A Letter to the President
My name is Iqbal
I'm now aged 25
My father is a peasant
He worked on land which belongs to the head of our village
My mother stays at home
I have 8 brothers
After I graduated from junior high school, I dropped out
Because I have to help my mother and father with work on the farm
to be able to support my 8 other brothers
I come from a small village
(The lights went off again!)
It needs more attention from the president
Our village is so poor
Even the electricity often goes out of service
Presidential candidates, I can only see you from a TV in my neighbour's house
And in an old newspaper which was used to wrap rice
I really hope that someday, I can meet Mr. President
So I can tell him about everything we are going though in our village
This letter is one of the many letters that I have sent to the candidates
Well actually I don't know about all of those other letters, whether they reached them or not
Because I only gave them to my friends
Maybe they lost them, or maybe they already reached Mr. President
But I don't know, up until now I've never seen or met Mr. President in real life
To the next elected president, this letter represents our voices
We do hope that the next president-to-be will pay more attention to the voices of the farmers and peasants, of the fishermen
And others who have the same fate as us
I hope that the next president can come down and visit us, can feel what we've been feeling
And can listen to our misery and problems
Thank you
Regards, Iqbal