Germany’s Merkel a victim of Jakarta’s traffic

Jakarta’s traffic is always merciless. With no exception.

During German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the capital, she was deprived of her interpreter and forced to speak to an audience in English instead of German. The main culprit: traffic

Chancellor Merkel was supposed to address a gathering of prominent Indonesians and members of the German community in the country on Tuesday at 9 p.m. at the residence of German Ambassador to Indonesia Norbert Baas.

Chancellor Merkel arrived late from a state banquet at the Presidential Palace at around 9:30 p.m. and immediately began addressing the crowd. At first she wanted to speak in German, but her interpreter was nowhere to be found. She then began her speech in English. After a few minutes the interpreter arrived and Merkel switched to German.

“I was in the last car in the entourage. Because of the traffic I was late and couldn’t get there in time,” Perry Notbohm, Merkel’s interpreter, told The Jakarta Post.

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde were also present at the gathering.