Color and fee

After living in a tight work schedule in Indonesia for the past two-and-a-half years, I was excited to be able to visit the Borobudur temple last weekend. Myself and 15 other company employees (all Indonesian) were en route to a colleague's wedding. On arrival at the ticket gate I was ushered up to pay and was charged Rp 10,000. I experienced a moment of panic, as I knew many of the staff would be unable to afford this.

However, I was hastily told that Indonesians only paid Rp 2,500 at a different gate. I then explained to the clerk that I was a "resident" and carried all the relevant paperwork with me. She was adamant that only producing a KTP (Indonesian citizen ID) would reduce my fee.

Although able to afford this comfortably, I felt immediately that a principle was involved and many words sprang to mind. Retrospectively, I wonder what would happen if, for example, Australia, too, adopted a policy where skin color provokes a call for proof of "citizenship" before price is determined.

ROSA PASARIBU

Jakarta