Susilo wants review of departure tax policy

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered his chief economics minister Boediono to review the policy of charging Rp 1 million (US$100) each time Indonesians leave the country, to decide if the tax hampers community-building in Southeast Asia.

Winding down his visit to Malaysia on Wednesday, the President turned to Boediono during a media briefing, and said that the exit tax, which is popularly known as the fiskal payment, should be looked into if reports of complaints that this policy was deterring Indonesians from traveling abroad proved to be true. Boediono nodded in response.

"I am not saying that the fiskal would be lifted. But we will look into these complaints," Susilo said.

The payment is actually an advance on income tax, and thus can be deducted from tax bills. But the government apparently cashes in quite a handsome amount from the exit tax, since most Indonesians do not pay income taxes, for one reason or another, and thus would not claim back these payments.

The policy was introduced in the 1980s as a measure to deter Indonesians from leaving the country and thus protect the country's badly needed foreign exchange reserves for essential domestic needs.

But as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is working to turn the region into a single community, Indonesia's neighbors have complained about the fiskal payment for hampering travel by Indonesians abroad. ASEAN is also currently preparing for the establishment of a community within East Asia.

The issue came up after Susilo, in his media briefing, referred to recent reports of scams by Indonesian immigration officials, including those stationed at embassies abroad, which he said had discouraged foreigners from coming to Indonesia.

He referred to an instance when one foreigner had personally related to him about how difficult it had been for him to get a visa to Indonesia. "If reports like these spread, then who would want to come to Indonesia?"

He called the actions of the immigration department bureaucrats a serious crime and demanded that those guilty be punished severely.

Susilo is in the Malaysian capital for a series of summits with ASEAN. In four days here, he has participated in 13 different summits and six bilateral meetings, while continuing to monitor the situation at home.

One particular report from home that upset him was the one about a young Indonesian woman working abroad after being duped into prostitution.

"I am really shocked. This is a heartless crime," he said, adding that he had asked the National Police chief in Jakarta to take immediate steps to bust the syndicates that engage in trafficking women and children.

"We have to thank these Indonesian workers, and it is our duty to protect them," he said. "I want to see a law enacted as soon as possible that protects women and children against domestic violence."

The President also made it known that, now that he was in his second year in office, he would be demanding results from his subordinates.

"In the first year, I had been more persuasive. But now in the second year, I am going to be more hands on," he said. "I won't accept ignorance as an excuse for not doing the work properly."

The President leaves for Thailand on Thursday morning for an official three-day visit, but the busy schedule he has had in Malaysia has apparently sapped a lot of his energy. He has only "slept for four hours last night," he confided. "You journalists are still looking fresh."