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So what is this Police Certificate anyways?

In Indonesia, it is called Surat Tanda Melapor, better known as a Certificate of Police Registration which concerns any foreigner (tourist, visitor, resident, guest of resident, etc), though the foreigner himself is not forced to apply in person. This is a report to the police that states where a foreigner is living and for how long.

The regulation Chapter 10, Peraturan Pemerintah nomor 31 tahun 1994 says,

Setiap orang yang memberikan kesempatan orang asing menginap di tempat kediamannya wajib melaporkan kepada Kantor Kepolisian Republik Indonesia atau Pejabat Pemerintah Daerah setempat dalam jangka waktu 24 (dua puluh empat jam) sejak tanggal kedatangan orang asing tersebut.

Anyone who accommodates a foreigner is obligated to report to the local police office within 24 hours of the guest’s arrival.

This means that the person who gives the foreigner/s shelter (hotel, wife, friend, etc) has to report your residence within 24 hours after your arrival. Here there is no notion of type or duration of stay. The person who provides you accommodation reports to the police. This is a report about one person, giving shelter to a foreigner, to the police. This is not in any way an authorization asking to shelter someone to a particular date. This just means that you don’t have to be reported again as long as you don’t change your address. However, if one forgets to report your residence after 24 hours after your arrival, that person will receive the penalties listed in the Capter 60, undang undang nomor 9 tahun 1992:

Setiap orang yang memberi kesempatan menginap kepada orang asing dan tidak melaporkan kepada Pejabat Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia atau Pejabat Pemerintah Daerah setempat yang berwenang dalam 24 (dua puluh empat) jam sejak kedatangan orang asing tersebut, dipidana dengan pidana kurungan paling lama 1 (satu) tahun atau denda paling banyak Rp 5.000.000,- (lima juta rupiah).

Penalty is 1 year imprisonment or penalty fee of Rp.5,000,000.

None of the two laws quoted tie the length of the STM to the length of an Ijin Tinggal or Ijin Kunjungan. It is submitted to the length of stay reported. What some crooked police officials may try is to make you believe that the article 61 UU 9/1992 concerns STM and that you have to report every 30 days. This is totally not true. Article 61 concerns people with an Ijin Tinggal (residence visa), not those on a visit visa (Ijin Kunjungan).

To summarize:

- If you are a KITAS/KITAP holder (resident visa), report to the police for SKLD (30 days maximum after the issuance of your Ijin Tinggal) and report any change in your residency within 7 days of its occurrence. Make sure that the person who provides you accommodation (even if it your wife/son or whoever in the family) reports you within the 24 hours and has an STM remitted. You need to do it again only if you change to a new accommodation.

- If you are holder of an Ijin Kunjungan or VoA (visit visa), you are only concerned by the STM in the conditions defined above.

and in response I have received some great pictures of areas I have never even heard of.

Here are the pictures and the names of the areas alongside the Twitter accounts or websites of those who have provided me with them:

North Celebes Province. Where Bunaken is
Courtesty of iFairchild

Sunset in Gangga Island, North Sulawesi by EthnicGirl

Graceful Prambanan by @luthfianya

Santolo, Garut by @mrsnyamnyam

Nusa Tenggara Timur by The Best Photographer in Indonesia

Kakaban by @gitzgitz

Gunung Kerinci by @aquanakmama

Pulau Penyu (Turtle Island), Bali by @adistyanggraini

Indonesian food was nominated as well, I myself like Sate.

Kawah Putih, Ciwidey, Bandung

Airplane headed for Bali from Bisnis Ticketing

Kelor island

a dragon posing on Komodo Island, West Flores, Indonesia
by GOKOMODO

What has Obama accomplished to deserve the statue in Jakarta?

