A spirit of extortion

I have been frequently shocked and saddened over the last few days during these floods at the way some people behave. I have been to over 40 countries and even been involved in floods or similar disasters in places such as Cambodia, India, East Timor, California, Japan and West Africa. In each of those places there was an incredible spirit of people pulling together to help others in need, regardless of race, religion or economic standing.

There has been a bit of that here I assume, but by and large the experiences I have had to deal with have left a foul taste in my mouth. When taxi drivers started asking for extra money to get through or around wet areas, that was understandable, but when thugs stand in front of flooded roads or housing complexes demanding "tips" in order to pass, with the threat of violence, it just borders on the absurd. What are these people thinking? I know what I am thinking, and that is this would not happen in any other place in the world.

On Sunday (Feb. 3) I donned some old shorts and flip flops and put together a care package for a friend which included some medicine, candles, batteries and other necessities and set out for flooded Greenville in West Jakarta. As I got to the section of the road in which the taxi could go no further I got out and was prepared to walk, but there to greet me was a pack of disgusting thugs "offering" me a ride on a glorified garbage cart. I had fully intended to brave it and walk by myself, but thought the cart might be a nice alternative, and inquired of the price. They said it would cost me Rp 500,000 to take me 150 meters!

I decided I would rather walk at those prices, so as I set out the thugs yelled and screamed at me, threatened to kill me, eventually physically restraining me from entering the housing complex unless I paid them. So, for me it would be, Rp 500,000 whether I walked or rode their garbage cart. The end result was the care package was not delivered on Sunday.

RICH SIMONS

Jakarta