U.S. agents target RI in rigid visa checks

U.S. agents target RI in rigid visa checks

Tiarma Siboro and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Denpasar

The Indonesian government says it is unaware of the United States
administration's plan to deploy agents to oversee visa operations
at U.S. embassies and consulates in five more Muslim nations,
including Indonesia.

Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Wednesday
that U.S. Embassy officials had not informed the Indonesian
government about the plan, but asserted that "in common practice,
the embassy has to give prior notification to the Indonesian
government about any plan to reshuffle its staff".

"We do not know about the U.S. plan to place DHS agents in the
country and its embassy here has never officially notified us,"
Marty told The Jakarta Post. on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit
in Nusa Dua, Bali.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on
Tuesday a plan to deploy agents in U.S. embassies and consulates
in Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan and the United Arab
Emirates after placing its personnel in Saudi Arabia in August as
part of a sweeping overhaul of immigration procedures.

The five countries were chosen because of the high volume of
visa requests the DHS processes and the presence of members of
al-Qaeda and other groups hostile to the United States on their
territory or in neighboring states, DHS spokesman Gordan Johndroe
said.

The move came just days after the State Department ceded much
of its visa-issuing authority to the DHS under tightened
immigration laws enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington.

Under the regulation, U.S. diplomats will retain the right to
actually place a visa in an applicant's passport but applications
will have to be first vetted by homeland security agents wielding
broad powers over the process.

The procedure was outlined in an MOU signed on Sept. 29 by
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Homeland
Security Thomas J. Ridge. President George W. Bush then signed
off on the plan.

Under the rules, the DHS agents will review visa requests to
determine whether the applicant is a potential threat to the U.S.
and will decide on denial or rejection on those grounds.

The countries whose administrations have repeatedly provided
support for acts of international terrorism are the subjects of
the MOU.

Stanley Harsha, a press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta
said Washington "is still discussing possible implementation in
Indonesia".

"It is still being discussed whether the proposal to place
people at other U.S. embassies will be agreed," Harsha told the
Post.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country and faces
accusations of harboring a terrorist network linked to Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaeda.

The country has been rocked by a series of bomb attacks since
2000 with the climax taking place when two nightclubs on the
resort island of Bali were devastated by bombs on Oct. 12, 2002,
leaving 202 people dead, mostly foreigners,

Indonesia was among the countries affected by the U.S. post-
Sept. 11 attack immigration policy, which require all males of 16
years or over living in the U.S. to report regularly to local
immigration authorities.