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Letter: Thugs at the airport
When I arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, my wife and I needed a taxi and it was well past midnight
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hen I arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, my wife and I needed a taxi and it was well past midnight. All of the Blue Birds and Expresses, the so-called safe taxis, were gone.
The taxis who were there all refused to use a meter. My wife and I had to get out of one taxi because he did not want to use the meter. Eventually, an Express was driving by, so we flagged him down.
He could not leave, either, because he needed to bribe the security there, and the person in charge of recording the license plate number did not let me close my door, insisting on a tip.
He acted very aggressively and violently, actually. He did not put any luggage into the car, he just wanted money, so I closed the door forcefully and told the driver to leave immediately.
I am able to put aside the disgusting toilets and the exorbitant fees/taxes we must pay to leave the airport, but to be accosted like this by a bunch of thugs and criminals upon leaving the airport is a little too much.
Do something about these guys, now.
Michael Lesser
Jakarta
