Walking home from a showing of “Zeitgeist, The Addendum” at the Yoga Barn on Monday night, my friend Tarra and I popped into an Indonesian version of a 7/11. Standing in full military regalia—a khaki green wool uniform with gold buttons and red medals topped off with a blue beret—was a young man who resembled the Indonesian version of a West Point cadet.
When we emerged from the 7/11 we encountered a whole platoon of fancily-clad military guys. Cops were everywhere. Barricades prevented traffic from moving in the direction of central Ubud. Small throngs of people, two or three deep, lined the tiny brick sidewalks. A cavalcade of dark sedans slowly made its way down Jalan Hanuman. From the open window in the back of one car, an elegant woman smiled and waved.
It turns out Tarra and I were standing a mere 10 feet away from the First Lady of Indonesia. The First Lady of Indonesia smiled and waved at us! Moments earlier her husband, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, had asked a group of Aussies who were clutching open beers in one hand and lit cigarettes in the other where they were from and if they were enjoying Bali.
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Today, when I tried to extend my Indonesian visa yet again, I had a momentary panic, the details of which I’ll spare you. But it did get me thinking. Pretty much the entire economy in Bali is dependent on tourists. Clearly they need us here. The only imaginable explanation for why the Indonesian government makes it so difficult to extend visas beyond 30 days is that they have a kick-back deal going with the airlines.
Indonesian tourists purchase a 30-day visa on arrival upon entering the country. That visa is renewable for an additional 30 days and an additional fee. After that, if you want to stay longer (legally), you must exit the country, get your passport stamped by another country and then reenter. There are other legal methods for obtaining visas for longer periods of time, but they entail forethought and planning. And I had no idea I was traveling to Indonesia until 2 weeks before I got here.
One possible way the Indonesian government could make more money from the visa situation without forcing tourists to leave and reenter: raise the cost of the visa and simultaneously increase the visa length to six months. I can’t possibly be the first person to think of this…
