The Finance Minister has announced plans to slap a US$500 limit on the value of goods Indonesians can bring home after traveling overseas. Anything above that, you pay 10 percent of the value.

This is actually double the current limit of $250, but as most travelers know, this has not been strictly enforced, if at all. With the new higher limit, the government purse keeper intends to make sure that it is applied.

Better watch out for customs’ tentacles when this new regulation comes into force. Forget about bribing your way though. The Customs and Excise Agency’s head, Heru Pambudi, was awarded the Bung Hatta Anti-Corruption Award (BHACA) in December.

If Sri Mulyani had not been such a popular and likable figure (she is the 2008 BHACA recipient), someone would surely have filed a complaint with the National Commission for Human Rights that a most basic right is being trampled on by her new policy of low tolerance to shopaholics.

One would only wish Indonesian shoppers are as powerful as the anti-gun control lobby in America that sees owning a gun as a human right. They probably should form an association to lobby for their freedom to shop.

When the policy was announced in December, it triggered a debate, or more like a fierce chit-chat, among shopaholics. Reading it on social media, they make it sound like the world is crashing down on them. They feel the policy would inconvenience them so much that some of the discussions veered into how to beat the system, other than bribes of course.

Sri Muyani’s defenders would point out that the new customs policy is generous compared to neighboring Malaysia and Thailand, which apparently set lower limits.

This is Indonesia, the nation that likes to boast about having better human rights records than all of our neighbors. Shopping is a passion for Indonesians — more so than most other nations — and thus a basic right that should be protected.

Shopkeepers in tourist areas almost anywhere in the world would attest to this as more and more Indonesians are developing a taste for vacationing abroad and spending their hard-earned money buying goods abroad.

Bahasa Indonesia is now spoken in many tourist destinations, from Beijing to Sydney, Mecca and Cairo, Amman and even Jerusalem. At least, they can say murah (cheap), bagus (good), duapuluh (20) and duaratus (200).

At a Chinese mall, some were heard to scream gila (crazy) when Indonesian shoppers drove them crazy for driving a hard bargain. Give it time, Indonesian will be spoken in Europe and North America.

Sri Mulyani may be pleased to know that the rupiah has become an international currency of sort, at least at these favorite tourist spots, albeit at very unfavorable exchange rates. Indonesian shoppers are helping her making the rupiah an international legal tender. No need to say thank you. Just raise the limit, and they will be fine.

It is not only the cheapo shopping that makes Indonesians so welcome abroad. Stores selling branded and high-end products found insatiable Indonesian customers even more lavish in their spending.

Don’t be baffled by the fact that most of the goods Indonesians buy abroad are available at home. If you know your way around in Jakarta, you get even better prices than in Singapore or Beijing. For electronics, you will get a local warranty rather than having to send your stuff to Singapore as in the past when something needs fixing. 

When it comes to fashion, Jakarta and Bali are not all that far behind the world fashion capitals. The iPhone X became available in Jakarta stores in December, barely a month after the official US launch, instead of six months or more as in the past.

What drives Indonesians on shopping sprees abroad is not so much the price or products, but the tradition of having to bring oleh-oleh (gifts) for folks back home. This has become an obligation no Indonesian can escape. And as most Indonesians, even the middle class, have extended families this explains why many Indonesians traveling abroad leave with one suitcase and return with two.

Understandably, Sri Mulyani was not targeting shopaholics when she imposed the $500 limit. The policy is aimed at stopping smuggling through customs. She had probably heard from close friends and relatives that the current $250 is too low that she decided to double it.

But to most, at least from conversations on social media, $500 would still not cut it — not with the obligatory oleh-oleh that these poor travelers are obliged to bring their folks back home.

If calling it a human right is a little too far, shopping is certainly a cultural right.

And if she goes ahead with the policy, travelers know who to blame for not bringing the oleh-oleh.

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