Jakarta protests new U.S. discriminative visa policy

Bambang Nurbianto and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government on Wednesday criticized the United States' new visa policy targeting young Muslim applicants from 25 Islamic countries, including Indonesia.

Acting spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wahid Supriyadi said such a new policy was "discriminatory" and that it went against Washington's claim that the U.S. was leading a campaign against terrorism, not Islam.

"If the regulation is true, we really regret the decision. It shows the inconsistency of the U.S. government because they have said they are not fighting Muslims but terrorists," he told The Jakarta Post.

Washington announced last week a new policy requiring young Muslims aged between 16 and 45 to apply for visas at least 20 days before they made trips to the United States. It used to take one week at most to obtain an American travel permit.

The decision to expand the process for granting visas was aimed at allowing U.S. officials to screen Muslim applicants intending to visit America following the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

Malaysia had earlier lodged a similar protest against the new U.S. visa policy, saying such a regulation was unfair to Muslims and would weaken the U.S.-led global coalition against terrorism.

The Islam-based countries affected by the new visa regulations include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Wahid said the U.S. administration had yet to notify Jakarta of the new policy, adding that the American Embassy in Jakarta was still applying the old rules for visa applicants.

"I have checked the policy with the U.S. Embassy here and they said Washington has not yet provided them with any formal notification on the new policy and that they are still applying the same procedures," he said.

He said the government would understand should the restrictions be based on other reasons because there were many Indonesians who had frequently violated visa regulations.

"But, if the restriction is (imposed) because of certain religious reasons, it's really regrettable," Wahid sternly remarked.

Separately on Thursday, the newly-installed U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Leo Boyce said his office had reviewed the new procedures for visa applications.

"Actually, just two days ago, we reviewed in the embassy the procedures and approaches toward those who come in for visa information and for visa interviews," he told journalists after his meeting with Muslim activists in Central Jakarta.

"We will take into account the comments being expressed today and we will continue to review the best procedures for visa operations," he added.

However, Boyce said his office was not able to change the policy of imposing a fee of Rp 500,000 (US$50) on each visa applicant as it was applied in all American embassies.