A state of law

I can understand very well Pak Soegih Arto's point of view Do we need foreign troops? (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 16, 1999) and I agree with him that no foreign troops should have been needed in East Timor. However, the facts collected by the UN proved that Indonesian Military (TNI) was directly involved in the massacres committed in East Timor. East Timorese people were asking UN troops to go in. The UN has a moral obligation to hear them and to do whatever is necessary to avoid further massacres that TNI -- though a recognized professional organization -- was unable to prevent from happening.

Referring to the Sept. 7 letter of Pak Idris regarding problems faced by foreigners when dealing with immigration bureaucracy, it must be clear that all foreign investors or employees here are simply arranging and paying everything required (and more!) through an agent to get their immigration documents fixed.

However, the problems faced by the many self-employed, single foreigners (including foreign men married to Indonesian women who have established their families in Indonesia) could be summarized as huge when dealing with the existing immigration procedures. These procedures give us virtually no rights and plenty of obligations (maybe that is why we have a "special status"!).

We would welcome the support from any Indonesian organization or individual to help married foreign men grab a minimum of rights in the form of a stay permit -- automatically including the right to work. Try to understand that what we want to have is no more than the right to support and feed our family here in Indonesia.

Pak Idris's idea of having an ombudsman to deal with immigration related problems experienced by foreigners is excellent. In my opinion, the ombudsman would need to be based in Jakarta where the decision-makers are and would need to be able to establish a good relationship with officials in Bahasa Indonesia.

An NGO needs to be established to defend our rights. Many couples living abroad could support that organization as well. Many expatriates have immigration problems and could report them to that NGO. However, it is not clear whether we, foreigners, can legally establish such an NGO in Indonesia or not? Ministry of Manpower could help clarify the matter.

YVAN MAGAIN

Bandung