Etiquette that matters

After reading the article by Armando Siahaan on your website, I feel compelled to write in. Although I am English and live in the UK with my wife (who was born in Jakarta), I have visited the city on a number of occasions to visit friends and relatives; the last time being October 2004.

During my last visit I experienced exactly the same ignorance cited in the article when trying to exit an elevator at my hotel and also one near the rear entrance of Plaza Senayan.

Being disabled I walk with a stick and find it hard to get about as well as I used to. I was shocked to have several middle- aged Indonesian men in suits charge at me in an elevator and knock me to the ground.

The elevator took off again before I was able to get to my feet. There was no apology forthcoming from them and no help offered. In fact they seemed to be having a laugh at my expense which made me rather angry.

In fact I have noticed that since I have become disabled, Jakarta has become an almost intolerable place to navigate due to broken pavement and roads, a lack of ramps, etc. Added to this the total disregard and bad attitude of its citizens does nothing to encourage foreign tourists, be they disabled or otherwise.

I would say this seems to be particular to Jakarta though, rather than all of Indonesia. While I cannot speak for the whole country, I have not encountered this in other cities I have visited. In most, despite a lack of infrastructure, people seem more than willing to lend you a hand and generally are a lot more friendly.

DUNCAN SARGEANT, Weymouth, England