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Indonesians hope for easier access to Australia
Indonesians and Australians, despite their geographical proximity, still do not understand each other very well, says I Made Andi Arsana, an Indonesian scholar from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), who spent nine years living in the land down under
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span>Indonesians and Australians, despite their geographical proximity, still do not understand each other very well, says I Made Andi Arsana, an Indonesian scholar from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), who spent nine years living in the land down under.
As neighbors, an acknowledgement of their importance to each other has come fairly recently, in the form of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which was fast-tracked by both sides amid warming ties.
One side of the relationship both countries are looking to improve is people-to-people connectivity, which officials — at least on the Indonesian side — insist could be immediately addressed by easing visa restrictions for Indonesians looking to travel to Australia.
During President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s visit to Australia earlier this week, visa reforms were one of the key issues raised in bilateral talks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Morrison said Australia was committed to streamlining and simplifying the visa application process for Indonesians, although he did not elaborate on what visa types would be affected.
Australia’s working holiday visa restrictions were the first to be eased as a concession to Indonesia, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi announced on Tuesday, with Canberra agreeing to increase its quota for Indonesian nationals from 1,000 at present to 4,100 in the first year of the implementation of the IA-CEPA, after which it will be gradually increased to 5,000.
The visa, one of the most popular among young Indonesians, is only available for tertiary educated people, aged 18 to 30, who want to travel and work for up to 12 months in Australia.
At an event commemorating 70 years of Indonesian-Australian diplomatic ties on Wednesday, Australia’s deputy chief of mission to Indonesia, Allaster Cox, reiterated the importance of developing stronger people-to-people relations and said the increase of the working holiday quota could provide more opportunities for young, aspiring Indonesians to travel to and work in Australia.
He said Australia was hopeful more Indonesian tourists would visit the country and would look into whether it was possible to make the process more efficient for the general Indonesian population.
The Foreign Ministry’s director for East Asia and the Pacific, Santo Darmosumarto, said that commitments to simplifying the visa requirements would be discussed further among relevant government agencies on both sides.
While the number of Indonesians visiting Australia has increased over the past four years, the figures pale in comparison to the number of tourists going in the opposite direction. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 221,300 Indonesians flew to Australia last year as of November, compared to the more than 1 million Australians who visit the archipelago every year.
Australia is already a popular destination for Indonesian students, who make up the third largest cohort of international students in the country.
But for others, the prospects of working in Australia are more attractive — and less infuriating — than the draw of visiting the country as a tourist.
For one, the easing of visa restrictions was something 21-year-old Lutfi Afansyah had been waiting to hear, after his tourist visa applications were rejected multiple times in 2018. “They said they were worried I would not return to Indonesia because I was traveling alone and had no dependents in Indonesia,” Lutfi said.
In addition to Australia’s strict border measures, Lutfi said that for students in particular, applying for an Australian visa was considered quite costly — around three times more expensive than applying for a similar visa to an Asian country.
Meanwhile, Tasril Permana Putra, 34, speaks from experience when he says that many Indonesians who have gotten a taste of the working holiday visa opt to extend their stay by applying for a student visa, which allows them to work 20 hours per week.
Part of the reason for this is because a person can only receive this visa once. “There’s no other choice. Most people who enjoy earning Australian dollars don’t want to return, and so the only way to remain in Australia is by studying,” he said.
But thanks to the many affordable universities in Australia, students can pay off their tuition by working even menial jobs, Tasril said.
After obtaining his working holiday visa in 2015, the South Sulawesi native worked as a dishwasher and cook in Melbourne’s lively cafe scene before moving on to Perth to work in a hotel as a bellboy. Tasrif said he was inspired to work abroad because of the many stories Western travelers told him when they couch-surfed at his place in Makassar.
“There was this French traveler who once said he had worked for two years and was able to travel for an entire year. In Indonesia, even if you work for years you’ll never be able to afford it,” he said.
After his visa expired, Tasril went backpacking in Iran, Georgia and Armenia.
Andi from UGM said a number of significant changes had been made to Australia’s visa policies in the past few years, noting the gradual improvement of the working holiday visa scheme.
With the expanded visa, he expressed hope that more Indonesians could pursue their own “Australian dream”. (tjs)
