This video is practically Indonesia in a nutshell, except instead of the smooth shell of a nut, we’re dealing with the spiky shell of the durian aka the king of fruits.
The durian, loathed by many foreigners due to its pungent aroma, is generally beloved by locals in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia due to its sweet and creamy seeds. These Indonesian traffic cops clearly love the controversial fruit as well, so much so that they were caught on video asking for durian as a bribe from a driver at a traffic checkpoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHc9sfxhqVg
According to Tribun, the video was uploaded on Facebook on May 25. It shows the point of view of the driver as he drives into a traffic checkpoint and is greeted by two traffic cops. It’s not clear if the driver committed any violations, but a conversation can be heard between the two parties in which the officers ask if they could have one of the three durians that the driver had with him.
At first, the driver is reluctant to let go of any of the spiky fruit, telling the officers that it’s for his wife at home, who is pregnant and is craving durian.
But one of the officers counters by saying that it’s dangerous for pregnant women to eat durian (which is a myth, good sir, but nice try) before going on to ask how much the durians cost. After learning that the durian cost Rp 50,000 each, some haggling between the driver and the cops ensues, which ends with the cops agreeing to take the smallest durian.
The identities of the traffic cops are not yet known, but the original poster of the video wrote that the buah-based bribe solicitation occurred on a road leading to the city of Palembang in South Sumatra.
So in this video we have a traffic bribery, some haggling, and durian – three ubiquitous aspects of Indonesian life. What video could possibly be more representative of the country?
