T

his letter refers to an article titled '€œNew visa policy to aid rupiah,'€ (The Jakarta Post, March 17, p1).

It will have a huge impact on tourism in the next three to 10 years, especially if President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo follows through with restoring the two-month visa that existed during the Soeharto period.

Many readers don'€™t put this in historical perspective. It'€™s a very good move, but too little too late. What many of our younger Indonesian and younger expats don'€™t realize is that during the 1980 and 1990s, almost all citizens of western Europe, Canada, the US, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand had two-month visa-free access to Indonesia.

In 2003 (during former president Megawati Soekarnoputri'€™s term) they introduced the one-month visa on arrival.  They never reverted back to the Soeharto-era two-month visa, even after the Bali bombing.

In fact, Indonesia should go even a step further than what they did during the Soeharto period and provide a three-to-four-month renewable visa for all countries. The one-month visa is not enough.

Why did Indonesia during the Soeharto period have two-month visas? Because Indonesia'€™s infrastructure and air transportation were much worse than they are now. Flights were expensive: So many backpackers often took ferries and buses. The system was designed for backpackers. A longer visa term helped promote travel to the outer islands.

I will give you an example. The Gilis in Lombok, 30 years ago were a backpacker destination.  There were no hotels, only guest houses. It will have little impact on the current account balance, but Jokowi is using this '€œcrisis'€ to get something passed he might not have been able to pass.

Weilim
Jakarta