A state of law

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

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