Govt to reject new visa-free facility plan

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra has said the government would probably reject the idea proposed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to give a visa- free facility for foreigners from some 20 countries in Europe and Africa.

According to Yusril, the government has adequate reasons to abandon the proposal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which was aimed at boosting the number of foreign tourists entering the country.

The 20 countries have no diplomatic relations with Indonesia and some of them, such as Bulgaria, are still in crisis, he told The Jakarta Post after attending a pre-Christmas gathering at his office late on Friday.

"If we give a visa-free facility to the troubled countries, it would just bring new problems for us," he said.

Yusril also doubted the willingness of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to take responsibility should visitors from the 20 countries make trouble in Indonesia.

"They (the ministry) might simply leave the responsibility to the immigration authorities," he said. In Indonesia, immigration is under the supervision of Yusril's office.

"The quarantine costs are not cheap for accommodating foreign visitors prior to deportation to their countries.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism would never take responsibility for this. So, we must be careful," Yusril warned.

The proposal, therefore, needs to be cautiously considered before it becomes effective and causes other problems, he added.

Yusril's office has been considering charging fees for the issuance of visas upon arrival for tourists from 47 countries, which have long enjoyed the visa-free facility granted by Indonesia.

But he insisted on Saturday that the government did not have the intention of taxing foreign visitors to Indonesia.

"What we are doing is reviewing the visa-free policy for a two-month visit," Yusril said.

The planned policy should be carried out since Indonesians traveling overseas have been receiving unfair treatment in which they have to pay quite a large amount of money for visas to enter any of the 47 countries.

Under the new planned policy, visitors from these countries could simply come directly with their passports without having to secure a visa from the Indonesian representative office in their countries.

"They can get their visa upon arrival at any destination across the country," he said.

Separately, Director General of Immigration M. Mudakir told reporters at his office on Friday that the scheme of charging visa fees upon arrival was being discussed by a small team in Bogor over the past two days.

Mudakir said the results of the discussion would be forwarded to the office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs pending a cabinet decision.

He said, the planned fee to be charged for the visa on arrival was only US$50, while the length of the visit would be reduced from 60 days to at least 30 days. (01)