Security concerns cited in new visa policy

Security concerns cited in new visa policy

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is planning to revoke the visa-free service
currently given to a handful of countries and regions outside the
Association of the Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN), in addition to
providing the visa-on-arrival for 16 new countries and extending
the maximum stay period.

State Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, who was
unable to give an exact date for the changes, announced after a
meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Thursday that the
revocation of the visa-free service for "certain countries", from
outside of ASEAN, was mainly due to "security reasons".

"There have been some security concerns ... and it is at risk
of being misused by terrorists," he said.

In the past three years, bomb blasts rocked several parts of
Indonesia -- the October 2002 attacks in Bali that killed 202
people, mostly foreign tourists, followed by the Marriott bombing
in August 2003 in South Jakarta, which killed mostly Indonesians
and another at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last September,
where all of the victims were Indonesians.

A presidential decree issued by then President Megawati
Soekarnoputri on Feb. 1, 2004, granted a visa-free facility to
citizens of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the
Philippines, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the
Macao Special Administrative Region, Chile, Morocco, Peru and
Vietnam.

That policy was part of the government's decision to revoke
the visa-free service for 48 countries. Those that retained the
visa-free status, did so as a result of reciprocity agreements.

Jero said his office and the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights were discussing the review of the government's visa policy
to enable more countries to benefit from the visa-on-arrival,
which, over the last year cost US$25 for a 30-day visa.

"The new visa policy will include 16 more countries on the
visa-on-arrival list and will extend the stay period from the
current three days to one week (for a $10 visa) and from 30 days
to 60 days (for a $25 visa)," he explained.

Of the 16 countries, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Austria,
Ireland, China, India, Kuwait and Egypt are included, which means
those citizens do not have to go to an Indonesian Embassy in
their home country to apply for a visa.

Currently, tourists who are nationals from the United States,
Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, the United
Arab Emirates, Finland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy,
Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Norway, France and Taiwan
are eligible for the visa-on-arrival.

To improve its service for the visa-on-arrival application,
Jero said the government would soon install more booths to serve
tourists following many complaints over the long lines to fill in
the documentation and pay for the visas.

Visa-on-arrivals are available at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport, Polonia Airport in Medan, Ngurah Rai
Airport in Denpasar, Sam Ratulangi Airport in Manado, Tabing
Airport in Padang and Juanda International Airport in Surabaya.
They are also available at Batam; Belawan, Medan; Sibolga, North
Sumatra; Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta; Tanjung Perak Port,
Surabaya; Benoa Port in Bali or Jayapura, Papua.

The country hopes to attract six million tourists, up from
5.33 million last year with Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta as the
main tourist destinations.

The government is also hoping for foreign currency proceeds
from foreign visitors to reach some US$6 billion this year from
an average spending of $1,000 per person per nine-day visit, up
from $4.8 billion last year netted from an average expenditure of
$901 per person per nine-day stay.