Experience with theft and 'bureaucrazy'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Sometimes it is true what you read in the
\nnewspapers. Like for instance those recent warnings about petty
\ntheft being on the increase.<\/p>\n
Last Monday night, when returning from a dinner with some
\nguests that were staying at our house, we found our place rocked
\nby some nasty robbery which had messed up the entire place,
\nsmashed two doors and got off with, amongst other things, the
\nguests' wallet and cash.<\/p>\n
Not mine, because I had learnt after the first robbery some
\nthree months ago not to keep any valuables in the house. But as
\none can't walk around the whole day with one's camera's and CD
\nplayer around the neck (certainly not in a tropical country), the
\nthieves also got away with those items.<\/p>\n
Besides the mess, broken doors, glass everywhere, the whole
\naffair made us spend a lousy night in the police station being
\neaten by mosquitoes and subjected to 100,000 questions, and an
\nearly morning with the people from the RT (the local neighborhood
\nwatch - it makes you wonder what exactly they are watching
\nthough). They said they knew who did it but couldn't get him yet.<\/p>\n
When I gave them that me-not-understand-look, one of them
\nstepped forward and showed me my own dear little camera! He
\nexplained that they caught a man who'd already bought my (once
\nabout US$200) camera from the thief (for less than Rp 30.000 to
\nadd insult to injury!) and that they were going to hand both the
\nguy and the camera over to the police.<\/p>\n
By then I was getting into quite a murderous state and asked
\nthem to hand it over to me, now, immediately! Without much
\nsuccess though. My camera ended up with the police, who told me
\nthat they would keep it as 'a piece of evidence'.<\/p>\n
Very nice indeed, to have some evidence.<\/p>\n
But sometimes it is even nicer to have a camera.<\/p>\n
So my next mission (headache) was to get it out of the police
\nhands.<\/p>\n
So I asked my office what to do. They finally advised me to
\nget some help from this poor old fellow who happens to sit on a
\nchair near our gate in a uniform which should scare trouble
\nmakers away (not very successful, somehow he rather seems to
\nattract the species).<\/p>\n
The guard didn't seem too honored with my request for
\nassistance, but anyway, he started traveling to and fro the
\npolice office.<\/p>\n
Every day, when entering the gate, I gave him this 'How About
\nIT?' look.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. Every day the same answer. The
\npolice wanted to keep it. The police needed it as evidence. The
\npolice were going to keep it till the case was closed.<\/p>\n
All we could do was 'ask permission to borrow IT for a while'.<\/p>\n
What?! My boss turned purple and blue. A letter was prepared
\nthat we wanted to borrow IT. NOW.<\/p>\n
Poor fellow in uniform went back with letter.<\/p>\n
Commandant not there. Commandant too busy.<\/p>\n
Commandant out of office.<\/p>\n
Till finally word came: Commandant wants to see The Girl.<\/p>\n
Aha! So poor fellow in uniform jumped on his shiny bike,
\nzigzagging between the trucks and taxis, and took me all the way
\nto the police station.<\/p>\n
Not that he was a good driver. At least, not in my eyes. He
\nhimself though seemed to think that he, reaching his 70's, could
\nstill swerve and waltz his bike like half a century ago.<\/p>\n
At the point he was about to sandwich us between two school
\nbuses, I started to wonder if being crushed by a bus would be as
\nhorrible as it looked, and if so, if one little Olympus Camera
\nwas worth it.<\/p>\n
But, and let that be our moral for today, one should never
\ndespair and after rain comes sunshine and a Japanese Product
\nshould be cherished till the end, etc etc.<\/p>\n
So for some divine reason I didn't get crushed to pieces by
\nthe school buses, nor did I become unpleasant in the police
\nstation.<\/p>\n
Thanks to all of that, the very efficient and trustworthy
\npoliceman might have decided that it was going to be a bit
\ndifficult to keep my camera for his son's birthday. And so, and
\nhere comes the happy end, I walked out of there with My Camera,
\nhurrah!<\/p>\n
Of course, he wouldn't have been an efficient and trustworthy
\npoliceman if he hadn't made me sign this letter stating that I
\nwas only borrowing it and would return it at their request
\nwhenever they needed it.<\/p>\n
But then, and let that be our last lesson, one shouldn't focus
\ntoo much on details.<\/p>\n
-- Camilia Berghmans<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/experience-with-theft-and-bureaucrazy-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }