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Top legislative body speaker calls for evaluation of free-visa policy
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People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan (left) and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri wave their hands after attending an event in Jakarta on Aug. 16. (The Jakarta Post/Wendra Ajistyatama)
P
eople’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan has called on the government to evaluate its free-visa policy for tourists, following reports of an influx of Chinese workers to the country.
After speaking in a discussion at Muhammadiyah University in Purworejo, Central Java, on Monday, Zulkifli said the free-visa policy was not a decisive factor in boosting the arrival of foreign tourists.
Previously, Vice President Jusuf Kalla made a similar statement, expressing his concern that the free-visa policy given to citizens from 169 countries could be misused by foreign tourists to work illegally in the country, kompas.com reported.
Zulkifli stressed that the main factor to boost tourist arrivals was improving services and infrastructure in the tourist industry, not by introducing a free-visa policy. “So, a free-visa policy is not important to boost the number of tourists,” he added.
(Read also: Jokowi dismisses concerns over Chinese workers in Indonesia)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has expressed concern over rumors of an influx of foreign workers to the country spread through the internet. He said it was illogical that the number of Chinese workers was as high as 10 million, as rumored, because that number was far above the number of Indonesian workers in Malaysia, which only reached 2 million.
He said there were only 21,000 Chinese people working in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, former House of Representatives speaker Ade Komarudin has called on the government to investigation the report of an influx of foreign workers. (bbn)
