Nina was taking me to a cake shop to treat me out for my last night here, and took a wrong turn on a one-way street. We caught our mistake & quickly turned off the road. Too late. A policeman quickly pulled us over & asked for Nina’s licence.
“what’s your relation with the bule?” was his first question to Nina. Suspecting he was angling for reasons to increase the fine (based on the larger wallet of a westerner), Nina asked me to stay with the scooter, while she handled the negotiation in the police post.
30 minutes went by.
“That was strange…” Nina said when she finally emerged.
Pak Polisi wanted to know her kos address, her phone number, where her home town was, when she gets out of class…
“We can spend 8 hours in court tomorrow, or we can take care of the fine right here. Up to you.”
Pak Polisi wanted 100,000 Rp,,, Nina widdled him down to 20,000. In the process, Pak asked about coming by sometime & forming a closer relationship with her.
Never mind about that guy sitting around on the scooter outside Mr. Policeman!
I didn’t hear about this until we had driven away & were trying to enjoy the cake shop down the road,,, but my evening was pretty much shot. It was time to go home.
This bozo gives cops in Indonesia a bad name… and according to many folks I talk to, there are plenty more like him.
I talked to Pak Rochmadi about it at home. It’s pretty common to be cited for violation #204,,, meaning an arrangement for a bill with a 2, followed by four 0’s to be exchanged for one’s freedom.
Violation #504 is a popular one too.
The number goes up according to the apparent size of one’s wallet, so I hear.
The system works against itself to a certain degree. Unemployment is high… officially around 10%, but those are the rosiest figures Jakarta can put out. Indonesians have to pay to get a job as a policeman here,,, and it’s not cheap. I’ve heard figures upward of 60,000,000 Rp ($6,600 more or less)… which is 2-3 years worth of annual income for well off families like my host family.
The idea is to get a permanent job.
The police salary is still low, however. So many are forced to look for additional work (2nd jobs), and ways to supplement both their living expenses & the borrowed money for getting the job in the first place. Therein lies the temptation to seek gratuitous bribes… And it’s business as usual here.
As an American, I’m not used to, nor happy with the paying of bribes. It gets me upset quick,,, especially when I see authority figures cooking up the amounts for fines in their head, based on the amount they think they can get out of you.
How about a standardized set of fines for specific violations guys! And if fines are levied, the money should go to the city,,, not the pocket of the guy who pulled you over.
Just my 2 cents. I’m done venting now.
“what’s your relation with the bule?” was his first question to Nina. Suspecting he was angling for reasons to increase the fine (based on the larger wallet of a westerner), Nina asked me to stay with the scooter, while she handled the negotiation in the police post.
30 minutes went by.
“That was strange…” Nina said when she finally emerged.
Pak Polisi wanted to know her kos address, her phone number, where her home town was, when she gets out of class…
“We can spend 8 hours in court tomorrow, or we can take care of the fine right here. Up to you.”
Pak Polisi wanted 100,000 Rp,,, Nina widdled him down to 20,000. In the process, Pak asked about coming by sometime & forming a closer relationship with her.
Never mind about that guy sitting around on the scooter outside Mr. Policeman!
I didn’t hear about this until we had driven away & were trying to enjoy the cake shop down the road,,, but my evening was pretty much shot. It was time to go home.
This bozo gives cops in Indonesia a bad name… and according to many folks I talk to, there are plenty more like him.
I talked to Pak Rochmadi about it at home. It’s pretty common to be cited for violation #204,,, meaning an arrangement for a bill with a 2, followed by four 0’s to be exchanged for one’s freedom.
Violation #504 is a popular one too.
The number goes up according to the apparent size of one’s wallet, so I hear.
The system works against itself to a certain degree. Unemployment is high… officially around 10%, but those are the rosiest figures Jakarta can put out. Indonesians have to pay to get a job as a policeman here,,, and it’s not cheap. I’ve heard figures upward of 60,000,000 Rp ($6,600 more or less)… which is 2-3 years worth of annual income for well off families like my host family.
The idea is to get a permanent job.
The police salary is still low, however. So many are forced to look for additional work (2nd jobs), and ways to supplement both their living expenses & the borrowed money for getting the job in the first place. Therein lies the temptation to seek gratuitous bribes… And it’s business as usual here.
As an American, I’m not used to, nor happy with the paying of bribes. It gets me upset quick,,, especially when I see authority figures cooking up the amounts for fines in their head, based on the amount they think they can get out of you.
How about a standardized set of fines for specific violations guys! And if fines are levied, the money should go to the city,,, not the pocket of the guy who pulled you over.
Just my 2 cents. I’m done venting now.
posted by jonathan adventures at 2:09 PM
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