Indri_ZS

@indonesiatogo #obamastatue is ridiculous pathetic idea. shame on indonesia as a nation,who can’t appreciate their own Hero.

nanavoila

@indonesiatogo yea, and he was just a kid, wasn’t he? Indonesians are too exaggerating things about Obama, I think. Hehehe…

alveta

@indonesiatogo like n dislike has nothing to do with it. beneficial? maybe.

susanholic

Yes,i don’t get it either (via@BenyYusron) RT @indonesiatogo:Question number 2:What has Obama accomplished to deserve the statue in Jakarta?

avigayildamm

@indonesiatogo @elishevadpw Yep, agree. What is the point of #obamastatue anyway? His nobel prize has nothing to do with having lived in ID

elishevadpw

#obamastatue @indonesiatogo @avigayildamm I bet Obama might not have even liked it here in Indo but now he has a statue here. Pathetic!

BenyYusron

Nothing at all RT @indonesiatogo: Question number 2: What has Obama accomplished to deserve the statue in Jakarta?

BenyYusron

Send 30000 more troops to Afghanistan RT @indonesiatogo: Question number 2: Wha

phemaw

RT @mrsnyamnyam: and for 2nd question @indonesiatogo, obama? its much better to build Soekarno or another Indonesian patriot/hero’s statue.

As you can see, overwhelming responses like:

NessaParamitha

@indonesiatogo nothing really. Maybe it’s a symbol that Indonesia longing for a leader like him. re: obama statue

Then finally I got the first positive one:

dear_connie

@indonesiatogo Personally, I rly don’t mind w that. I find Obama is inspiring, not just to Americans. Everyone deserves & can b a President.

I like that one. I mean, I think that Obama is a terrible choice to have as a President or a statue. But it shows our longing to connect and be a part of something important. Who cares that he spent 6 years as a child here. When the election was going on, Indonesians kept saying “We won! We Won!”
Newsflash: you won nothing. Obama won, you didn’t get anything out of it. You fell for the political game like every American who believed in “Yes we can!” over economical mathematics. Gimme a break, Indonesia.

If you copy something from another nation, that is good. All nations do. But please copy the positive. Do not copy the negative. Learn from it and prevent it.

God knows that there is more than enough to go around.

Mike Dammann
Indonesia To Go

If you are looking to stay longer than just a few weeks holiday, in order to find business opportunities, exporting opportunities, language studies and cultural exchanges and so on, you could apply for a social cultural visa from your home country. The visa is known as “Visa Sosial Budaya” and you will have to give yourself at least 3 working days before your visa can be approved. If approved, you will receive a visa for 60 days that can be extended every month up to 6 months.

Find the consulate or embassy of Indonesia in your own home country and see if they can issue a social cultural visa. People usually have a hard time finding one through the internet because they would type the wrong keyword into the search engine. You would naturally type “Indonesian embassy in (your city)” but the correct keyword would be “KBRI in (your city). KBRI stands for Kedutaan Besar Republik Indonesia which is the Indonesian term for Indonesian embassy.

The application fee would be $45 and it will take about 3 working days to get approval. However, if you are in a hurry or your budget is tight, you can easily just fly to Singapore and apply there. With the help of Mr. Gan in Singapore (+6596158622) you will be able to get your visa in 1 day. You will need to have a sponsor (who can be a friend or a family or a company) and your sponsor will have to write a sponsorship letter that states you have been invited by them, and your stay and expenses will be their responsibilities. Ask your sponsor to give you a copy of their National ID card (KTP) or their passport.

One of the news articles I have been reading stated that after the funeral of the suspected terrorists involved in the network, the attendants were being welcomed in their home town with a large banner stating that Jihad lives on and that police unsuccessfully tried to take that banner down.

This is not very encouraging and it shows that terror is being feared to the degree where even law enforcement prefers to close their eyes at times.

In addition, after Jakarta’s police force reported that the terrorists have planned to kill President SBY next, Indonesian police forces have started to record sermons led by Muslim leaders to avoid further hate mongering. But needless to say, this has been criticized as a dictatorship type of control which Indonesians were used to under Suharto and exactly that is the reason why Indonesian intelligence could not coordinate the warnings they have received over the terror attacks which were being planned on the Marriott and Ritz Carlton.

IMO this is something that will either change or Indonesia will never change, because moving on from the past is essential in order to gain ground.

The opinion of the world is basically that Indonesia is doing business as usual and not much is being accomplished to weed out terror. That more or less terrorists are hiding everywhere, and the people are scared to expose them.
When you are in Indonesia, you of course feel different, but there is something lacking here and that is the drive to do it. Just do it.

