While I agree with By Michael Beer of Denpasar (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 22) at his letter titled "VoA: An embarrassment," that the visa-on-arrival (VoA) system has several shortcomings and should be improved to facilitate access for different types foreign tourists (including stays shorter than a week and longer than two months), I do not understand endless stream of complaints about it.
It is usually possible to apply for two-month visa in a country of residence and it is not too complicated.
At least Indonesian representatives abroad are friendlier than, say, Indian ones.
Would you complain about procedures to enter India? Indonesia is an easy target here and I feel I should defend it. Here in Prague, we have VoA since June 2007 and we certainly welcome it, for four-eight week stays/trips, we can still pick up a visa in the embassy (just don't mention Papua or Maluku, some old travel bans linger on for years!).
At least the regulations are reasonably clear.
When my Indonesian wife, a permanent resident of Schengen visa-free zone, wants to enter the UK for a weekend family trip, we might be refused.
Recently, a friend had a shocking experience with the UK Embassy, the poor Indonesian lady was refused even one-day visa for an overnight stay while waiting for a connecting plane in Heathrow - she had to camp there on a bench with an one-year old baby.
And the Canadian government have recently reintroduced visa for Czech citizens - annoying things happen even in countries other than Indonesia!
To conclude, I would recommend to the Indonesian authorities to extend VoA to full two months and give the travelers an option to apply for 120-day visa in the Indonesian embassies abroad as was once proposed by then-vice president Jusuf Kalla.
Martin
Prague
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