Harassment by immigration officials

It seems that things are getting worse, much worse, in certain areas of the Indonesian bureaucracy. And the immigration department seems to be the worst of all. Virtually every expatriate of my acquaintance has a "horror" story to tell, while more and more tourists are complaining of harassment from immigration officials.

Just this week, a British tourist, a fairly frequent visitor to Indonesia, a country he is rather fond of, returned to Jakarta from Singapore, where he had gone to extend his visa in order to spend another month here, only to be subjected to what I can only describe as intimidation. This took the form of verbal abuse, shouting and denigration of his character and motives from the immigration officers at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

They demanded he show them US$2,000 or its traveler's cheque equivalent, which they claim every tourist should be carrying, and threats were made to put him on the first flight out of the country. There is indeed a regulation that incoming visitors have this sum available but that in no way justifies the treatment, which went on for a period of two and a half hours, he was given.

During this time, there was a constant stream of other harassed individuals through the office, each "coughing up" money to the officials. Many of these hapless victims were, it seems, Indonesians returning from abroad. One official, the tourist alleged, placed his feet on the desk. As a sign of respect? It is a fact that one's first impression of a country is a lasting one. Is the Ministry of Tourism aware that immigration officials are creating a negative impression of the country on tourists. The ministry should be doing something about it!

I have had enough bad experiences over the years with the immigration officials at Soekarno-Hatta Airport to disbelieve this tourist.

DAVID JARDINE

Jakarta