One line from Star Wars is my favorite. “Yoda” said “Do it or not do it. There is no try!”

I love that line, because it is so true that before you get something accomplished, you HAVE TO set some goals, and once they are being set as reasonable, there is no turning back. You get the feeling that there is complete separation between governing forces and the people and that the people are so busy with their everyday lives, they feel powerless and have given up when it comes to standing up for their rights.

One thing I have seen the other day, a car was going a little slow and the traffic cop banged on the car about 5 times to make it go faster. In America that officer would be in court right away under several violations of police conduct, but here people are so afraid of their own law enforcement, that the fear of law enforcement and terrorists is not really something that is easy to separate.

From what I see, this is a huge issue in this country that ordinary citizens feel so helpless and often use that helplessness as an excuse.

Indonesia has large potential. It is a very artistic country, people here have many gifts, but all of that has never been internationally recognized as negative news about the nation have been dominant to the degree that travel agencies are trying not to mention to Americans and Europeans that 2 of the best vacation spots in the world (Bali and Borneo) are located in Indonesia.

Will terror ever end? It can. It can end when Indonesians are sick enough of oppression whether it’s of military, terror or financial nature.

Indonesia has 240 Million people and it is hard for me to believe that such a huge population can be economically or militarily oppressed and it exposes a lot of selfishness amongst those who have the power to do something. We shall see…

Wanted dead or alive - Noordin M. Top

For the most part, Jakarta is way too crowded and polluted. You have a mass amount of motorcycles which are $1,000.00 to purchase and credit is easy and cheap to get, which enables 18 Million Jakartans making an average of $180.00 – $200.00 a month to get around.

The business center of Jakarta on the other hand is interesting and mainly because of its architecture. Every building is unique and in many cases it has to do with the lack of “red tape”.

While in the U.S. long board meetings are necessary to determine what sort of design a new building should get, Indonesian business owners often rely on the advice of 2-3 partners or colleagues to help them decide in the spur of a moment what sort of look their new creation should get and as a result you can see some interesting structures and color combinations enhancing the view from just about anywhere you might be within the core of the Jakartan commercial zone.

#pendetindonesia #bali and #indonesia so needless to say, most of the international Twitter community had no clue what Pendet is all about.

Bali of course is one of the hotspots of the world when it comes to travel, but believe it or not, most of my friends in the US are not even sure what country Borneo and Bali are in as both places are much more known than Indonesia itself, and having this English language blog about Indonesia is because we want to change this.

The Pendet Dance comes from Bali. It is an offering dance, has religious background and is enjoyed by tourists because of young beautiful girls moving to music and showing their elegance and beauty.

Pendet is the presentation of an offering in the form of a ritual dance. Unlike the exhibition dances that demand arduous training, Pendet may be danced by anyone. It is taught simply by imitation.

Younger girls follow the movements of the elder women, who recognize their responsibility in setting a good example. Proficiency comes with age. As a religious dance, Pendet is usually performed during temple ceremonies. Many Malaysians claim that it is a Malaysian dance, but Malaysians also claim that a lot of the Indonesian islands should belong to them, so what else is new?

Pendet Dance from Bali

South Barito (Buntok)
East Barito (Tamiang Layang)
North Barito (Muara Teweh)
Gunung Mas (Kuala Kurun)
Kapuas (Kuala Kapuas)
Katingan (Kasongan)
West Kotawaringin (Pangkalan Bun)
East Kotawaringin (Sampit)
Lamandau (Nanga Bulik)
Murung Raya (Puruk Cahu)
Pulang Pisau (Pulang Pisau)
Sukamara (Sukamara)
Seruyan (Kuala Pembuang)

Kalimantan is the opposite of Jakarta when it comes to density of population. In Palangkaraya you have 250,000 people and when you fly into the city, you see nothing but rainforest.

We went to the portable dock airport where planes are being serviced and people can rent them to go all over and see the jungle. If you are interested we can get you in touch with them.

OK it’s Friday night and I’m tired. New post about the Borneo Orangutans coming next.

Pictures and videos as well.