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RI keeps watchful eye on foreign scientists
A strict enforcement of visa rules on foreign scientists in the past three years and a legal initiative to criminalize illegal foreign research could hamper scientific development in the country, local scientists have said
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A strict enforcement of visa rules on foreign scientists in the past three years and a legal initiative to criminalize illegal foreign research could hamper scientific development in the country, local scientists have said.
Since 2016, the government has required that foreign scientists acquire a permit and a “limited stay” visa to conduct research in the country, a policy that critics say practically serves as “red tape” that hinders the work of scientists.
The Immigration Office has denied entry to at least two renowned Australian scholars — Dave McRae of Melbourne University and Ross Tapsell of Australian National University —for alleged visa violations in the past three months.
“The researchers allegedly abused the tourist visa as it was not suitable for the purpose [of their visit],” Immigration Office spokesperson Sam Fernando told The Jakarta Post recently.
McRae and Tapsell, both regular commenters on Indonesian affairs, did not reply to the Post’s emails seeking their comments about the incidents.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Herry Yogaswara said the strict visa policy could discourage foreign researchers from conducting research in the country. “This will restrict the research network,” he said.
Gajah Mada University lecturer and researcher Bayu Dardias concurred, saying that “in the short and long term, [the policy] will have an impact because there is lot of research collaboration happening now”.
The 2016 regulation, issued by the Law and Human Rights Ministry, has made life more difficult for foreign scientists.
Science journal Nature reported last year that a number of scientists decided to cancel their plan to investigate the deadly tsunami in South Sulawesi after being told to get a research permit first.
The scientists told the international journal that it was critical that they reach the locations in the first few days after the tsunami to obtain the needed data, but the process to get the permit might take months.
A foreign researcher who wished to remain anonymous told the Post that the strict visa rules on foreign scientists ended up undermining science.
Time, according to the researcher, matters for scientists. “We are often totally dependent on scholarships, which are time limited as we only have a limited amount of time available to do research,” the researcher said. “Delay to research permits can mean months of scholarship money used unproductively.”
The researcher also complained about the inefficiency of management regarding foreign research permits, saying that “having to deliver letters in person to government departments at each administrative level rather than such a process being done automatically is a waste of time”.
It did not help that bureaucrats often failed to understand the initial research or what the research value was, the researcher said, adding that, “Decisions over permits should happen at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences [LIPI], where there is real expertise.”
The government has denied it is slowing down the permit process for foreigners, saying that it was only trying to protect national interests.
“The fact is that every year we grant research permits to 530 foreigners. The issuance of research permits is a selective policy, which means not everyone is allowed [to conduct research],” said Sri Wahyono, the official tasked with processing foreign research permit applications at the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry.
Muhammad Dimyati, the ministry’s director general for research and development, claimed that many foreign researchers used visas on arrival (VOAs).
“Before elections, a foreign researcher used a VOA and took many biodiverse samples [of animals] such as insects and spiders, so they were confiscated by the police for a few days,” he said.
In a further attempt to safeguard the nation’s biodiversity, the House of Representatives is currently drafting a bill on the national system of science and technology that will impose criminal charges against foreign scientists found guilty of violating visa regulations.
The bill states that anyone conducting “high-risk or dangerous studies” without a government permit could face two years in prison or a fine of up to Rp 2 billion (US$141,340). If the researcher causes damage to invaluable objects or harms or causes the death of people involved in experiments, they would be subject to criminal charges carrying a maximum prison term of seven years and a fine of between Rp 3 billion and Rp 7 billion.
The Indonesian Political Science Association (AIPI) criticized the bill, saying that the provisions, if passed into law, would be a threat to academic freedom and risk scientific development in the country.
LIPI’s Herry said the government needed to at least simplify the permit application process by removing nonacademic institutions including the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) from the Coordination Team on the Issuance of Foreign Research Permits (TKPIPA). (awa)
