Police checking IDs

Police checking IDs

I am an Indian girl living and working in Jakarta with an oil
company. The other night I went out with some of my friends.
While the group was returning in a couple of taxis, we were
stopped near the Hard Rock Cafe about 1:30 a.m. A police van was
parked on the side of the road and officers were stopping all
cars to check IDs. Some of us were not carrying our IDs at the
time.

A few of my friends who have been stopped before and who were
carrying IDs advised against showing an ID to the police officer
anyway. Because if you show them your ID, they confiscate it and
then you have to pay much more money to get the ID back. As must
already be obvious to the reader, the police officers wanted
money.

They started with a demand of Rp 300,000, then bargained. And
all of them connived in it. We wanted to call our company so that
they could bring our IDs to the police station. But the police
officer would not allow us to use our cellular phone to make the
call. The message was clear: "Pay up or Pay up".

I am visiting in your country and it is not right of me to
criticize my hosts or speak ill of them. The reason I am writing
this letter is to draw the attention of those Indonesians who
love Indonesia to one thing -- incidents like these, happening
every day and everywhere, make a nation look like a bunch of
greedy, corrupt and disgusting people. Foreigners like myself,
will travel more; we will go back to our countries and take
around these stories of Indonesia.

I have specified the place and the time of the incident in the
hope that somebody from the Police will read this. Somebody who
is not steeped in corruption and who loves their country enough
to punish the people involved.

This message is sent with the hope that things can improve and
people's confidence in justice in Indonesia can be restored
somewhat. Who do I need to fear on the road? The police. I am
sure you can appreciate how ridiculous that is and how that
reflects on the nation.

KAJAL DEEPAK

Jakarta