‘I’m fed up with the kids’ question’

Daratista’s bottom line is doing very nicely, thank you. The singer, who shook up dangdut music three years ago with her “drill” gyrations, boasts a chain of successful karaoke lounges, keeps a collection of 70 cell phones and was honored last year for her song, Mau Dong. She is the classic small-town-girl-made-good success story, a junior high school dropout who paid her dues at tiny gigs before hitting the big time. Although she has put behind her that famous feud with dangdut’s grand old man Rhoma Irama, controversy still haunts her: A group surrounded her Pondok Indah home last year after she took part in a protest against the porn bill. Inul, 27, reveals the love of her life, a crazy youthful experience and why it’s better to hide the good crockery when she gets mad.

What are your best traits?
I’m very patient. Also, I have had a strong social commitment since I was a child.

And worst?
If I am angry, I cannot take it out on the person involved, whether it’s my husband or a family member. So when my anger reaches its peak, I will smash a glass or plate instead. But now I seldom do it; I’m trying to control myself. If there is something plastic nearby, I will scrunch that up instead. 

What is the craziest thing you have done?
When I was very young, and had never been anywhere before, I was bold enough to accept a job in Batam. I ended up being held there for 40 days; whatever we did, including bathing, going to the toilet, there were bodyguards watching us. We had to sing for the prostitutes on this island that was a two-hour ferry trip from the mainland. I never got paid, but the important thing was I got out of there. Perhaps God saved me from becoming an immoral woman. With a few of my friends, we were sent home, taking a huge ship, the Dobansolo. We only had money for the tickets, so we had to sleep on the desk, and busk to get some money to buy instant noodles to eat for four days. I’m crying just thinking about it. And I got home, having missed a month of important tests, and my teacher told me I had failed my third year of junior high school … It’s an experience I try not to think about.

Preferred clothes?
I like casual clothes, T-shirts, with a bit of style. My favorite makes are Versace and Replay.

Mouth-watering mainstay?
I love the smell of a barbecue. Delicious. And I have to eat crackers with my meals.

What makes you angry?
If things are not neat and clean, I get angry. I don’t like to come home and find my clothes are not in order, for instance. I really hate untidiness.

What is an unforgivable act?
I hate being lied to. And I can’t stand people who reveal their own indiscretions in public and those who disregard the feelings of others.

What is your worst nightmare?
I was doing two shows on the same day but the locations were quite far apart. We tried to take a short cut over a mountain road which was notorious for accidents. It was dark, there was nobody else around, just the forest, and suddenly there was an old person in the middle of the road. We managed to avoid a collision, but I have always wondered if it was a ghost. Hopefully, I will never have an experience like that again.

What makes you cry?
When I am not strong enough to face a challenge, then I cry. When I remember the difficult times in my life, like the recent incident [the protest at her home], I get upset. I’m very sentimental.

Your dream dinner guests?
I would like to eat dinner with Gus Dur [former president Abdurrahman Wahid], and anybody with great knowledge and intellect. Gus Dur is a cultural expert, a nationalist, witty and an outstanding father. I also admire Bubi Chen. He is a pianist who takes us to a beautiful place with his music. 

What do you never leave home without?
My Walkman. If I don’t have it with me, I feel like something is missing. I can listen to music, learn lyrics or record my poetry.

What bores you to tears?
When I don’t have any work. My life has been work, work, work. And maybe meeting the same people all the time [laughs].

What makes life meaningful?
My life is full of activity, and so it is meaningful to many other people. That gives me a feeling of respect.

Favorite corner of your home?
My makeup room. I like to go in there and fix things, whether it’s putting on my eyelashes, making sure my eyeliner isn’t clogged or looking through my closet to find gowns that need to be laundered or ones that I should put away for good in a museum.

What bad habit do you wish you could stop?
Taking a shower in the middle of the night. I’ll get home from a show at night and have to bathe, because I always want to smell good. I know it puts me at risk for rheumatism.

What question are you tired of answering?
I’m fed up with people asking me when I will have children. Of course, I want to be a mother, but it’s up to God to decide when. If God bestows children on us, we should be thankful; if He doesn’t, we still have to be thankful.

Regrets, you’ve had a few, or too few to mention?
That I never finished school. I only made it to junior high school – my family did not have the money for me to continue. I had to provide for my five siblings; my father was a tailor, my mother sold nuts in the market, and there was no chance of a salary raise for them. Sometimes, there was no money at all.

Who is the great love of your life?
God. That is my honest answer. It’s different from the love we have for our husband or our relatives.

How would you like to die?
Everybody wants to die at peace. But if I have enough money, I want to build a mosque or small prayer house, with a plot set aside for me to be buried.

What is your life motto?
That I accept all my failings in life, always strive to be the best that I can be and appreciate what has been given to me. 
+ Bruce Emond

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