Number of Indonesians traveling abroad rises

JAKARTA (JP): The number of Indonesians going abroad through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport rose to 98,000 in December from an average of 84,000 per month in the first half of last year, an official said over the weekend.

The spokesman for the Directorate General of Immigration, Mursanuddin A. Ghani, said Saturday that despite the current monetary crisis, the number of Indonesians leaving from Soekarno- Hatta was constantly rising.

The latest data shows that in October, 92,766 Indonesians left from Soekarno-Hatta, rising to 97,272 in November and peaking last December when 98,078 people went abroad.

"This month's figure is projected to rise even further," he said without giving details.

When asked about whether the increase was because people were trying to "escape" for a while from the impact of the crisis, Ghani said he was not certain.

"That might be one of the reasons behind the increase, but frankly, I don't know for sure. We don't ask people that kind of question," he said, refusing to elaborate further.

Based on official data, the Directorate General of Immigration issued 740,189 passports nationwide last year, while in 1996 it only issued 553,528 passports.

In 1995, 1,943,164 Indonesians went abroad and in 1996 there were 2,112,540 people. Last year's data is not available yet.

Ghani said requests for passports were usually higher in July and August due to students going overseas.

"Many Indonesians leave the country to study abroad at that time of year.

"But last year, fewer students submitted passport applications because reports said their parents were canceling plans to study abroad due to the monetary woes," he said.

Head of the city's immigration office Iman Santoso said the number of Jakartans receiving passports dropped by 10 percent from the average of 2,500 every three months.

"I believe this situation is only temporary. I hope this year monetary conditions will get better so immigration business can go back to normal," he said.

In a related development, Jakarta's immigration office launched a passport computerization program in a bid to prevent passport forgeries.

The head of the Central Jakarta Immigration Office, Pramuningtyas Hadiwidjojo, said Saturday the main objective of the program was to create better security, particularly for passport holders and for the country in general.

"With this new program, hopefully there will be no passport forgeries or wrongdoing conducted by irresponsible parties," he said.

The new system uses a photo image and can be checked with an infrared scanner so the originality of the passport can be verified.

Gradually all passport holders will be given the new computerized passports.

"The price of passports will rise Rp 5,000. So the official price for one passport is set at Rp 100,000," Pramuningtyas said.

The program is projected to start in several other provinces in July. (edt)