over night to just share what we wanted to be in the future. Could you imagine that I really wanted to go to Pesantren (Muslim boarding school)? I should be there one day, as soon as possible.
Andri is the guy whom I think is different from my other friends. He is the one who thinks ahead, and mature in a way of thinking. He always thinks with realistic without having higher dreams, like dreaming with no structure at all. He moves slow but sure, kind of idealistic and has a strong principle.
Anytime I went home to my hometown, I just contacted him to share everything. He is still the same Andri I’ve ever known, the humble man with good intention to help people.
Today, Andri is the owner, director, and founder of LKP ndri.com. He builds his own computer institution. He doesn’t even have a dream to be a government employee (PNS) like the others do. He has a strong desire to open people minds towards the computer. He doesn’t want young or old generation is blind with the advancement of technology today. Most of the students, teachers, and government in East Belitung today are working with him to provide intensive courses for them.
I am really sure this guy will be very successful in the future, now he starts building his palace. The guy that was riding bicycle years ago now becomes an inspiration of the people, including me. Sure, now we are collaborating together to build our homeland, Belitung; and let’s riding bicycle again dude!
This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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