Immigration rules and rulers
Immigration rules and rulers
Expatriates of all social categories and origins cannot expect
any improvements from Immigration officials after the speech
delivered by their boss, Ihza Yusril Mahendra the other day. Even
a Justice Minister under Soeharto such as Ismail Saleh (around
1990) was more open-minded.
Indonesians who have already traveled have witnessed the
definition of the globalization era while walking the streets.
People come from everywhere and are fully integrated. Of course,
an influx of immigrants is not easy to manage. There is currently
very heated debate on this issue in my country, Belgium.
It is rather shocking that the Justice Minister, who claims to
be a democrat, is still warning that his country will not accept
immigrants (without saying why) and will only accept foreigners
bringing advantages (like under Soeharto, money is still number
one, skills are not the main point here!), and who are not a
threat to the country.
During eight years of residence in Indonesia (1992-2000), my
two Eurasian children and I have had various types of visa,
including tourist, social cultural, business, Kitas (temporary
stay) and UN diplomatic visas. So I know what I am talking about!
When the Soeharto era ended most civil servants were hoping for a
simplification of the immigration procedures concerning the
social visit visa, as well as for a substantial increase of their
salaries such as the one proposed two months ago. So far, we all
have seen no improvement at all.
When I was in Indonesia most people like me -- Westerners --
were bringing benefits to Indonesia and its people. Most of us
were employing Indonesians, but were unable to get a work permit
ourselves. We did not even dream about getting one.
However, I was harassed on a continuous basis over social
visit visa procedures. My Sundanese wife in Belgium has a 5-year
stay permit under the form of a resident identity card for
foreigners. No hassle at all from our immigration divisions,
because we are legally married! A legal marriage is adequate
enough to get a stay permit allowing us to work and feed our
families.
Many expatriates in Indonesia are self-employed and it is very
complicated to arrange a work permit because the barriers and
conditions to getting a Kitas legally are far too substantial.
In my case, I do not see how I could do something that an
Indonesian could not do.
The fact that only expatriate women married to Indonesian men
can get a stay permit is discriminative and this has nothing to
do with a so-called patrilinear system, which we also apply in
Western cultures without having to discriminate against women
from the immigration point of view.
YVAN MAGAIN
Tubize, Belgium