The Story Of Hajj Bustamam: Domino Gambling Damages The Life Of A Simple Padang Restaurant Owner

Portrait of Haji Bustamam which was used as a cover for books in 2019. (Buku Haji Bustamal: Founder of Simple Restaurants)

JAKARTA - Gambling hobby cannot be underestimated. This habit often brings harm, rather than benefit. No one can really get rich from gambling. Another problem is being separated from the unusually difficult gambling addiction. The narrative was agreed by Haji Bustam.

The owner of the Simple Padang Restaurant repeatedly believed that gambling brought bad things. Bustam's case is a domino gambling enthusiast. Every night the domino game is played. A habit that makes his Padang restaurant business run on the spot.

No one can choose to be born from a rich or poor family. Anyone who is born rich then life offers many conveniences. Anyone who is born poor will have difficulties in life often felt.

Bustamam has also eaten salt acid living in poverty. The man who was born in Lubuak, Male, Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, September 11, 1942, had been living side by side with poverty since childhood. His father was only a farmer. His mother is no longer from a small Bustam.

This condition forced Bustam, who dropped out of school, to join relatives, to travel to Jambi. Life does not offer him convenience. He did all kinds of work. He was once a dish washer, a fried banana trader, so corn is boiled.

He has also been a cigarette basket in the 1960s. Bustaman is known to be diligent. What work he does can make him survive. Later, Bustaman chose to travel further. He wants to leave Sumatra Island.

He chose Jakarta as his destination to earn sustenance in 1970. He restarted the cigarette basket business. However, this business does not guarantee abundant income. He tried to swerve the steering wheel to open Padang food stalls with the remaining profits from selling cigarettes.

The stall was around Benhil Market, Central Jakarta in 1972. He named his shop Warung Nasi Simple (later known as the Simple Padang Restaurant). The business experienced ups and downs until he learned to cook from his fellow Minangkabau who was good at cooking.

This condition makes the shop always crowded. His business skyrocketed, from the overhang to the building itself. Bustaman started climbing the ladder of success.

"This is called to be a stepping stone for everyone. So what we do is experience everything, so for lessons. So with experience like that we have the motivation to progress," said Haji Bustam in an interview on the Kick Andy program, June 22, 2013.

Bustam's Simple food stall business was a success. The branch began to grow one by one. However, the life test came without time. Bustam's old passion emerged: gambling. In the past, Bustam had attracted gambling when he became a cigarette basket in Jambi.

He often gambles in the night market to gamble through simple games. Bustam is never good. Gambling makes him often sell personal goods from hours to clothes. The addiction disappeared as difficult as it was to live.

The spirit of gambling reappeared because he was a duit person. The game that brought him back into the world of gambling was dominoes, or the Javanese called him a gapplek. domino games make him always curious to win. He lost many times. Won rarely.

A lot of money was lost at the gambling table. Bustaman is like a fan of domino gambling. He continues to play dominoes again and again. He did not miss the location of the new domino game. However, this habit makes his business run on the spot. Bustam often lies because he often loses gambling.

He lied to his friends for the sake of prestige. He lied a lot to his wife because the principal money of the shop was used as gambling capital. This condition makes Bustaman dizzy. He started to lack sleep. His thoughts became chaotic when he thought about the future of his business.

However, Bustam is starting to realize that domino gambling can destroy his family and business. Bustaman slowly began to leave the gambling table. The hard effort was finally inspired by the development of a Simple Padang Restaurant. Now the business has more than 100 branches throughout Indonesia.

Maybe because the economy is good, even money is quite a lot, the desire for gambling has recurred again. This time, I no longer played concave or threw chicken hair like in Jambi before. The game that dragged me back to playing gambling was billiards and dominoes or playing gapplek, the term people in Java.

"In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, almost every night I go to a billiards house or gather with friends to play dominoes. After the restaurant closes, it is almost certain that I will go to a billiards house or a domino friend who has been promised first," said Bustam as written by Hasril Chaniago in the book Haji Bustamal: Founder of Simple Restaurants (2019).