Some more thoughts.
On the nuisance taxis and preman:
Collusion is very common. The shitty taxi companies (you'll know them when you see them) often employ desperadoes. Their owners are sleazy semi-criminal businessmen who cut every corner to make a buck. Other than bluebird, ok companies are Express, Koperasi (green and orange), Dian, (blue and white), and Jakarta City. Blue Bird is still the best.
On the preman: the reason they can be skinny and malnourished but scary is they usually carry knives, work in groups, and have nothing to lose. They don't 'fight' as in square off and engage in some Marquis of Queensbury fisticuffs, they slash, stab, and run, or call all their friends. Going to jail isn't that big a problem: many of them, especially the ones clothed in tatoos, have done time already.
Bules and foreigners are usually given a longer leash than locals. Bules usually don't understand the deal and aren't worth the energy and likely confrontation. But if pushed, the knife may well come out. Bules have been stabbed in Blok M, for example. The Preman are often sad, broken, and of course stupid and uneducated. Stabbing someone may have got them into the game in the first place. Trust me, you don't want a blood transfusion at an Indonesian hospital. Any hospital.
So the Rp, 2, 000, or even Rp. 10, 000 parking money paid to the Preman is a cheap deal, really. It's an institutionalized form of extortion, of course, but given what they are, the Preman are surprisingly well-behaved most of the time.
The 'Ayams' as the working girls are known locally, in places like Jl. Felatehan know all about Preman. They usually provide the muscle and security. Even if they do a bad job. At Blok M. Professional hookers (as opposed to Indonesia's enthusiastic amateurs), may pay 50 % or more of their takings to the pimp. It's the parastic pimps and Preman that help to create that dead-in-the-eyes look of women who've been on the game too long.
If you're into ethical mongering, it's worth thinking about the shady world of Preman and their police and military backers. You may want to boil with rage at the injustice. As I used to. But it won't make the arrangement go away. In fact, as Indonesia's cities get bigger, and the police get more powerful, premanism is probably going to grow.
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