Highway robbery

Highway robbery

On Sept. 24, 1996, I came back to Jakarta after having spent
several days in Singapore. I arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport at
around 7 p.m. and, even though I have stayed in Jakarta for four
months I still don't have a car, I had to take a taxi to get to
my house in West Jakarta. I therefore took the first taxi at the
head of the queue. It happened to be a President taxi, No. 4394
and was driven by a 50-year-old man.

As soon as I entered the cab, the driver tried to negotiate
the price of the journey. I told him that I wasn't a tourist,
that I was living and working in Jakarta and that I knew the
exact fare to my house (Rp 16,000 plus Rp 7,000 for tolls). I
therefore asked him to use his meter. He yelled but eventually
put it on.

We drove through the airport when suddenly the car started to
judder. The driver stopped the taxi on the side of the road (the
meter indicated Rp 1,770 at the time) and got out to check what
was wrong. He opened the hood of the car and seemed to tinker
with something. He then got back inside the cab and began to
drive.

To my biggest surprise, within 30 seconds the meter jumped to
Rp 2,500, then Rp 3,500 to finally show Rp 5,600 when we reached
the airport exit. I told the driver I knew perfectly well that he
had tampered with the meter. He yelled again and told me he
wanted Rp 20,000 to drive me home.

As it was night and in a remote area I agreed to pay, knowing
that it was "only" Rp 4,000 above the normal fare. The worst
thing in this pathetic story is that the driver not only cheated
me, as the majority of taxi drivers try to do in Jakarta, but
robbed me as surely as if he put a knife to my throat. He knew
full well that I had no choice but to pay. Otherwise I would have
had to walk at night, with my luggage, for the few hours it would
have taken me to return to the airport, or sleep on the side of
the road.

This unfortunate experience, together with a lot of others,
exposes a sad fact. It seems the kindness of the Indonesian
people is no more but a myth... in Jakarta at least.

STANISLAS SAINCLAIR

Jakarta