Termites eat security guard's life savings, dream to perform haj unfulfilled

SOLO - The dream of a family in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia who wants to perform haj together was shattered when their savings were destroyed by termites.

After two years of saving, the money was gone overnight.

The story of Samin, who worked as a school’s security guard was first reported on Tribunnews and it went viral on social media, which garnered the sympathy of many.

The 53-year old said he initially wanted to check all the money stored in a plastic jar at his home recently.

However, the man was shocked when almost half of the banknotes collected with his wife and two children were severely damaged.

"All the banknotes became small pieces as they got eaten by the termites," he said.

The portal also reported that Samin had left the savings jar at his house because he did not want to commute to the bank.

"I didn't think the money in the jar would be damaged because I kept it in a plastic container and let it be full first before checking it out.

“We as a family continuously saved at least 100,000 rupiah (RM30) or 50,000 rupiah (RM15) every single day, but now it’s a different story," he said.

However, Samin was grateful that some of the savings could still be saved.

“This is because after all the money was counted, the total amount reached over 100 million rupiah (RM30,363).

The security guard tried to save the rest of the damaged money at a nearby bank yet the decision was initially quite disappointing.

Meanwhile, head of the Representative Office of the Bank of Indonesia Solo Nugroho Joko Prastowo stated that damaged banknotes could be replaced with certain conditions.

"The money must be authentic and is still at least two-third or 68 per cent of the original size," he said.

After reviewing, only 20 million damaged rupiah (RM6,068) could be saved.

After the story went viral, the family received at least 10 offers to perform umrah and haj.

However, Samin said he had yet to make an official decision whether to accept the offer or not.

"Alhamdulillah many people want to help, but I’d like to calm my mind first. I'm worried that there will be other problems," he said.

The unfortunate event also received a response from Solo's mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka who advised the people to learn from what happened and act wisely by keeping money at the bank.