Bar on service passport entry to Taiwan needs review
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).