Comments: City nets expats

The Jakarta Post   |  Thu, 01/15/2009 11:34 AM  |  Reader's Forum

Jan. 9, p.  3

Yeah, anger the expatriates, company bosses and cause more trouble and make it more trouble to do business here. That’s the smart Indonesian way. The economy is going nowhere and Indonesia’s doing its best to make more trouble and rules. Corruption rules!

KEVIN C

Dear Kevin, your comment is crazy. If you want to work and earn money in a foreign country, you need to have the legal documents. That is the case in all countries all over the world. It is true Indonesia is a very corrupt country but they are improving. If you have good intentions to work here, just get all the documents. That’s easy!

VOLKER

If following the law and doing the right thing is a hassle for foreign companies and expatriates doing business and living in Indonesia, then they need to reassess why they are here and doing what they do.

All countries have strict immigration and working requirements. Why should Indonesia be any different? Australia, for example, processes illegal immigrants and workers through detention facilities and then deports them once a determination on their illegal presence is made.

The level of bureaucracy and the number of different places to report and register lends itself to abuses and corruption, but this is a separate and distinct issue from the legitimacy in terms of the need for the rules. When it is all said and done, this is the system and as foreigners/expatriates it is the system with which we have to comply: Get used to it and deal with it.

ROB BAITON

You should follow all the rules of the country where you want to work. If not, you better leave the country. That’s fair. You have your own rules in your country, as do we here. That’s the way to respect others and it’s a good government improvement.

HEMAG

New school hours

Jan. 6, p. 2

Why don’t they do the feasibility studies before they implement the plan? That shows how professional these people are. It is like trial and error to them and the students are the guinea pigs.

VINIE

Why not try to get schools to manage school buses or collective transportation?

TASYA COOL

 

Jakarta and Indonesia could benefit greatly by a massive stimulus/overhaul of the transportation system.  Using the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the US as a model, the Indonesian economy could step up to the next level by allowing transportation to drive transactions. Imagine being able to drive from Jakarta to Surabaya and back without stopping at one light!

MORGAN

I am a teacher too. I think the hours don’t matter because it will improve the students’ discipline. The problem now is with our transportation.

UTSMAN

It sounds like the cure is worse than the disease. The traffic in Jakarta is bad. But does forcing kids to go to school earlier, and potentially burdening business with the additional costs with mandating working hours, really make things better?

Until you have clean efficient public transit as an alternative, you will not get people out of their cars. We have new busways with no buses. We have a rail system that is underutilized and trains that are in such bad repair that people would rather sit in traffic in their car for two hours than be packed like cattle for a 30-minute train ride. Until you give people a good reason to change they won’t.

CALLUM

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Kim dub (not verified) — Fri, 01/16/2009 - 4:32pm

Name a problem and it seems Indonesia goes about fixing it the totally wrong way. Visa on demand is not a bad idea, but the implementation is terrible. When this country is begging for tourists, to make them wait hours or more in line and then only give them 30 days almost guaranties that tourist will never return.

A tax on anyone to leave a country is a bad idea, but to put such a heavy tax on retired people who no longer have an income is just inviting them to move to a country that appreciates the contribution they will make to a consumer economy. And all these taxpayers that signed up to get their tax permit, what is the mechanism that they will pay future taxes? I have seen nothing that shows how any future taxes will be collected from them.

A good pornographic law is needed in any society to protect women and children, but a law that seems to only blame women and to put the onus only om them to "behave" is just making excuses for men who can't control themselves and for groups to use mob justice.

Some rain and more floods, but I never see any real programs to educate the citizens to not throw trash in the streets or rivers. So the city will remain a lake when it rains. But I was sure glad to hear the authorities say the garbage would soon be cleaned up. Nothing better than action after the fact.

Tourism could be the number one industry of Indonesia, but I will predict in this first month of the new year that Indonesia will rank far behind Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Thailand with all its current political problems. Isn't there anyone out there who wants to recognize the obvious problems in the tourist industry and start to take control and fix the problems? Just improving tourism to a level of neighboring countries would produce more jobs and tax revenues than most people can imagine and with those tax revenues, other problems of the country can be addressed.

And corruption? It will be a long hard struggle, as it seems to be built into the DNA of every Indonesian. I would suggest there are very few who wouldn't pay a small bribe to a policeman to avoid a traffic ticket. But those caught and convicted should get much more than the slap on the wrist penalties I see meted out. Twenty or Thirty years would be much more appropriate than the two to five years I usually see. And the ones giving the bribes should receive equal justice, and companies should be barred from doing any further business in the country.

The lawmakers and leaders should think through the decisions they make rather than trying to provide a quick fix without really thinking of all the consequences. But that takes an educated public and leaders who really care about the country rather than how much money they can take and if they can get reelected.

Kim.... Malang

A.R.Tauran (not verified) — Fri, 01/16/2009 - 12:51pm

Illegal immigrants, should be deported if they cannot support themselves. They are only a burden to society. Wealthy illegal immigrants can stay provided they pay a fine for not possessing the necessary permits. In this way they can contribute to the wealth of the country, and also they spend their money in this country, which is beneficial to the country. Those foreigners complaining about corruption in this country forget about the taxes they pay in their own country, while they pay only a fraction of that in this country. Just consider the corruption fee as a VAT or better NVAT (No Value Added Tax). That will sound better in their foreign ears, than that terrible word 'corruption'.

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