RIYADH, 16 September 2003 — The Indonesian government plans to impose visa restrictions on Saudi nationals, according to both Saudi and Indonesian sources.
The sources say that the Kingdom is not among the countries eligible for the visa-on-arrival facility. This facility is part of a major plan to revamp Indonesia’s visa policy and will take effect on Dec 1, 2003.
All Saudi and Gulf nationals, except citizens of the United Arab Emirates, will be required to apply for a visa if the new Indonesian government policy is implemented in its current form.
Asked about the Indonesian plan to impose visa restrictions, Mohammed Amin Rais, chairman of the Indonesian Supreme People’s Consultative Council, told Arab News, “Not only Saudi Arabia but there are also other countries whose citizens will be required to obtain visas. Once the new visa policy is implemented, problems will be solved by the two governments. If the impact creates many problems, then the Indonesian government, always very flexible, may scrap the new legislation.”
Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism I. Gede Ardika also said Jakarta planned to impose visa restrictions on some countries within the framework of the new policy.
But Consul Tumpal Martua at the Indonesian Embassy here said yesterday he had no knowledge of the plan.
According to an estimate, some 30,000 to 40,000 Saudis visit Indonesia every year. Asked about the impact of the new policy, Mahmood Qureshi of Attar Travel said that Indonesia’s plans to promote tourism in Saudi Arabia would be hampered as would its efforts to attract investors from the Kingdom and other Gulf states.
There are currently hundreds of projects open for investment in Indonesia.
These include projects in oil, tourism, hotels, real estate, forestry, mining and fisheries.
Growing interest in Indonesia by Saudi investors is reflected in the fact that the Kingdom was the 13th largest investor in Indonesia in 2001 when there were 23 joint ventures at a cost of SR11.3 billion.
A report published in the “Jakarta Post” explained the new policy and said that Indonesia was considering granting only 23 countries the visa-on-arrival facility.
Saudi Arabia, whose nationals currently enjoy this facility, was not among the 23. The countries included are the US, the UK, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, the UAE, Finland, Hungary, Australia, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Norway, France, Poland, Spain, Russia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Taiwan.
