Embassy regulations

Many Indonesians have complained about the visa rules applied by the Australian and U.S. embassies. They have all voiced the same grievance: the nonrefundable visa fee, charged whether or not the visa is granted.

Every embassy has its own rules and regulations set by its own government that must be followed. Like our own embassies abroad, these rules are applied uniformly, i.e., by each respective embassy throughout the world. Frustration due to rejection of a visa application is understandable. However, by being aware of the rules and knowing the difficulties of obtaining these kinds of visas, one should at least be mentally prepared in case the visa is not granted.

There may be reasons why such seemingly "fraudulent rules" were imposed by the U.S. and Australian embassies. Therefore, if we cannot follow their rules however fraudulent they may seem, then we should not consider visiting their countries.

I, for one, have given up on the idea of visiting my friends in Singapore because I am not prepared to spend my hard-earned money on the ridiculous exit tax of Rp. 1,000,000 (rumored to increase soon). This amount is more than the cost of an air ticket to Singapore. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know of any other country that imposes such rules on its own citizens. On the other hand, my friends in Singapore canceled their plan to visit Jakarta, because they are not willing to pay S$70 for a single-entry tourist visa. They felt that it was an unreasonable and outrageous amount compared to what they paid for a tourist visa for Malaysia, a mere S$9. But then, who is there to complain to? We accept that these are the rules and we have to respect that.

Perhaps, the only difference between our rules and the U.S. and Australian embassy rules are that almost all applicants are granted Indonesian visas, which to some may be an acceptable justification.

W. TJAHJONO

Jakarta