Please, protect the tourists!

A few friends of mine from New Zealand and Malaysia came to visit me in Jakarta in January. Before they came, they were rather worried about their safety here. As I have been an expat living here for nearly one year, I reassured them that it was pretty safe and that Indonesia was improving itself. After much persuasion they decided to come. Unfortunately, all that I had promised them about the change and safety in Indonesia crashed in my face.

On Jan. 31, 1997, at about midnight, near the Hard Rock Cafe area, my friends and several other tourists, or non-Indonesians, were harassed and treated badly by the police. There was a road block and police demanded to see everyone's identification papers but when they came to my friends, who were non-Indonesian residents, they refused to accept their Malaysian IDs or drivers licenses. They demanded to see their passports, otherwise they had to pay the police a certain amount of money for each person in order not to be taken to the police precinct in a truck.

My friends did not carry their passports because it was not safe to do so. They offered that one of their Indonesian friends collect them from the hotel's safety box for the police to inspect, but they refused. They demanded the money. My friends had spent their cash so they had very little left. The police didn't believe them and threatened to lock them up in jail. What crimes had my friends committed, excuse me?

Apparently, a few other tourists there were also treated the same. Some paid but those who didn't have the money were dragged into the truck.

Finally, the police officer managed to collect Rp 50,000 from my friends; all they had left between them. What was intended as a fun-filled evening turned into a nightmare. Please, tell us, who do we call when we are faced with such a situation?

Name and address

known to the editor