Eliminate illegal fees<\/p>\n
Four corporate guests of mine arrived from Thailand on Oct. 18
\nat Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, and the
\nimmigration officer in charge, for no apparent reason, denied
\nthem entry unless they paid US$100 each.<\/p>\n
They were allowed to pass through immigration after they paid
\n$40 each. My guests from Singapore had a similar experience some
\ntime ago.<\/p>\n
Such treatment of foreign visitors to Indonesia obviously
\nbrings disgrace to the nation.<\/p>\n
In fact, all visitors from member countries of the Association
\nof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are exempt from the visa-on-
\narrival policy, so the charges are definitely going into the
\npockets of the immigration officers. If 100 visitors arrive
\ndaily, they will pocket $1,000, or Rp 9.5 million, in a day and
\nmake cumulative monthly takings of $30,000, or Rp 285 million.<\/p>\n
I would like to call upon public officials to stop making
\nmoney through illegal fees and carry out an internal
\nreorganization to show the world that we are, indeed, committed
\nto making improvements in all areas.<\/p>\n
HERBERT SUBUR P. SILITONGA<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eliminate-illegal-fees-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }