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New procedure for foreign journalists and movie crew members introduced
The director general for Political Affairs and General Administration at the Home Affairs Ministry, Soedarmo, said on Tuesday that the government issued official documents on procedures for foreign journalists and movie crew members who want to work in Indonesia
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he director general for Political Affairs and General Administration at the Home Affairs Ministry, Soedarmo, said on Tuesday that the government issued official documents on procedures for foreign journalists and movie crew members who want to work in Indonesia.
First of all, he said, the journalists and movie crew members had to hold permits issued by the Coordinating
Team for Visiting Foreigners at the Foreign Affairs Ministry and also permits from the Directorate General for Political Affairs and General Administration at the Home Affairs Ministry.
The Coordinating Team for Visiting Foreigners is a task force coordinated by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Its members come from the State Intelligence Body (BIN), the National Police, immigration and other relevant institutions, he added.
'This procedure is applied to make the monitoring work easy,' Soedarmo was quoted by tempo.co as saying.
According to Soedarmo, if foreign journalists and movie crew members work in remote areas of the country, they also have to obtain permits from the National Unity and Politic Affairs Body, which is under local administration. In addition, while working they are required to show IDs officially issued by Indonesian representatives abroad.
The procedures are also applied to their local partners like activists of the foreign NGOs that have local representatives in Indonesia, he added.
Soedarmo said the reason for the introduction of the new procedure was that there were still many foreign journalists and foreign movie crew members who work in Indonesia only with general visas like a tourist visas.
'It is a form of protection for the state. We should be firm,' he added.
Previously, Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo had issued a circular No. 482.3/4439/SJ on the Adjustment Procedure for Visiting Journalists to Indonesia.
The circular has been distributed to all local governments across the country. (bbn)
