Harassment in immigration<\/p>\n
I refer to the letter Mixed marriages from Mr. Gulliver
\npublished in The Jakarta Post on Feb. 3, 2001.<\/p>\n
Mr. Gulliver, please understand that racism is a human concept
\nand mankind is only human. Having made that point, there is
\ndiscrimination and harassment in Indonesian immigration laws not
\nbecause Indonesians do not like Westerners. I am going to be much
\nmore practical, or terre-a-terre. It is because Indonesians like
\nto think that we (Westerners) are rich. Usually the majority of
\nexpats are men. So, we are the ones who have to go through the
\nmost difficult procedures to obtain legal immigration documents.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of expats are actually able to get a work
\npermit though what they do in Indonesia could be done by an
\nIndonesian. In these cases, by law, you should never be able to
\nget a work permit. So, one might ask, how could these expats get
\ntheir temporary stay permit (Kitas)? Well, they just pay off
\nwhoever must be paid off to get their work permit. But this is
\nthe way it works in many other ministries for all Indonesian
\npeople.<\/p>\n
I hope the next minister of justice will address this
\nimmigration issue in a proper way. A way which is not clearly
\nestablished to bring wealth to the civil servants who have a
\nlicense to \"kill\" any time. That is the reality of today in
\nimmigration offices, not only for expats, but also for Indonesian
\nmigrant workers or tourists wishing to process their documents.
\nSo, Mr. Gulliver keep in mind that Indonesians and also foreign
\nwomen - though less than foreign men - have to suffer immigration
\nrules and rulers.<\/p>\n
And since this kind of process exists in the overall
\nIndonesian administration, our problem is to be put in an overall
\n(rotten) context. As long as practices such as corruption,
\ncollusion and nepotism are not erased from Indonesia we will all
\nhave to suffer from discrimination, procedural harassment, etc.<\/p>\n
To the ministers now in charge of Indonesia's destiny, all we
\n-- Indonesian citizens and expats -- need is less discrimination
\nand harassment from ministry procedures and officials. We simply
\nask for more humanity.<\/p>\n
YVAN MAGAIN<\/p>\n
Tubize, Belgium<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/harassment-in-immigration-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }