Improper manner

On Nov. 24, my friend and I visited a friend of ours who lives at Apartment Rasuna Said. We left the place at about 9:30 p.m. As it was already late, we decided to take a taxi.

There was no taxi in front of the main door of the tower. So, we left the building and went out on to the main road, which is still within the apartment complex. There are two gates in the complex, the inner and the outer one. We had only left the inner one, which encircles one of the towers where my friend lives. Yet, we were still inside the outer gate, which is the entrance. At the entrance, there are lots of Silvera taxis -- probably, it's one of their taxi stands.

On the main road, before the entrance, an Express taxi passed behind us. We stopped the taxi and got into it. To our surprise, at the entrance our taxi was stopped by the security guards and some preman (hoodlums), whom, as far as I remember, had been there since we arrived earlier. The security and the preman scolded our taxi driver and forced him to leave. They said "Express has already taken passengers twice". They forced us to leave the taxi in a harsh and inappropriate manner. They banged the door of our taxi and scolded us, telling us to get out of the taxi. The worst part of the experience was that the security guards didn't do anything, moreover, it seemed that they approved of the preman's actions.

My friend and I were very angry. So, we left the taxi and decided not to take a Silvera taxi either. We walked straight out on to Jl. Rasuna Said to get a taxi. The preman continued to jeer at us as we walked away from the scene.

I can't believe that such an improper incident could happen in such an exclusive area.

LANNY HIDAYAT

Jakarta