Letter: Abolish tourism ministry

This is my comment on a news report titled "Airport operator reaffirms unpopular policy," (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 16, p. 8)

PT Angkasa Pura, like many of Indonesia's public services that use the people's money to provide public facilities, badly needs to start posting their accounts on an open access website, so all can see just how those billions of rupiah in domestic terminal-use taxes are used to keep the toilets clean and the PA (Public Address) systems working properly.

SBY should bring his family on a private holiday to Thailand and observe how the Thais achieve repeat business - where the same foreign guests keep returning, year after year. SBY could safely abolish his entire Culture and Tourism Ministry, including its minister and all the civil servants who work under him, without risk of harming Indonesia's tourism any more than it is now.

Indonesia's entire immigration policy is outdated. For decades, attempts to reform Indonesia's cumbersome and outmoded rules have been successfully resisted by those rent-seekers who pocket billions in illegal levies.

The entire department is beyond reform and should be temporarily privatized, the way that the Soeharto regime handed Customs goods inspection functions over the Swiss-based SGS Services back in the *80s. This would give enough time to replace the staff with a fresh team.

James Evans
Batam, Riau Islands