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