SBY, please axe the 'fiskal' tax

SBY, please axe the 'fiskal' tax

When I came to Indonesia in 1958, optimism was in the air. My
husband had a Master's degree in Economics and wanted to build up
his country. Bread cost seringgit (Rp 2.5); one could catch a
clean, safe Opelet (a six-seated public transport) on Jl.
Thamrin; I bartered for a tailor-made suit with a potted orchid;
trash was collected regularly twice a week by the division of the
Ministry of Public Works without extra cost; I got real bad
dysentery; I learned Bahasa Indonesia and settled down to family
life.

I find, that nobody in the government bothers to care what
goes on in society now, because the elite powerbrokers have a
narrow-sighted and narrow-minded feudalistic attitudes toward all
people not from their "level". However, we are now in the year
2005, not 1910! -- The majority of government personnel do not
care about their country, they only think of the money they can
make from exploiting it, all the while slowly killing "the goose
that lays the golden eggs".

There is a fatally wrong and arrogant perception in the minds
of most who have power. If major industries move out of Indonesia
because they cannot bear the illegal fees any longer, a minister
exclaims: "Let them go! We don't need them", instead of improving
the situation.

The departure tax, fiskal, has remained in place "so that
families are discouraged from leaving the country and will spend
their money in this country" (again; stupid reasoning by a
government official). Isn't that like imprisonment/house arrest?
And where does the money go anyway? Those Indonesians who reside
overseas can travel 2-3 times a year in and out of Indonesia, and
do not have to pay it.

However, if they stay longer than 180 days in Indonesia, they
also have pay Rp 1 million to be able to leave the country. Is
that fair -- to be punished for staying longer than six months in
one's own country? Even if they are not working, they have to be
taxed? What about elderly citizens that want to visit their
children and grandchildren abroad, since it is cheaper for Oma
(grandmother) or Opa(grandfather) to travel than having the
family of four or six travel back to Indonesia? I find the
departure tax a disgrace to Indonesia and in violation of the
basic right to freely move in and out of a country without
restrictions.

I pray for the president, that he keeps his strength to combat
the leeches that are sucking this country to death and will defy
him in every possible way. I also hope that the people around the
president learn to behave appropriately in public and not insult
a security guard verbally and show him "the finger" when asked to
kindly move his car -- which had a Mobil Istana (presidential
car) sticker in the front window -- and not block the entrance to
a mall.

SUHARTO, Tangerang, Banten