Photo: Twitter/@AnindhitaAnest
The photo above, which shows a VW Touareg sporting a TNI AU (Air Force) license plate, was taken yesterday on Jalan Thamrin in Central Jakarta. With new Touaregs carrying a hefty price tag of around Rp 1.5 billion, it would be quite scandalous if the luxury car was paid for with taxpayer money.
For their part, the military has denied they have ever purchased a Touareg as an official car.
“It’s fake. It’s certainly fake! We don’t use vehicles like that,” said TNI AU Spokesperson Dwi Badarmanto, as quoted by Detik today.
“For official cars, we drive the [Toyota] Camry, Altis, Vios. As for Honda we have the old Accords. As for minivans we drive the [Toyota] Avanza or Suzuki Ertiga, so we don’t drive any luxurious cars.”
While a brand new VW Touareg costs around Rp 1.5 billion, the most expensive of the cars Dwi mentioned the TNI AU uses is around Rp 500 million.
So if the Touareg isn’t actually an official TNI car, then it could represent another problem Indonesian authorities often face: civilians putting fake TNI or police license plates on their private vehicles.
“This is what we’re looking into because many civilians drive cars with TNI’s [duplicated] license plates. We’re going to discipline [such offenders],” Dwi said.
The roads would certainly feel a lot safer if authorities could get rid of these posers, who often drive around like they own the road just because they think their fake license plates give them the power to do so.
