Media has reported that the Indonesian finance minister ohas issued a regulation stipulating that import duties will be applied on goods brought into the country by passengers, air crew, border crossers and mailed parcels effective Jan 1, 2011.
It remains unclear how customs officer will handle tourist visitors traveling with personal effects in excess of these limits with the intention of re-exporting the items out of Indonesia at the end of their stay. This is especially worrisome as many travelers carry personal jewelry, cameras, personal computers and cell phones that easily exceed the relatively small stipulated values.
With regard to the above regulations, what is the government doing? They are certainly killing the tourism sector of Indonesia. Nowadays traveling individuals, whether they are businessmen, students, housewives, or children who are not even in their teens yet, all carry laptops worth at least US$300.
I wear a gold watch which I inherited from my grandmother. If I travel outside Indonesia and return, do I have to pay import duties? My three-year-old suitcase is already worth over $300. Do I have to pay import duties? I bought decent leather shoes in Holland worth $350 to protect my feet from icy cold weather conditions because I happened to be there in winter. Do I have to pay import duties for this? I cannot wear open sandals there, I would soon be suffering from frostbite!
What about expensive chocolates which we were given as presents, my whole suitcase was full of presents given to me by friends and my husband’s relatives because I happen to celebrate my birthday in Europe. Do I have to pay import duties on that? The minister of finance has gone absolutely bonkers.
They should instead concentrate on companies importing containers full of contraband, harbor officials who are paid off, causing the government billions of rupiah every day. Why not concentrate on those issues?
Expensive liquors and wines are smuggled into Indonesia because of ridiculous regulations imposed by the government benefiting certain individuals only but causing substantial financial losses to the government. Change these preposterous regulations and hand out licenses to reliable companies to deal with importation of the said goods. The list of erroneous regulations imposed by the government is far too long. Deal with these first before issuing yet another erroneous and ridiculous law.
And how do we prove that the items that we are carrying are old personal stuff? Will the customs officials check each item in our suitcase? I will really object if they touch my underwear.
Europeans wear clothing in accordance with weather conditions in the country of their origin which generally are expensive woolens, thick cottons or linen.
Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Java
