The story above is an experience that Yuspriadi, a 55-year old middle-aged man, encountered at one of the well-known hospitals in Central Jakarta. The urgent need that he felt did not automatically disappear but instead made Pak Yus, as Yuspriadi likes to be called, become stressful upon seeing the dirty and smelly restroom. Borne out of this experience, Pak Yus decided to embark on his desire to build clean public restroom facilities in the best interest of many people. “If I’m not mistaken, it was in 2010 when I was being treated for a heart condition in one of Jakarta’s biggest hospitals. As it turned out, I felt the urgency to use a toilet and there was a public restroom nearby. However, what I saw really was quite appalling as that restroom was filthy and disgusting. There was a cleaner restroom but that was quite distant from where I was medically treated. From then on, I subsequently became driven to make public restrooms in Prabumulih that is clean and well maintained,” Pak Yus explained at the beginning of the interview with the editorial team. In 2011, Pak Yus finally decided to open a public restroom in one of the markets in the city of Prabumulih. The licensing process was quite lengthy as it was related with ensuring that the waste disposal must be treated properly and does not disrupt the environment. Pak Yus unhesitatingly sought to make 18 restrooms that comprise of 9-units for women and the remaining for men.Pak Yus’ toilets became highly sought after. There were on average close to 500 people that used his restroom daily. These restroom facilities proved to bring substantial blessings for Pak Yus and his wife, Ibu Lia. “Our restrooms are located not far from the border highways, approximately 200 meters away. Therefore, there are lots of buses from outside of the city that transited to disembark passengers that need to relieve themselves in the restrooms. Even in the dawn of day there are numerous market traders that use the restrooms to bath,” Ibu Lia, the wife that accompanies Pak Yus, stated when contacted by editorial team. The tariff to bath is Rp5,000 and to urinate and defecate is Rp3,000. One can imagine the income Pak Yus can earn if there are 400-500 people per day that use Pak Yus’ toilet. The cost it takes to maintain the toilets isn’t that much as you only need 2 people to clean. Pumping out waste is carried out only once every 6 months. Inquired on what his hopes for the future are, Pak Yus firmly expresses his desire to open a similar business in another area that naturally is quite crowded. “Praise be to God. This is indeed a blessing from the Almighty. Started with an 18 doors public restroom, it has brought forth other new areas of business,” Pak Yus concluded the conversation.
