I Chose to Fight.

It is a common knowledge that Indonesian police officers often use their authority to bully and frighten us into thinking that we’ve broken some rules, when in fact they’re just on their usual duty prowling the streets looking for extra money (bribe money, that is).

This afternoon, I became one of their victims when I was just exiting the freeway gate at Bekasi Barat on my way home.

As usual, I always took the far left side because I wanted to turn left so I could drive past the entrance of Metropolitan Mall shopping centre and go straight home (my house is located right behind the shopping centre). The traffic was heavy as usual, so I could only get as far as being on the second left, but the road that led to the entrance of the mall could only fit two lines of cars anyway, and I’d driven past the same road hundreds of times and never had any police officers stopping me before.

As a driver, I drive politely – I always indicate before I turn, and I detest people who refuse to queue in line because I am always queueing and I never take over anyone’s car.

This afternoon – maybe because I was driving a tiny car, or maybe because I am a female driver, who the fuck knows – the asshole police officer decided that I would be his next victim. As I was turning left, out of nowhere a police officer walked right in front of my car and forced me to go on the right path because he said I wasn’t supposed to turn left, even though I was lining on the second left path and I was well inside the fence, not outside. I was adamant and I was still in the driving seat when I told him I wanted to turn left. He was still standing right in front of my car and he wouldn’t let me through.

Asshole.

Knowing that I wouldn’t budge, he walked right to the window and I told him I didn’t break any rules. I told him the whereabouts of my house but he wouldn’t listen to me. He kept telling me I should go right instead because I wasn’t allowed to turn right even though I was on the second left lane. I thought, “This fucker thinks he can get money out of me. Fine, I’ll fucking play his game!”

He asked for my car’s license and I refused to show it to him. He asked again for the second time so I took them out and he took my car’s license. He told me to take my driver’s license out of my wallet (I showed it to him while it was still inside my wallet)and he told me to pull over to the left side. When I did, he just walked off and continued (or pretending) to manage the traffic, still confiscating my car’s license in his hand.

I waited for him for a few minutes and I realised he wasn’t going to let me go that easily. So I put on my epaulet (which I had taken off from my uniform since they were so stiff), and I got off the car and walked right up to him.

Not surprisingly, he seemed to experience a constant attitude change the minute he saw me. Still, he managed to advise me that I was supposed to be on the far left side. I told him that I would be so happy if I could, but the fact was that the traffic was too heavy, it was freaking peak hour and I was actually lucky I could get into the second left lane. He was still babbling and I kept saying “Yes” to him just to hurry him up so I could go home. I told him I was sorry but I didn’t break any rules. I just wanted to shut him up.

Finally, he stopped talking and he let me go with no warning and no bribe money.

The fact was that, I didn’t break any rules. He didn’t stop the other cars who had gone before me, so why did he choose me? Was it because I happened to be a female? Was it because he thought he could scare me by abusing his authority as a police officer, who was supposed to protect and serve the people, aka me? Or was it because it had worked with other people and he was surprised that I wouldn’t buy into his game? Or maybe because it was almost the end of June and he was broke and in need of extra money to buy some cigarettes?

Whatever the reason was, I chose to fight back. I know that my uniform might play a big part on it, but he was abusing his rights by wearing the police uniform, so why couldn’t I? Besides, I was more than prepared to take this further should he force to send me to his office. I was even thinking about writing to the newspaper about this.

It was funny in a way, that he was a bit intimidated by my uniform. I guess he had never felt that way before, since it had always been the other way around for him.