Never may the will be relaxed

At the last moment a large tent was installed to cover the BuGils Stadium. Supported by Telkomsel and Bir Bintang we are able to impress again with this 'mini' stadium. The landlord however was less happy with the construction, as Satelindo is having an enormous event this Monday in Taman Ria and to have this 'little island' of Telkomsel in the middle of their party, created confusion with the organizer, the Taman Ria Management and Satelindo. Fortunately Telkomsel did not make a big problem of it, and agreed to wait with putting up their ornaments until after the Satelindo event. This was agreed on last week. Then, late last Friday, a panic call from the GM of Taman Ria. I had to tear down the tent; Satelindo was furious that one of the pole supporting the tent was in the middle of the 4 meter wide path! I had to admit that there was a 30 by 30 cm pole fiercely standing in the middle of the path, but in Jakarta there are obstacles everywhere in the streets, I couldn't imagine that it would cause a trouble for the 6000 guests they were expecting. I ignored the request. The next morning it became serious. The pole had to be removed. So a meeting with all parties involved took place on Saturday afternoon, a few hours before kick-off. There were 10 people around the table, all clearly under pressure from some senior managers within Satelindo. Their eyes were all nervously looking in my direction. I could hear them thinking: How to deal with this little bule and his keras kepala and get that damn pole removed? The event organizer started the meeting by thanking me for coming and my cooperation so far. I nodded and enjoyed the few seconds silence after his speech. They were all sitting at the edge of their stool. I decided to play it in a Javanese way. In a calm voice I thanked them also for this and that and that I was sure we could come to a solution. They all nodded relieved. But they also had be reminded that an event like theirs doesn't bring me extra business. It would mean: difficult parking, people using the BuGils toilet and terrace, etc. They all agreed. But they considered the pathway in front of BuGils a bottle neck and the pole could add to the danger of an accident. The construction manager tried to convince me that I didnt need a tent. They had asked the help of a Pawan or so-called rain doctor. It is widely common in Indonesia for companies to spent tens of millions on Pawans to keep events dry. The event organiser and TR managers all nodded heavily. "No worrieees, Mr Bart! No rain lah...!" "Well.... In that case....", I came closer to the table. They also bowed forward. "If a pawan can hocus-spokus a huge rain storm away....... " At this stage they thought I would give into the removal of the tent. Their eyes were focused sharp, their jaws tense. "If a pawan can hokus-pocus and you pay him millions, then I am sure he can easily make that pole disappear for a day!" They all fell back in their chair, shaking their heads in disbelief. It was a one man show and I loved it. Inside I was cheering for myself.

In the end, to save face, they came up with the solution. I could leave the pole -and thus the tent- but should provide a light in it, so people can see it easily. Also I should move the terrace more to the back so it will give more space to support the flow of people. I thanked them for their good solution.