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

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.