Since moving to Southeast Asia, Meg and I have heard rumours about the rampant corruption in just about every government institution. Not that Canada's government is squeaky clean or anything but I don't think it's quite as prevalent as it is here.
Anyway, I have been in Jakarta (located in Indonesia) for the last few days on business. Friday night, I was in a taxi with some co-workers, heading back to our hotel after being out to dinner with some clients. We were stopped at a police roadblock on a practically deserted road, void of much traffic. They asked for our passports. Ten minutes later, the policeman returned, speaking in very broken English. We couldn't quite understand what he was saying but it was evident there was a problem. Apparently, it required a "fee" before our ids would be returned.
So, it wasn't exactly the most comfortable situation I've ever been in. We suspect the cabbie might have been paid a kickback for talking an alternate route back to the hotel which conveniently had a police roadblock. Anyway, everything eventually worked out...although my wallet is a little lighter.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment