Justice for credit card holders

From time to time newspapers in Jakarta publish statements by banks apologizing for "less than sympathetic treatment" by their employees, adding they did not intend to terrorize their customers. They also say they make constant efforts to contact and settle customer complaints. Credit card holders who have experienced "less than sympathetic treatment" feel the glib language of bank personnel or third parties contains elements which are degrading to human dignity. I have had the same experience as a credit card holder at one of the banks in Jakarta.

In a number of offices in Jakarta, "morally bankrupt, well- trained capitalist terrorists" systematically telephone, visit and intimidate credit card holders who have been blacklisted. These "capitalist terrorist" use various methods and approaches which are nearly all criminal in nature, with the objective of receiving the money they are owed in part or in entirety. They view their debt collection as a respectable job, an indication that there is moral bankruptcy at the corporate level.

The banks have access to the personal data of their credit card holders: name, date of birth, address, telephone number at home and at the office and financial information. They also know about the personal data of family members from the family card.

I hope the authorities and related agencies will take strong measures in the form of legal and administrative sanctions against banks which engage in the practices described above. They should protect credit card holders (in the interest of hundreds of thousand, perhaps millions, of Indonesian citizens) who have sustained losses, been treated unfairly, have become victims of violent actions and extortion under the threat of violence or defamation, as well as being subjected to terror over the telephone by the banks or third parties. Their impunity before the law is a bad precedent for legal supremacy in Indonesia, where the shackling of the judicial system has taken place.

People aspiring to hold credit cards are advised to study the banks' reputation in its actions against credit card holders before submitting their application forms.

RULLY TAUFIK HIDAYAT

Jakarta