U.S. visa policy could intensify anti-U.S. feeling

Kurniawan Hari The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The United States government's policy of deploying special agents to oversee visa operations at U.S. embassies and consulates in five Muslim nations, including Indonesia, could intensify anti- American sentiment, legislators said here.

The legislators admitted, however, that U.S. visa policy was Washington's prerogative.

"We understand that the U.S. has tightened security after the Sept. 11. But, they should not overreact," said the House's foreign affairs commission deputy chairman Amris Hassan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Fellow legislator Hajriyanto Y. Thohari of Golkar asserted the new policy would only tarnish the U.S. image as a model of democracy, freedom, and prosperity.

They were commenting on the U.S. plan to station agents in U.S. embassies and consulates in Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates after having already placed such 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 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) processed and the presence of members of al-Qaeda and other groups hostile to the U.S. on their territory or in neighboring countries.

Hajriyanto said the policy, which specifically targeted Muslim countries, would only bolster anti-America feelings among the people of these countries.

Separately, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said the new policy should prompt Indonesian Muslims to prove that they are moderate.

"It is the right of the U.S. government. Let's just supply them with evidence that we, Indonesian Muslims, are moderate, and far from what they (the Americans) think of us," he added.

The fact that there were some hard-liners, Akbar said, was a normal thing.

The new U.S. policy 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 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC.

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

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

Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Wednesday that U.S. Embassy officials had not informed the Indonesian government about the plan.

Amris said that the legislators would urge the government to seek detailed information on the new policy from the Americans.