wednesday, july 9th, me and my friend from seputar indonesia newspaper, denny irawan, decide to leave delicious-lunch in a seafood restaurant. whereas, the lunch was held by partai keadilan sejahtera (PKS)-which invited all tangerang’s journalist. we had to leave the press conference because of the news that we heard happened in alaska, united states of america.

that day, a family in larangan, tangerang city, had lost one of family man. pungkas tri baruno (20 years old)-the name of the youngest child in that family-died in mckinley mountain’s peak, alaska. temporarely opinion, he died because of bad wheather. pungkas was one of climber scouts from indonesia which had a mission to stood the indonesian flag in the 20.420 feet mountain.

need about a half hour for me and denny to reach larangan with my honda supra x. it was about 1.30 pm when we arrived to the small-unpretentious house. what i saw first was some bunch of flower and an awning in front of the house. when we entered the house, an old man which holding a picture, suddenly woke up and reaching my hand. he said friendly “please..please, come in.”

his white moustache made him looks friendly. white koko shirt that he wore also made me free from worry. i convinced myself that this person was a good resource person -an informant that easy to talk with. but, his eyes looked so dull. i wasnt sure, but mumpangat (52 years old)- the name of that old man, seemed had crying lot.

mumpangat is pungkas’s father. i feel so sad when he shows me the picture. pungkas had a good body. tall and handsome. the lost of the young boy must made the whole family felt distressed. but I the real sufferer came from pungkas’s mother face . ismiharti, the 52 years old woman, just sat down in the floor. she looked faint and brittle. clearly, she wasn’t determine like her husband

“in fact, he never had a girlfriend,” said ismiharti, softly. that was one of her confession that steady humming me until now. it’s hard to forget how a mother like her lost her favorite’s children. behind the glasses, her eyes was tear-stained. when her relatives came and gave her an embrace, she cried again. in the corner, i (who was nobody there), only could stare the emotional situation.

so as the confession from one of his college friend. “pungkas spent his spare time in musholla, when other student choose to go to the canteen,” said first year student of interior design, mercu buana university, risky. i had met risky, frizzy hair student, when the dead-body of pungkas arrived in terminal haji, soekarno hatta airport on 18th july. in there, i also found adhyaksa dault, sport and youth minister of Indonesia, cried, when seeing pungkas’s body for the last time.

so, i wasn’s surprise when adhyaksa announced that pungkas’s name would be lasting as the name of library in Indonesia. when me and denny escorting the ambulance-which carrying pungkas’s body-with hundred else vehicle, the coconut shoot’s flag was everywhere. i was just realized, this kid was so inspiring, not only for million teenager in Indonesia, but also for journalist who report his story, like me.

notes:

everytime i think about pungkas, i always remember bondan, my younger brother. no doubt, bondan’s personality very similar with pungkas. bondan is a climber too. and he was born in 1988, so was pungkas.