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any Indonesians have been puzzled on learning that their visa applications were rejected by the United States because they were unable to find out why.

Some have suggested the refusals could have been because applicants' names were too "Arabic". Indonesia is a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, and consequently many of its citizens' names are Arabic.

A number of Indonesian journalists were denied US visas when the Indonesian delegation, led by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was to attend a G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, last September.

"It felt strange. How come I did not get the visa, when I have already been to America three times and *last September* I was part of the President's entourage?" Seputar Indonesia editor-in-chief Sururi Alfaruq told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Sururi said he had learned of the rejection from the office of the Indonesian State Secretary, which had helped him and the rest of the Indonesian journalists in efforts to get the visas.

However, he received no clear information on the refusal from either the Indonesian officials or the US Embassy.

On learning of the denial and without being issued with an official notice, Sururi submitted a personal complaint to the US Embassy.

"When I complained with the US consulate here, the only answer I got was that it was up to the US Ministry of Defense to decide, not *the US mission* here, and they only processed the documents here and sent all the information *to Washington DC*," Sururi said.

Only later he learned that a number of officials and military generals who were supposed to join the President's entourage had also been rejected.

Panca Hari Prabowo, an Antara state news agency journalist, who was also meant to attend the G20 Summit, said initially he thought he had been denied the visa without explanation.

"But later I learned that my application had in fact been approved *a while after my colleagues who were also part of the delegation*," he told the Post.

"But it was too late *because the Indonesian delegation had already left*," he said, adding that he never received an official notice on the delayed processing of his visa.

Panca said he had submitted all the documents requested.

In response to public complaints regarding its visa application procedures, US Department of State consul general Jeffrey Tunis said all visa applications were handled in accordance with procedures, and that there had never been any discrimination.

"We discriminate against criminals, terrorists and people who have violated our law," Jeffery told Indonesian reporters after a presentation titled "The Truth about United States visas" at the US Embassy on Wednesday.

"We do not discriminate by religion, name, gender, dress or lifestyle. Eighty percent of Indonesian visa applicants get visas, and most of those applicants are *Muslim*."

Tunis also said the US Embassy always informed visa applicants when their applications were declined, and provided reasons.

"We always tell them what the reasons are for the decision *to reject* their application ... We tell people as clearly as we can," he said.

But he refused to disclose the reasons behind the denial of visas to several Indonesian generals.

Last year, former Defense Ministry secretary-general Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and Maj. Gen. Pramono Edi Wibowo, then commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus), were denied visas. The issue sparked protest from lawmakers and officials.

A number of generals are believed to have been banned from entering the US due to their alleged involvement in human rights abuses.

Poor human rights records were spotted in Papua, Aceh and East Timor, prompting the US to impose an arms embargo in the 1990s. Human rights violations also colored the bloody May 1998 riots.

The embargo was waived in 2005.

Tunis also refused to explain why Indonesian tycoon James Riady was granted a visa last year after an eight-year ban on him, after he had pleaded guilty in 2001 to a "conspiracy to defraud the United States" through illegal contributions to Bill Clinton's campaigns and other Democrats.

"He applied under the law and his application was considered. And the appropriate officers in Washington granted him a visa," he said.

"But I cannot discuss further his situation because that information is protected by our privacy laws."