A Dissatisfied Tourist: Indonesia

For a tourist this means that before you reach an interesting place, building or any other attraction you have to climb first over a mountain of rubbish before arriving at the place you want to see.

Then there are the immigration procedures. Before I departed to Indonesia I had to visit the Indonesian Embassy to apply for a visa. The procedure took 14 days and I had to supply them with: A filled-in form with all the information regarding my person, a copy of my income, a copy of my insurance, a copy of my booking or flight ticket, an invitation letter from a sponsor, and a copy of their identity card (KTP) of the sponsor etc. Thus after I received my visa the authorities should be completely informed about everything concerning my person.

In the airplane I had to fill in another document with almost the same details. After 60 days I had to extend my visa by the emigration office in the city of my sponsor, which stopped me traveling around for longer than four weeks. Then I had to fill in the same information but on four different documents.

By the second extension I had to give them fingerprints from both hands two times and give them two passport pictures. When you hand over the necessary documents they tell you to come back after a few days. I thought they needed the time to do their work but my thinking was completely wrong. The moment I came to pick up my passport the officials started their work and I had to wait until they finished – normally about two or three hours.

After two extensions I do not only have to go to the immigration office but also to Bandung, which cost me another day.

In Bandung I had to give officials a letter which I had received from the immigration office. From them I got another letter that I had to give to the immigration office in the city I was staying in.
With the new ministry for eradicating unnecessary bureaucracy I expected less documentation in my application process. However, the opposite was the reality.