Sonntag, Dezember 07, 2008
Sick as Hell
Yesterday I bumped into something I never thought I'd experience here in Indonesia. It saddens me to see this kind of thing still happen, especially after Ied Mubarak.
or maybe it's because it's after Ied Mubarak that they did this to people...
I got to Dumai using a ferry from Malaka. The ferry was packed. I guess that's normal considering it's only 2 days of post-Ied Mubarak. Hell, I didn't even get a ticket the previous day.
Okay, back to my journey.
Long story short, I got to Dumai in one piece. I parted with my Singaporean friend who had to go through the immigration office to get his passport stamped.
I went straight to the xray machine.
This is where the real story starts..
all of a sudden the immigration people were telling each other that I have a laptop in my bag.
I thought so what.. what's so strange about it?
They asked me to come with a lady to the customs office.
I knew right from that second that they wanted money.
There the lady asked my a lot of silly questions like:
"Where did you buy the laptop?"
"Did you register your laptop to the customs when you went out from Indonesia?"
"Who bought the laptop?"
"Could you please show me the receipt (of me buying my laptop)?"
I told her that laptop is not mine.. it's from my office in Jakarta. She then insisted me to show her the receipt. She kept saying that I couldn't bring in goods more than 600 RM.
A lady came in after me with 3 handphones (hers, her husband's and her kid's --> so she said). The customs officer insisted that this lady has to pay tax etc.
And then the customs officer called in her friend to talk with me while she was talking to the other lady.
The second officer came in and asked me nicer questions. Again, I told her the laptop belongs to my office in Jakarta. She took a look at it and then said it was okay.
She said something like this, "IT'S OKAY NOW, YOU'RE FREE TO GO. IF YOU WANT TO GIVE US 'COFFEE MONEY' WE WOULD BE THANKFUL, BUT IF NOT THEN IT'S ALSO OKAY"
So I did what a normal person would do... walk away with my bag instantly.
My own country... well, I've heard that immigration people often do things like this to foreigner or TKIs.. I never thought I would experience it myself.
08 October 2008
or maybe it's because it's after Ied Mubarak that they did this to people...
I got to Dumai using a ferry from Malaka. The ferry was packed. I guess that's normal considering it's only 2 days of post-Ied Mubarak. Hell, I didn't even get a ticket the previous day.
Okay, back to my journey.
Long story short, I got to Dumai in one piece. I parted with my Singaporean friend who had to go through the immigration office to get his passport stamped.
I went straight to the xray machine.
This is where the real story starts..
all of a sudden the immigration people were telling each other that I have a laptop in my bag.
I thought so what.. what's so strange about it?
They asked me to come with a lady to the customs office.
I knew right from that second that they wanted money.
There the lady asked my a lot of silly questions like:
"Where did you buy the laptop?"
"Did you register your laptop to the customs when you went out from Indonesia?"
"Who bought the laptop?"
"Could you please show me the receipt (of me buying my laptop)?"
I told her that laptop is not mine.. it's from my office in Jakarta. She then insisted me to show her the receipt. She kept saying that I couldn't bring in goods more than 600 RM.
A lady came in after me with 3 handphones (hers, her husband's and her kid's --> so she said). The customs officer insisted that this lady has to pay tax etc.
And then the customs officer called in her friend to talk with me while she was talking to the other lady.
The second officer came in and asked me nicer questions. Again, I told her the laptop belongs to my office in Jakarta. She took a look at it and then said it was okay.
She said something like this, "IT'S OKAY NOW, YOU'RE FREE TO GO. IF YOU WANT TO GIVE US 'COFFEE MONEY' WE WOULD BE THANKFUL, BUT IF NOT THEN IT'S ALSO OKAY"
So I did what a normal person would do... walk away with my bag instantly.
My own country... well, I've heard that immigration people often do things like this to foreigner or TKIs.. I never thought I would experience it myself.
08 October 2008
Labels: journals
