Bar on service passport entry to Taiwan needs review

JAKARTA (JP): Last month, when I wanted to accept an invitation from the Taiwanese government to visit Taiwan, I had difficulties because of my service passport. As a researcher with a government research institute I travel on a blue service passport and not on an ordinary green passport.

Anyone traveling abroad must pay a Rp 250,000 fiscal fee. But a service passport holder on an official visit does not have to pay the fee. He or she also usually has no problems with immigration procedures.

The problem is, the service passport reads: "This passport is valid for all parts of the world except Israel and Taiwan." The reason why Indonesian government officials are officially not allowed to go to Israel is because our country has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

In fact, Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with several countries in the world, but holders of Indonesian service passports are allowed to visit those countries.

The exception of Israel reflects the political stance of our government, which does not want to have relations with Israel before peace is fully achieved in the Middle East. The policy shows the solidarity with Middle Eastern countries, especially the Palestinian nation which is still struggling for its rights and existence. Indonesia is a prominent member of the Islam Conference Organization and its population constitutes the majority of Moslems in the world. Its attitude is comprehensible, although in future the possibility for a change is not eliminated in line with the development of the international situation.

However, the reason for excepting Taiwan in service passports is not clear. Indeed, we have no diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but we have a trade and industry office there. It functions more or less the same way as our permanent representative offices abroad.

Our relations with Taiwan in the economic, trade and investment sectors have been smooth. There is an additional dimension to them with the recent increase in Indonesian labor working there. The labor can earn between Rp 1 and 2 million a month, far above the minimum wages here. The prospects of sending more labor are promising for our country's foreign currency earnings (the salaries are partly transferred to Indonesia).

Indonesia still clings to the one-China policy. The People's Republic of China considers Taiwan part of its country. We are also of the opinion that the Taiwan case is an internal Chinese problem. China does not ban foreigners from entering its territory, including Taiwan.

The Indonesian government issues three types of passport: diplomatic, service and ordinary. It is logical that diplomatic passport holders are not allowed to go to Taiwan because Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Taipei. But there is no clear reason why service passport holders are prevented from going to Taiwan. Does it not mean interfering with the home affairs of another country? Do we want to gain favor with China? I do not think so. What benefit is there for us? I suspect the problem has been of misjudgment all along. The problem is that we are usually rather slow in reviewing policies which prove incorrect.

-- Asvi Warman Adam

The writer is a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).