Visa-on-arrival policy

Visa-on-arrival policy

I read the book A year of living dangerously
three years ago when my wife and I retired and moved to Lombok.
We wanted to learn more about Indonesia's history. I will always
remember the part where the people of Lombok were hit by a bad
famine, with thousands in the south of the island dying of
starvation. The government in Jakarta did nothing as "they did
not care for the people of Lombok".

Famine is a natural disaster, an act of God, an event us mere
mortals are unable to control.

However, omitting Lombok from the new visa-on-arrival policy
is a deliberate act, which will damage Lombok's second major
industry, tourism. This will have the effect of taking food from
the mouths of Lombok's inhabitants. It will have the same effect
as the famine all those years ago... But this time the problem
has been instigated by the government of Indonesia.

Tourism in Lombok has already endured enough with 9/11, the
Bali bombings, war in Iraq and then SARS. With hotels such as The
Holiday Inn only having 26 percent occupancy in 2003, who in
Lombok needs this shortsightedness from Jakarta?

Immigration officers in Lombok have always been polite,
helpful and fair to us both over the past three years and are
more than capable of dealing with the new visa policy at Mataram
airport. Will the government please review this most unfair and
potentially catastrophic policy?

L.T.G. HUGHES
Kerandangan, Lombok
NTB