Letter: Special treatments for VIPs

One of your recent editorials reminded your readers how strange the driver of former president Soeharto felt, when he suddenly was no longer escorted by police outriders and had to stop at red traffic lights, just like average citizens.

You also wondered about the similar feelings of former vice president Jusuf Kalla and pointed out that, even through ministers and generals enjoy the same "no traffic rules" privileges; the law actually limits this kind of special treatment to the President and his Vice President only.

I am sure many people who are routinely inconvenienced by police escorts, pushing through rush hour traffic, and having entire road sectors closed for the convenience of certain demanding "VIPs", are unhappy about the obvious violation of their personal rights, but that respect for the individuals or their positions may allow them to swallow hard and to accept the situation.

However, how about the indignities these same average citizens suffer, when exactly the same police "service" is extended to hundreds of noisy, leather-clad, well-above-average, wealth-flaunting, Harley Davidson riders?

Special treatment by the police, who are supposed to protect the rights of their (average) fellow citizens, for such "in your face" behavior, has to be seriously in violation of the above mentioned laws and is even more of a disgrace, if one begins to wonder how many of these expensive status symbols are not on the road, without their owners' regard for import and tax regulation.

As Pak Harto's driver had to learn, the kind of special treatment he was yearning for ended with the Soeharto era - or did it?

Little Peter
Jakarta