There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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Lost ATM card in Indonesia (aka The Indonesian Way)

About three months ago I rather stupidly lost my BNI ATM card. 

I immediately had it cancelled of course, and then went into my local BNI branch to get a new one made. But I never did though – the girl said I had to get a letter from the police – so since then I have been withdrawing my cash by going to the teller instead. 

But this week a bombshell hits: Bank Indonesia has just come out with a new regulation requiring bank customers to show their ATM card when making a withdrawal at the cashier or when making any other type of transaction - even including the transfer of money to another account! 
 
Me: I’d like to withdraw Rp5 million please. 
Teller: Can you show me your ATM card? 
Me: I don’t have one. But here’s my proof of ID (showing her my passport) Teller: I need to see your ATM card. 
Me: I’ve lost it. 
Teller: You can make a new one. 
Me: Ok. Fine. 
Teller: To make a new one, we will need a letter from the police. 
Me: But I don’t want to go to the police. I’ll waste half a day. Even more. Can’t I just make a new one anyway? 
Teller: We need the letter from the police. 
Me: Do we? Why? 
Teller: It’s the regulation. 
Me: Look can’t I just withdraw my money. It’s MY money! MY money! 
Teller: You need to show us your ATM card. 
Me: (thinks) Ok. I’ll close down my account and open a new one. That’ll be quicker and less painless than a visit to the police. I can do that can’t I? 
Teller: Looks at me, says nothing. 
Me: Or perhaps I could close the account and take the money to ANOTHER bank. 
Teller: Says nothing. 
Me: Look. Okay. Let me think about it. I’ll come back tomorrow. So the next day (Wednesday) I go back, walk up to the customer service desk where a young lady is sitting. 
Me: Hello. Selamat Siang. I’ve damaged my BNI ATM card and I threw it away by mistake. I’d like to make a new card please. 
Teller: Of course. Please sit down and fill in the form…

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