Indonesia demands visa parity for travel

Rude, disrespectful and illegal foreigner conduct on the tourist island has become a preoccupation of Indonesian social media.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo. Picture: AFP

Visa-free travel to Bali is officially over with Indonesia announcing it will not reinstate the regime amid a push for reciprocal visa rights for its citizens and an ongoing furore over poor behaviour by foreigners in Bali.

Rude, disrespectful and illegal foreigner conduct on the tourist island has become a preoccupation of Indonesian social media where videos of tourists and expatriates behaving badly are uploaded on an almost daily basis.

The announcement comes less than a month before President Joko Widodo’s first official visit to Australia since January 2020 when he appealed to the then Morrison government to ease travel restrictions on Indonesians entering the country.

At the time, Australian tourists could enter Indonesia visa-free for 30 days but Indonesians had to pay a non-refundable $140 application fee for an Australian tourist visa and fill out a 17-page survey that included questions such as “Have you ever committed an act of genocide?”

As did many other nations, ­Indonesia suspended visa-free travel during the pandemic.

The government, however, now says only visitors from fellow ASEAN nations may sail through immigration, while citizens from 92 countries, including Australia, will instead qualify for a Rp500,000 ($50) visa-on-arrival, or online VOA.

The Immigration Director-General, Silmy Karim, this week said Indonesia would consider reinstating visa-free access on a country-by-country basis, depending on a nation’s willingness to extend the same privilege to Indonesian citizens. “If the visa-free policy is revived, we will have to justify it by reviewing these three criteria; a reciprocal aspect, benefits to Indonesia and security considerations,” Mr Karim said.

Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno, who is expected to contest next February’s elections as a vice-presidential candidate, on Monday said the government had learned from the pandemic that it was not necessary to offer a visa-free system to attract tourists. Mr Uno, who in recent months has highlighted foreigner bad behaviour in Bali, said the government was finalising new visa rules to encourage “quality” tourist visits.

“There has been no significant impact on tourism. As of today, we have received 8.5 million foreign visits (this year), even without (visa-free) from these 159 countries,” he said.

“We have not reactivated the visa-free regime. It will be replaced with a better policy.”

Mr Uno recently instructed Bali immigration officials to start handing out a list of “dos and don’ts” to arriving tourists, including showing respect for religious symbols and places, dressing modestly, behaving politely and being accompanied by a guide at tourist attractions.

The tourism ministry has also launched an online chat board where tourists can be reported for violating those rules. That has been running hot amid a post-pandemic wave of foreigner fatigue in Bali fed by a constant diet of videos depicting tourists and expatriates acting up.

In recent weeks videos filmed by onlookers have featured a German woman walking naked through a Hindu dance ceremony, an American man begging at street lights and an Australian female motorcyclist pulled over for not wearing a helmet berating a police officer.

While Bali governor Wayan Koster has previously blamed Russian tourists and longer-stay visitors for the trend, Australians have featured in complaints.

This year, 158 foreigners have been deported for violations of Balinese laws and customs. Eight of those were Australian.