Why we need changes in RI's visa policy

Junita Sitorus, Directorate General of Immigration, Jakarta, junita_st@yahoo.com

A parade of reactions against the new visa policy released by the government on March 31 were recently published in The Jakarta Post and other media.

Proposals to revise (not to revoke) visa-free-entries were initiated by the administration of then president Abdurrahman Wahid in December 1999. Since then, the proposal for revision was followed up by the Directorate General of Immigration. Criticism was raised particularly by the tourism industry and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. While arguments against the policy were disseminated widely, the government thesis to revise the visa policy was not well communicated.

How far does the policy really amount to the government "shooting itself in the foot", or killing tourism?

Presidential Decree No.15/1983, followed by a decree of the Ministry of Justice, which was amended up to 13 times by 1999, led to the policy granting nationals from 48 countries visa-free entry to Indonesia for holidays or business meetings. After 10 years, immigration authorities concluded the policy needed revision for a number of reasons.

Data compiled by immigration reveals that most visa-free entries were abused by foreigners. The offenders are mostly working, overstaying or have committed criminal offenses. Such data usually only reflects a third of actual offenses.

How about immigration's capacity to execute surveillance of foreigners in Indonesia? Ten years ago the policy of visa-free, short-term visits (BVKS) was designed to lure the maximum number of foreign tourists to visit the country. Later on it was revealed that no prior feasibility study had been made on immigration's readiness to survey the inflow of foreigners, particularly those becoming illegal aliens.

The authorities lacked human resources, financial support and sophisticated equipment. The visa-free-entrants were permitted to enter and exit from the country through all immigration checkpoints in the absence of online networks at checkpoints. To check foreigners' activities during a 60-day stay requires overwhelming efforts beyond immigration's existing capacity.

The commonly detected practice is that of a holder of a visa- free-entry alien, actually working with that 60-day stay permit, who departs to Singapore or Johor Baru on the 59th day to get another 60-day visa and so on. Most are working as foreign language teachers, consultants, sales persons, tour guides or commercial sexual workers.

Expatriates are only legally permitted to work if they have rare skills, are investors, top executives or are employed in other listed areas.

Expatriates here have often been paid higher than his/her local counterparts with the same quality of skills. How much have we lost in paying for their salaries, income tax, exit levies, and visa revenue? And how much unemployment has been caused by these stolen jobs in the past 10 years?

Immigration authorities, helped by the police, have proven also that the visa-free-entries are often used to commit criminal acts, like drug trafficking, which are very difficult to suppress.

Other criminal acts by those abusing visa-free entries so far have been involved in riots, rallies, activities supporting separatism like in Aceh and Papua, international terrorism, and other transnational organized crimes.

Under Abdurrahman's presidency, Indonesia opened its doors widely for Chinese holidaymakers. This led to a boom of tourists from China. Yet most turned out to be smugglers for merchandise from the Chinese mainland, who were arrested for violation of immigration rules. Again, in the bid to lure foreign exchange, this policy to welcome tourists proved to be immature.

The revision of the visa policy has not been made without considerations of its impact on the tourism industry. Observations have found no significant correlation between the visa free entry and foreign tourist inflows.

When tourists were asked, "What attracts you to spend your holiday in Indonesia?" -- the free-visa entry never featured as the first, second or third answer.

The majority of answers to the question "what stops you from spending your holiday in Indonesia?" referred to the domestic security problems.

Given that data from the tourism industry shows that the average stay of foreign tourists in Indonesia is only 14 days, there is the potential for abusing the visa among those who stay for the remaining 46 days.

Most foreigners coming into the country, or 85 percent, hold visa-free entries, according to data from Immigration Traffic; in Bali the figure reaches 95 percent. With no significant correlation between visa policy and the volume of genuine tourist inflow, how many billions of dollars have been wasted in the last 10 years?

Despite strong opposition, the government decision to revise the visa-free policy was appropriate. Tourists who really aim to enjoy Indonesia's nature and culture would not mind paying visa fees of US$40 to $50 at the airport. In immigration entry processing, the visa-free and visa-on-arrival are the same in procedure. Just pack your things and go to the airport with your valid passport!

The urgent matter now is perhaps improving the immigration service at the airport. This following visa-on-arrival service should not be bureaucratic, difficult, stupid, corrupt or create long queues at the airport.

It is clear now that the problem behind the policy of visa- free-revision and to lure foreign visitors to the country is not as simple as offering candy at the airport, as Stefan Reisner wrote in The Jakarta Post.