Keep Surviving (Features News Story)

Along the kitchen room, a brown skin man was walking while pushing a red VEGA R motorcycle to the front of a green house. He checked the machine and continued with cleaning it. He washed it with water and polished it with a rubber brush. After that, he wiped it with a slice of old clothes that had never been used again.

Mr. Nono is one of some people in Senjoyo who has a business to buy and sell second-hand motorcycles and car. Right now, he has four motorcycles and one “Kijang” car in his house to be sold.

Mr. Nono always keeps his trade to be in a good condition, both in machine and perfomance. If there is something wrong on his motorcycle’s machine, he would take it to the repair shop soon to fix it. If it seems to him that his motorcycle is dirty, he would take a scoop and washes it. He loves to make his buyer are satisfying with his trade.

Mr. Nono was born in Tengaran, May 19, 1970. He came from an ordinary family in Senjoyo and began his business selling motorcycles since he was in Senior High School 1997. Actually he didn’t intend to have a business to buy and sell second-hand motorcycle before. At that time, he just liked all about automotive and one day, one of his friends said that he needed a motorcycle. He asked Mr. Nono to look for a second motorcycle for him. After hearing his friend’s need, he sold his own motorcycle to his friend and got the profit from it. After that, he bought another motorcycle which was also a second-hand and sold it again. Of course, he also got the profit from selling motorcycle. Because of that experience, Mr. Nono decided to make a small business on buying and selling second-hand motorcycle called “Nono Second Motorcycle and Car Business”.

Mr. Nono background education is a bachelor of Slamet Riyadi University in 1996, Solo. He graduated from that university with a title Social Bachelor.

Many people asked, “Why didn’t Mr. Nono take another job which is more appropriate with his education?.”

Actually once, after graduating from university, Mr. Nono ever had a job in farmation company in Surabaya. He stopped his business on buying and selling second-hand motorcycle for a while and went there to work but, because of some reasons, he quited from that job and started his business on buying and selling second-hand motorcycle again. Many people thought Mr. Nono quited his job in that company because of his boss’ bad behavior who liked to humiliate other people. Then, because of that reason Mr. Nono couldn’t hold on working in that company and quited. But still, he kept surviving by starting his business to buy and sell second-hand motorcycle again.

Mr. Nono didn’t look for another job because he didn’t want to be ruled by other people. He wanted to make his own job that didn’t make him ruled by others. So, he continued this buying and selling second-hand motorcycle business more seriously.

Mr. Nono gets his motorcycles from several sources. They come from his friends and sometimes from another motorcycle sellers. Once he ever had been tricked by a person who sold a stolen motorcycle to him. As usual, for the first time before Mr. Nono bought a motorcycle, he would check the physical of the motorcycle. After that, he checked the machine number of that motorcycle and  continued by checking the ownership. He checked the STNK (a license of vehicle police number) and BPKB (like a small book to proof of owning a vehicle) to make sure that they were all matching with the police number in the motorcycle to prove that it was not a stolen motorcycle. Then Mr. Nono thought that all is well with that motorcycle and he bought it which was costed 6,500,000 rupiah.

After paying that motorcycle, he went to SAMSAT (a place where people could pay their vehicle tax in Salatiga) to pat the tax of that motorcycle because the tax hadn’t been paid yet by the ex- owner. When he would pay the tax, he found that the motorcycle’s tax has been blockade by SAMSAT. At last, he was told that the motorcycle he had just bought was a stolen motorcycle. Unsuprisingly, the police thought that Mr. Nono was mixed up with syndicate who accepted every stolen motorcycle. Then, Mr. Nono showed the evidence to prove he was not involved in that stolen motorcycle’s case. He showed the STNK and BBKB to the police and told them that the STNK and BBKB were matching with the police number of that motorcycle. So, he didn’t think that that motorcycle was a stolen motorcycle and bought it. The police believed him and didn’t give any sanction for Mr. Nono.

After a few days, the truth appeared. The police found that the son of the victim himself who was a syndicate of that motorcycle theft. He was first blotting out his father in law’s motorcycle and then sold the BBKB to his friend to be sold outside. Actually, Mr. Nono wanted to continue this case until clear but, he couldn’t do it because the police couldn’t find the main theft, the owner’s son in law’s friend. Then, the police endured that motorcycle and the owner of that motorcycle gave Mr. Nono a half replacement for money that Mr. Nono had paid before to buy that motorcycle. Mr. Nono lossed 3,250,000 rupiah because of that incident. Whether Mr. Nono was tricked and experienced of loosing 3,250,000 rupiah, Mr. Nono kept surviving and could continue his business.

“It was just like a jumping stone that would make me be better and be more careful to choose any motorcycle I want to buy next time,” said Mr. Nono.

In 2005, a dealer in Salatiga believed Mr. Nono motorcycle’s quality and bought one of his second-hand motorcycle. Mr. Nono went on the dealer to manage the letter about that motorcycle and then met a woman sitting in the cashier table. Javanese people said “Witing tresno jalaranan saka kulina” (Love came because of usual meetings). From that time, Mr. Nono and that woman became closer and fell in love. They married in 2006 and now, they had two children with them. The first is Kevin Adyatma and the second is Mega Tantri. They aren’t rich, but they are happy and keep surviving in their life. 

After his first son was born in 2007, Mr. Nono started his business to buy and sell second-hand car. The first car that he sold was a Zebra car. He bought it, sold it, and got profit from it.  Until now, he just only has one car to be sold and when it has been sold, he will buy one car again to be sold. Now, he keeps surviving from both second-hand motorcycle and car business that he has. 

“Life is hard but, don’t give up! If we have spirit and try hard, we could survive in any condition we faced,” said Mr. Nono.