Color and fee

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