Medan issues new travel policy

Medan issues new travel policy

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan

The North Sumatra provincial administration announced on Friday
that Indonesian nationals traveling to Malaysia through seaports
and airports in Medan would not be required to pay a fiscal tax.

Speaking on behalf of the North Sumatra governor, a senior tax
official said the fiscal-free departure would apply to Polonia
Airport, and the Belawan and Tanjung Balai ports.

Bambang Heru Ismiarso, the head of North Sumatra's Directorate
General of Taxation, said the new policy was introduced following
a request by the Malaysian government to the North Sumatra
governor.

The request was made through a letter dated June 6 this year,
signed by Mohd Yusoff bin A. Bakar, Malaysia's consul general in
Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province.

Fiscal-free travel would be aimed at boosting trade and
tourism between the two countries, according to Yusoff in the
letter.

"The new facility is taking effect today (Friday) at the
request of the Malaysian government," Bambang said.

He said Director General of Taxation Hadi Purnomo had earlier
imposed a fiscal-free policy for flights between Padang, the
capital of West Sumatra, and Kuala Lumpur.

In addition to West Sumatra and North Sumatra, there are other
five other provinces in Indonesia where a similar policy is in
place: Aceh, Riau, Bengkulu, Jambi and South Sumatra.

Bambang said the tax office would lose revenue as a result of
the new policy. According to data from Polonia Airport, the
government collects Rp 3 billion (US$315,789) in revenue each
month from fiscal payments at the airport.

The old fiscal policy required each person traveling to
Malaysia through Polonia Airport to pay Rp 1,000,000 in fiscal,
while those traveling to Malaysia through Belawan or Tanjung
Balai ports were required to pay Rp 250,000.

The North Sumatra Tourism Board hailed the new policy, saying
it would provide a boost to airlines and tourism-related
businesses in North Sumatra.

Antara reported that flights on Malaysian Air System (MAS),
the only airline offering direct flights between Medan and Kuala
Lumpur, were nearly fully booked on Friday, the first day of the
new policy.

A marketing officer at Polonia Airport said 80 percent of MAS
tickets from Medan to Kuala Lumpur on Friday had been sold.
MAS serves the Medan-Kuala Lumpur route twice a day, at 1 p.m.
and 3 p.m., with return tickets costing $138.