spruiked: jakarta style

why is it that Soekarno-Hatta’s Terminal I is such a mess?

New Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi has bemoaned the state of the airport. Unfortunately, like his predecessors, he seems to think that the main problem is the toilets. The toilets? That's the least of the problems:

• Why does one of the most important public buildings in the country look like a toilet block from the 1960s, when the powers that be are clearly capable of building magnificent shopping malls like Grand Indonesia and Pacific Place?
• Why are there so many options for paying your fiscal? There should be one counter for fiscal and fiskal bebas.
• Why do all Customs officers look like prison guards?
• For that matter, why can't check-in staff collect fiscal or give you the fiskal bebas sticker? They collect airport tax, so they are clearly trustworthy (and probably more so than your average airport customs official).
• Why are there more banks in the terminal than check-in counters?
• Why do you need a special desk for inspecting your fiskal receipt? It's just stupid and a complete waste of resources.
• Why are the duty free counters in arrivals always closed? Is it because they only sell alcohol? Why can't you buy other duty free goods on arrival?
• Why have INDONESIAN and FOREIGNER on the immigration counters? It makes no difference -- you can use either.
• If you're going to have INDONESIAN and FOREIGNER signs at immigration, why don't you put them where people can actually see them. Having them on all counters would be a good idea too.
• If you insist on having a thermal scanner, then f---ing use it! The first impression tourists get is this unused scanner sitting there. And we're supposed to believe that the Indonesian government takes swine flu seriously?!
• Why is Jakarta the only airport in the world where you have to guess which carousel your luggage will turn up on?!
• Why are there so many toothless smelly men hawking taxi and car services inside the arrival hall? I get asked 4-5 times if I want a driver/taxi every time I arrive at the airport. Half the time they look like ex-convicts.
• Why are there never any Bluebird taxis at the airport? Just about every tourist site you read says "DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING BUT A BLUEBIRD", yet I have only seen a Bluebird at the airport once in my four years here.
• Why does the carpark feel like a night market? Where do all these people come from? The carpark should be a secure area not a high risk area for single women!

In short, why, why, why, why...?!! It is a shit-hole and I dread using it. Most airports I don't mind. Some I actually enjoy. But Cengkareng? Yuck!